Answer: it provided 6,400 acres of land for each mile of track laid.
The Pacific Railroad Act was a law which primary objective was to create a transcontinental railroad. To accomplish this, railroads companies were given <em>government bonds</em> as well as <em>grants of land</em> to work with.
Sections 2 and 3 of the Act, established the acquisition of rights of way, to the Company that laid the tracks.
The first one, conceded <em>both the rail itself and 200 ft of public land away from it, for each side.</em> The second one, <em>added 10 square miles to the prior,</em> whenever the rails were not crossing rivers or went through cities.
This was specified in the Act with the <u>following phrase:</u> <em>"five alternate sections per mile on each side of said railroad, on the line thereof, and within the limits of ten miles on each side"</em>.
On the other hand, loans from $16000 per mile of flat prairie railroad were authorized up to $48000 when companies worked in a mountain.
They didn't want the United States to be dragged into another Conflict in Europe should it happen again. and America fell back into isolationism after WW1.
The senate wanted to make some changes to the Treaty of Versailles but wilson didn't allow it, In turn they refused to sign the Treaty. preventing the US joining the League of nations. So we sign our own treaty with the central powers.
