In the decade before the Civil War various north and south lines of railway were projected and some of these were assisted by grants of land from the Federal Government

Consequently many large railroad systems of heavy capitalization bid fair to run into difficulties on the first serious falling off in general business

Horses and mules, and even sail cars, made more rapid progress than did the earliest locomotive.

While no one railroad can completely duplicate another line, two or more may compete at particular points

The construction of extensive railways, however, and particularly the consolidation of small, experimental lines into large systems, dates from the days of the discovery of gold in California

Yet, in 1850 nearly all the railroads in the United States lay east of the Mississippi River, and all of them, even when they were physically mere extensions of one another, were separately owned and separately managed.

The close relationship between railroad expansion and the genera development and prosperity of the country is nowhere brought more distinctly into relief than in connection with the construction of the Pacific railroads.