ailroad enterprise as well as of the
land grant policy. In those times of national trial a railroad to the
Pacific Coast seemed a political necessity. The project of connecting
the Atlantic and Pacific oceans by a line of railroads was first brought
prominently before the American people by Asa Whitney of New York. At a
meeting held under his auspices in Philadelphia on the 23d day of
December, 1846, a movement was inaugurated for the purpose of
interesting the people in this enterprise and securing the aid of the
government for its accomplishment. Various plans were urged, and earnest
discussions followed, in which the ablest minds of the nation
participated. The continual agitation of the subject finally led, on the
1st of July, 1862, to the passage by Congress of an act incorporating
the Union Pacific Railway Company and the adoption of the central route.
The Union and the Central Pacific companies received a virtual money
subsidy of $30,000,000 and a land grant aggregating nearly twenty-three
million acres, a domain almost equal to the State of Indiana. Other
direct grants of territorial lands soon followed. The Northern Pacific
received, just before the close of the war, a grant of forty-seven
million acres of land. In the Southwest public lands were also freely
given to new Pacific lines. The various grants made to railroads
comprise no less than 300,000 square miles, equal to four and a half
times the area of New England, or six times that of the State of New
York, or equal to the total area of Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan and Ohio. Where these grants were not deemed sufficient
inducement for the construction of roads, counties, cities and towns
freely voted subsidies, while private citizens made donations to or
subscribed for the securities of the new railroads.

As has already been stated, the consolidation of connecting lines and
their transformation into a few large through routes was one of the
characteristic features of this period. As through traffic, and
particularly through freight, grew in importance, it became more and
more apparent that frequent transhipment was an expense to the railroads
as well as a burden to the public. The system of railroad ownership and
management soon adapted itself to the necessities of business. The
change seems to have been inevitable, for it occurred in all parts of
the world at about the same time. Sagacious men early recognized the
importance of railroads