Cost of Railroads

  From the North American and United States Gazette of Philadelphia, 2 June 1871:

  The following is given by the Centerville Citizen as a statement of the cost of railroad building in Iowa:  "The rails used on C. & S. W. Railroad are 24 feet in length, weigh 448 pounds, and cost, delivered here, a little over 4 cents a pound, or $18 a rail; 440 rails costing $7,929; 440 joints, costing $170; 40 kegs of spikes at $38 per keg, or 4 cents for each spike; 2,500 ties at 50 cents each, $1,250, are required in making one mile of track.  This, with $425 for laying it, makes a total of $10,986, exclusive of right of way, grading, bridges, and cattle guards.  In some parts of the county the grading cost as high as $9,000 a mile.  The construction of thirty miles of road through Appanoose County cost over $500,000.