No reliable figures exist for how much construction of the line cost. One estimate places the cost of the Central Pacific at about $36 million, another at $51.5 million. Oakes Ames testified that the Union Pacific cost about $60 million to build.
"wealthy landowners" were members of the aristocracy in Byzantine society since this aristocracy was composed a small elite. The shopkeepers and small-scale merchants constituted the poor majority.
