Monday, March 20, 2017
Note for map lovers (and Deceptive Headline 2)
The latest item at KSHS is a BIG detailed map of Kansas in 1872. Published by Santa Fe RR to show the huge band of land it was given as a subsidy. Santa Fe sold all of the land to finance its rail construction. Looks like about 1/5 of the state.
The headline says 30,000 FREE HOMES! Well, they weren't FREE. You could get into a 7 percent mortgage without a down payment. Deceptive. Lots of Easterners took the deal, paid the mortgage payments for a while, then failed because they weren't farmers and most of the land wasn't suitable for small-scale farming. Santa Fe was then FREE to sell the same land again.
¶ 1:44 PM 
