In 1884 the Democrat party produced a falsified map showing how much the railroads had been given by the Republican congress. The map however included all possible land grants even alternate routes and multiplied it by 4. It showed 80% of what state was owned by the railroads?
UH I THINK IT WAS
#1 IOWA
Saddly this map was used in textbooks until 1940. I wonder if Dan Rather’s great grandfather was behind this
i’m gonna say ILL, maybe even Indiana
I’m going with Iowa. Indiana bacame a state in 1862, Illinois a year or two on either side. Iowa would still be sparsly populated enough that land was available to grant and it was on many transcon routes which helps rule out Idaho.
Interesting that the Democratic Party hasn’t changed tactics in all these years. Might have something to do with being stubborn as a jack***. [(-D]
Iowa
Who am I to disagree with my illustrious colleagues above? I guess I’ll pick my current state of residence as well: Iowa.
…My answer is Iowa…I’ll refrain from entering the political part of it…
I’ll guess Iowa because historically, it developed later than the other two Midwestern “I” states. Idaho has a lot of railroad trackage but even more mountains, so I doubt that development could cover eighty percent of anything – even twenty percent would be a stretch.
I’ll enjoy seeing the answer to this!
I’ll agree with Iowa, although Indiana became a state in 1816 and Illinois was admitted to the Union in 1818.
I would say Iowa… I recall a quote from a magazine article from a long time ago (I think it was TRAINS, but I will not swear to it) that at it’s peak of prosperity, there was no place in Iowa that was further than 12 miles from a railroad line.
Illinois would be a good pick too. I believe the first land grants were for the IC. Some unknown lawyer helped them out with that one.
Wouldn’t be a tall guy would he? Or honest?
Keep in mind that, regardless of what the map showed, 80 percent of the land couldn’t have been owned by the railroads. It would possibly be true to state that 80 percent of the land was land-grant territory, but the land grants were for every other section (square mile) in a checkerboard pattern.
The maps of land-grant lines I’ve seen don’t show anything close to 80 percent coverage, but Iowa looks to be the winner, at any rate. Indiana had no land-grant railroads.
Herbert Hoover was TALL??? I did not know that… Honest! [;)]
I’ll go with Illinois.
Sounds like a something any Illinois politician or political group would do even today.
[:p]
MAN YOU ARE HARD TO FOOL NOBODY ON THE MODEL RAILROADER FORUM GOT IT RIGHT! THE ANSWER IS IOWA!
Well DUH! We’re full-sized railfans,not miniatures![;)]