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Many 19th Century railroads existed only on paper--they never got so far as grading a foot of right-of-way. Not only railroading, but many notions about corporations were in periods of infancy. And the amount of capital it took to build a railroad in those days was staggering. Without a vast investment of capital by Europeans, the North American rail system never could have been built. Most railroads were proposed or built by corporations. Practically, and legally in most places, it was impossible for an individual to build a railroad. In many states it was necessary to obtain a charter from the state legislature to construct a railroad, and the charter generally specified the route to be used--or at least the end points. Given the amounts of money flowing around, and the anticipated profits, graft and corruption went on to degrees we still find shocking today. If enough money was left after paying bribes to political office holders, there was another level at which corrupt diversion of moneys took place before construction commenced. It was soon discovered that great profits could be reaped just by contracting to construct a railroad--often the promoters of the railroad made contracts with construction companies or suppliers which they themselves secretly controlled. Moneys were paid over from railroad treasuries to these entities, and sometimes the supposed contractors skipped town without ever turning a shovelfull of dirt. So--just because one can find incorporation documents, or charters, or media accounts predicting the imminent arrival of the railroad--that doesn't necessarily mean any particular road ever got built. John
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