What were railroad land grants? Did your ancestor receive one?
The land grants were business transactions between the federal government and 61 pioneer railroads, all of them in the West and South. The grants, made from 1850 to 1871, were meant to encourage railroad construction through underdeveloped territory in order to attract settlers, increase the sale of government-owned lands and unify the westward-expanding nation. These objectives were accomplished.
Map showing the land grant of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company in Montana, Idaho, and in part of North Dakota, and in part of eastern Washington, reaching from Dickinson, North Dakota, to Ritzville, eastern Washington.
It is a bit hard to see, the the areas shaded in green were the railroad land grants in the west, including Eastern Washington. Below is the bit I snipped to share from FamilySearch:
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