New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-08-15
i. P. SELLS ITS LANDS
MAY RETIRE FROM THAT
BRANCH OF BUSINESS.
Fast Areas Granted by Federal GoU-
ernment to Various Railroads.

Omaha, Aug. 14.-Practcally the last OF the
many millions OF acres OF land given the Union
Pacific Railroad by the United States govern
ment have been sold this summer. and
as the company disposes of the few remaining
parcels Of its great empire it viii close it's
land department and retire from this branch Of
the railroad business In the last few years
that Is since the great boom In Western lands
oegan-the Union Pacific has disposed of more
than hve million acres. thus becoming the pre-
mier land seller OF the country
Charles E. Mainland. general land agent Of
the Union Pacific. makes this statement
The greater part of the vast holdings Of the
Union Pacific has been sold out to small owners
and there is very little Of our vast land grant
left II We had five million acres. believe
could sell 1t out this summer. so great is the
demand for Western lands"
The Union Pacific land grand consisted Of 49,
100000 acres exclusive Of the right Of way and
extended from Omaha to Ogden and from Kansas
City TO Cheyenne. via Denver, each alternate
section being strip forty miles wide between
the points mentioned For six hundred miles
the grant lay in the great Platte River Valley in
Nebraska, and for five hundred miles it traversed
the Kaw Valley in Kansas-two of the finest
valleys in the world
But the 100000 acres. a tract Just a little
bit larger than all OF Scotland. is scarcely a
grant TO the Hartman railroads. Combine
Switzerland Belgium. the Netherlands and
Denmark and then add to the OF the
bined countries all the land in Ireland. and you
will have just few acres than Uncle Sam
gave to the Hartman railroad system when II
was being built
The Hartman grant comprises the enormous
area OF $780,. $40 acres-S1 731 square miles
England covers only 50.S67 square miles. New
Hampshire. Vermont Massachusetts. Connecti-
cut. Rhode Island. Maryland. Delaware. New
Jersey and West Virginia aggregate SO9JO
square miles
The lands were divided among the lines COM
prising the system. follows: Union Pacific
1900 600 acres: Kansas Pacific 6OD0OoO: Den
yer Pacific. 100000: Central Pacific 1900
600; ST. Joseph & Grand Island. 100000. and
Southern Pacific. 1870. $40.
But the railroads Of the Hartman system
were not the only which received land
grants from the government to assist in the con-
struction OF the roads. The Gould roads re-
ceived little matter Of - $40 POI acres-nearly
as many contained within the combined
boundaries OF Denmark and Belgium. and only
few thousand acres less than the State OF
South Carolina
Uncle jim rIill. the Wizard OF the North.
struck Uncle Sam for 26.3i7.27T acres in the
building OF the Northern Pacific and for 244l,-
~ acres IN the building OF the Burlington.
The projectors OF the Santa Re received as
10000 acres for building from the Missouri
River to the Pacific Coast and large part Of
this grant IS stilf in the hands OF this railroad
For building its lines through Iowa. where
| land is now worth from 500 to $50 an acre.
the Milwaukee line secured just 1924 900 acres
OF land In that state: and Northwestern came
in for little matter OF 642 s21 acres as aid in
building its lines TO Minneapolis and 10 Omaha.
In the Southwest the Missouri Kansas &
Texas Railroad got 100000 acres. the San
Francisco l.sGO.JSG and the Iron Mountain
117s.IOO acres.
The largest grant 10 any one railroad was
that 10 the Santa re Of ~. $4,000 acres-T1 563
square miles Pennsylvania contains 1925
square miles and New York State only 40, 10
square miles.
The total amount OF land given by the gov
eminent TO Western railroads amounts to the
enormous area OF 1T269l.25O acres-26g $40
square miles. The German Empire contains
only 20SS30 square miles and England only
| 5O.S67 square miles. that the gift OF Uncle
Sam TO the builders OF the Western lines equals
the combined area OF Germany England and
Belgium
The present value OF these lands is incalcula-
BILE. For instance. five railroads the Burline-
ton. the Northwestern. the Rock Island. the ILL
nois Central and the Milwaukee combined re-
ceved 14G02 $50 acres lying east OF the Mis-
souri, in Iowa and Minnesota. That land to-day
is worth from 500 TO $3.50 an acre. At 500 an
acre the present value Of that portion OF the
| land grant aggregates 81 .460. $4,000
Vast quantities OF lands granted the Northern
Pacific are now embraced in the great wheat