No Settler Could Dare To Place Himself Absolutely At
A Distance From Any Thoroughfare.
At first the margins of nature's
highways, the navigable rivers and lakes, were cleared.
But as the
railway system grew and expanded itself, it became manifest that
lands might be rendered quickly available which were not so
circumstanced by nature. A company which had purchased an enormous
territory from the United States government at five shillings an
acre might well repay itself all the cost of a railway through that
territory, even though the receipts of the railway should do no
more than maintain the current expenses. It is in this way that
the thousands of miles of American railroads have been opened; and
here again must be seen the immense advantages which the States as
a new country have enjoyed. With us the purchase of valuable land
for railways, together with the legal expenses which those
compulsory purchases entailed, have been so great that with all our
traffic railways are not remunerative. But in the States the
railways have created the value of the land. The States have been
able to begin at the right end, and to arrange that the districts
which are benefited shall themselves pay for the benefit they
receive.
The government price of land is 125 cents, or about five shillings
an acre; and even this need not be paid at once if the settler
purchase directly from the government. He must begin by making
certain improvements on the selected land - clearing and cultivating
some small portion, building a hut, and probably sinking a well.
When this has been done - when he has thus given a pledge of his
intentions by depositing on the land the value of a certain amount
of labor, he cannot be removed. He cannot be removed for a term of
years, and then if he pays the price of the land it becomes his own
with an indefeasible title. Many such settlements are made on the
purchase of warrants for land. Soldiers returning from the Mexican
wars were donated with warrants for land - the amount being 160
acres, or the quarter of a section. The localities of such lands
were not specified, but the privilege granted was that of occupying
any quarter-section not hitherto tenanted. It will, of course, be
understood that lands favorably situated would be tenanted. Those
contiguous to railways were of course so occupied, seeing that the
lines were not made till the lands were in the hands of the
companies. It may therefore be understood of what nature would be
the traffic in these warrants. The owner of a single warrant might
find it of no value to him. To go back utterly into the woods,
away from river or road, and there to commence with 160 acres of
forest, or even of prairie, would be a hopeless task even to an
American settler. Some mode of transport for his produce must be
found before his produce would be of value - before, indeed, he
could find the means of living.
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