1. Settling the West – Railroads
Pacific Railway Act of 1862
Free land – Federal government land to companies for every mile of track built.
Transcontinental Railroad and the American West
Land Grants
Competition between the Union Pacific and Central Pacific encouraged

2. Transcontinental Railroad (1869)
** Completed in 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah.
** Reduced travel time from 6 months to 6 days

7. Homestead Act (1862) - Free land - Federal government land for settling the Plains
- Legislation passed during the Civil War which led to the rapid settling of the Great Plains as individuals had to pay a $10 registration fee to file a claim for 160 acres.
- After improving the land for five years, they received the legal title.

8. Great Plains “Great American Desert” …
Challenges to settling on the Great Plains …

9. - Morrill Land Grant College Act of 1862
Free land - Federal government land to states for establishing colleges.

10. * What do you suppose was the impact of this legislation?
* The purpose of the land-grant colleges was:
“… without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life.”
- Auburn Univ Univ. of South Dakota Univ. of California
- South Dakota State - Colorado State Univ Univ. of Connecticut
- North Dakota State - Univ. of Delaware Univ. of Georgia
- Univ. of Florida Univ. of Idaho Univ. of Illinois
- Purdue University Kansas State Univ Iowa State Univ.
- Univ. of Wisconsin - Louisiana State Uni Univ. of Maryland
- Univ. of Minnesota - Ohio State Univ Univ. of Nebraska
**** And many, many, many more colleges!!!