My Present Past
A genealogical experience
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Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad
Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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Land Grant
June 24, 1864 S333   
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There were two acts by Congress other than the Pacific railroad bill that helped facilitate the building of the
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad. The first one was S435 on February 10th, 1863, passed March 03, 1863
and the other, S333, June 24th, 1864. There are numerous other acts by Congress for the railroad but these
two stand out as the foundations that set the tone for the construction of the
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad.
The Kansas Legislature was now poised to move swiftly on the foundation of
not only the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad but all railroads that ran
through the State of Kansas. Listed below are the three acts in 1864 by
the Kansas Legislature, that helped set into motion the most important
railroad to run across the State of Kansas. The first was Bill #36, passed
February 09, 1864 which accepted the Land Grants, S435 and S333, that
were given to Kansas by the United States Congress for the purpose of
construction of the railroads through the State of Kansas. The second bill
by the Kansas Legislature was Bill #268, passed March 01, 1864. This
allowed the counties which the railroads ran through to "subscribe and take
stock in the Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad and to issue bonds for
the same not to exceed $200,000". "Such stock could not be subscribed
except for a majority vote of citizens of said county".The third bill was
#296, also signed into law March 01, 1864, allowing the railroads to acquire
title to lands for railroad purposes. These acts of the Kansas Legislature
started the most dynamic expansion the State of Kansas has ever
witnessed in its existence.
Kansas Legislature #36
February 09, 1864
Kansas Legislature #268
March 01, 1864
Kansas Legislature #296
March 01, 1864
Even with this additional legislature from Kansas, the Federal Government gave less support to the Atchison
Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in land grants (S435) and federal funds than the rest of the transcontinental
railroads. Listed below are the appropriations for each railroad in 1863-64.
Railroad
Line
Acres Granted
Loan Amount
Union Pacific
Omaha, NE - Ogden, UT
12,000,000
$27, 236,512
Central Western Pacific
Sacramento CA - Ogden, UT
8,000,000
$27,855,680
Kansas Pacific
Kansas City, MO - Denver, CO
6,000,000
$6,000,000
Northern Pacific
All Lines
43,000,000
Unknown
Atlantic & Pacific
All Lines
42,000,000
Unknown
Texas & Pacific
All Lines
23,000,000
Unknown
Southern Pacific
All Lines
43,000,000
Unknown
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe
All Lines
3,000,000
None
In other words the Union Pacific Railroad combination of the Union Pacific, Central Western Pacific and
Kansas Pacific received more than 26,000,000 acres of land and immediate financial support in excess of  
$61, 392, 192. While the U. P. was the first line to be built across the continent, its construction involved a
nationwide scandal. The history of the Santa Fe is remarkable in that it is the story of a few great
personalities with imagination and far-seeing vision, achieving what appeared to be impossible. It is a story of
definite ambition, of indomitable purpose, able financing, efficient organization and relentless energy.
Cyrus K. Holliday, the father Santa Fe personified these qualities and the Santa Fe Railroad developed
leaders who embodied them to the highest degree.
Because of the Civil war and the disarranged business conditions of the country, times were not at all
propitious in the 1860's for financing railroads, especially in Kansas whose record for droughts, border wars
and cyclones was unenviable. Attention was of course drawn largely to the Union - Central Pacific enterprise
which with the powerful support of the Federal Government was building in spectacular fashion. The Pacific
Railroad was desired by the whole country, though but few people thought it would develop the region through
which it passed. It was looked upon more as a strategic means of binding the Pacific coast more efficiently to
the Union both commercially and in a military sense. In spite of the large volume of business and the numerous
traders and emigrants who had for years been going out over the Santa Fe Trail and settling, many of them in
the distant Southwest, it was hard to convince capitalists in those days that the Santa Fe land grant and the
Kansas prairies in general amounted to much.

Source:
The Story of the Santa Fe        Glenn Danford Bradley  1920