The Railroad Originally Was As Completely Dissociated

The Financial History Of The Baltimore And Ohio Since The Close Of The Nineteenth Century Is Interesting Chiefly In Connection With Changes In The Control Of The Property

Consequently Many Large Railroad Systems Of Heavy Capitalization Bid Fair To Run Into Difficulties On The First Serious Falling Off In General Business

Yet, In 1850 Nearly All The Railroads In The United States Lay East Of The Mississippi River, And All Of Them, Even When They Were Physically Mere Extensions Of One Another, Were Separately Owned And Separately Managed.

In The Decade Before The Civil War Various North And South Lines Of Railway Were Projected And Some Of These Were Assisted By Grants Of Land From The Federal Government

The Public Conviction That A Railroad Linking The West And The East Was An Absolute Necessity Became So Pronounced After The Gold Discoveries Of '49 That Congress Passed An Act In 1853 Providing For A Survey Of Several Lines From The Mississippi To The Pacific.