How the public domain has been squandered, map showing the 139,403,026 acres of the people's land - equal to 871,268 farms of 160 acres each, worth at $2 an acre, $278,806,052, given by Republican congresses to railroad corporations ; this is more land than is contained in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana

America Transformed: Railroad infrastructure expanded from 31,000 miles in 1860 to 130,000 miles by the 1890s. To subsidize construction, the U.S. government gave over 140 million acres of public land to railroad companies, oftentimes dispossessing Native nations in the process. This land was used to locate tracks or sold to raise capital for the railroad company. Companies argued that they deserved government support because they were creating a public good. Opponents, like those who printed this poster, argued that railroads should return this land to the government rather than profit from its sale. This 1884 poster declares that these railroad land grants would create 871,268 farms with a generous 160 acres each.
Courtesy of Boston Public Library