1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 473 Garde Railway

"We in Texas also strongly support the Garde-Germany railway. If this railway can be built, it will be beneficial to both our states."

After finalizing the Texas Arsenal matter, Bell and Liang Yao talked about the Garde Railway.

"Our attitude in California is the same." Liang Yao also expressed his attitude on behalf of California.

In 1852, a California consortium had taken a stake in the Port of Houston and acquired a high-quality port on the Atlantic Ocean.

If California wants to further utilize this port, the best way is to build a railroad to Texas.

Once this railway is completed, California's industrial products can be transported to Houston through the railway network, and then enter the European market by sea.

As a result, goods sold from California to Europe can not only greatly reduce transportation costs, but also shorten the transportation time from the original four months to less than two months.

Furthermore, from a strategic perspective, it is also necessary to build this railway.

"The biggest headache at present is the funding issue. According to estimates, even if we use the existing railway network to build the railway from Odessa to Mexicali, and finally connect it to Tijuana and merge it into the California railway network, it will cost 6100

Ten thousand U.S. dollars, the old guys in Texas told me that they tried their best to raise only 1.65 million U.S. dollars."

Bell found a piece of wood and sat down, smoking a cigarette.

Such a huge amount of money cannot be afforded by a poor state like Texas.

"I wonder how much California can offer?"

What are the assets of the Bell family?

In terms of building large-scale railway projects, the ongoing Pacific Railway project can serve as a good reference model.

Based on this calculation, building a Gade-German railway will cost almost the entire federal government's budget for a year, or more than two years of military spending.

The construction costs of the Pacific Railroad were shared between the California Railroad and Central Railroad.

Last year, Pan Zhengwei's grandson Pan Baohuang, who was studying at the Virginia Military Academy, married Texas Senator Ron's daughter under the auspices of Principal Jackson, and became his son-in-law from Texas. Let's just say he is half-Texan.

Liang Yao put down Liang Qianqian in his arms and let Liang Qianqian continue playing, while he sat down next to Bell.

This is a national-level project. It is indeed very difficult for two states, one of which is a poor state, to carry out this project.

Therefore, the cost of the Garde Railway will not be cheaper than that of the Pacific Railway.

However, Liang Yao still knows exactly how much money California Railroad needs to invest every year.

As for the millionaires in Texas, maybe there are only half of them.

Furthermore, Vanderbilt is also one of the richest people in the United States and is as wealthy as any other country.

Liang Yao doesn't know how much money Vanderbilt's Central Railway invests in this big project every year.

"There is no need to invest US$61 million in capital all at once. As long as we can raise around US$10 million in initial funding, this project can be started."

After calculation, the total cost of the Pacific Railway is estimated to be slightly higher than that of the Garde Railway, about US$65 million.

There are even less wealthy people like Liang Yao and Vanderbilt who are as wealthy as the rest of the world.

The number at Vanderbilt is probably the same.

Although the total length of the Garde Railway is not as long as the Pacific Railway, the mountainous section that the railway passes through is slightly longer than the Pacific Railway.

Bell fell silent. It is reasonable for California to pay more money and acquire more equity.

There is no problem with this.

"1,000 US dollars is also an unreachable number for us in Texas." Bell paused and said randomly.

However, this request was beyond the scope of his authority regarding the concession rights of the Gade Railway in the Texas section.

"The Pacific Railway was built from a free state to a free state. To build the Pacific Railway, you could raise money from Wall Street in New York. The Shugaard Railway was built from a free state to a slave state. And from a business perspective, the Garde Railway was

The commercial value is far inferior to that of the Pacific Staircase Railway."

On average, America Group needs to provide California Railroad with $4.5 million to $5.5 million in funding to keep the project going.

Historically, this railway connecting California and Texas was also built by Leland Stanford's Pacific Railroad Company. Due to the huge cost of this railway, it eventually led to the bankruptcy of the Pacific Railroad Company.

On the other hand, in Texas, there is no railroad company in the state with as strong financial resources and strength as the Central Railroad Company and the California Railroad Company.

Bell's biggest concern now was the huge amount of money needed to build the railroad.

Although Liang Yao is extremely wealthy, the Pacific Railway has not yet been completed, and he still needs to keep pouring money into the Pacific Railway project. How much money can Liang Yao, or the California consortium, pay for the large-scale project of the Garde-German Railway?

Including cotton fields, sugar cane fields, tobacco fields, black slaves and other real estate, the Bell family's property is only more than half a million US dollars.

"Although US$10 million is a big number for California, it can still be obtained by gritting one's teeth." Liang Yao said, "We can get the money, but we want more equity and the rights to this railway."

By franchise, I mean the franchise that includes the stretch of road within Texas."

Of course, more funds were invested in the first year, the year when the project started, reaching nearly 10 million US dollars.

If the Gade-German railway is to be built, Odessa will be the starting point of Texas.

The cash that the Bell family can immediately withdraw is only US$70,000 to US$80,000 at most.

A large part of the reason why the Pacific Railroad project is progressing smoothly is that the Pacific Railroad has received strong support from the federal government. Moreover, the western section of the project is handled by Liang Yao's California Railroad Company, and the eastern section is managed by Vanderbilt's Central Railroad Company.

Responsible.

Why do you say half, because half of the Texas millionaire is Pan Zhengwei.

Odessa is the western terminus of the Texas railroad network and is a large village in Texas.

Take the Bell family as an example. The Bell family is already one of the top wealthy families in Texas and a core member of the Texas conglomerate.

In 1855, the fiscal revenue of the American federal government was US$68.9 million, and the military expenditure of the navy and army was US$29.5 million.

The California Railroad is the largest gold-devouring behemoth under the American Group. Liang Yao also relied on the gold mined by Umbrella in Australia and the huge profits of the Los Angeles Petroleum Company to continue this project.

What was the concept of $61 million in the 1850s?

He was one of the shareholders of the Texas Railroad Company, just one of the shareholders. He could not make the decision on his own to transfer the franchise rights of this railway.

"I personally have no objection, but this is beyond the scope of my authority. Should I ask Texas to send a representative to talk to you?"

After a short silence, Bell said.

"Yes, but as soon as possible." Liang Yao nodded in agreement.

(End of chapter)