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Mostly from railroad land grants in the late 1800’s. Land along routes was checkerboard divided, odd lots stayed feds, even went to railroad companies.
by drewmol 3y ago
Mostly from railroad land grants in the late 1800’s. Land along routes was checkerboard divided, odd lots stayed feds, even went to railroad companies.
- kodah 3y agoI was originally remembering a time period when the railroad virtually had public domain authority to seize private lands, but the history of the land grants in Nebraska is actually much worse: https://nebraskastudies.org/en/1850-1874/railroads-settlement/land-grants-decline-railroads/ https://nebraskastudies.org/en/1850-1874/railroads-settlemen...
- refurb 3y agoCanada did the same. The company building the railroad was paid not only in cash, but also land (which was suddenly very valuable next to a transcontinental railway). But to avoid giving them all the prime spots, the checkerboard system was put in and they were given 50%, so the other 50% could be purchased by anyone.