As there had been for turnpikes, as there had been for canals, once again there came a popular call for governmental aid. Land was then plenty and the general belief was that the prosperity of the country demanded its settlement. If railways could be induced to go out into the open prairies and by their selling agencies bring about the occupation and tillage of these lands, other lands owned by the Government would soon be in demand. There would be no particular hardship on anyone, since Government land was sold to actual settlers for such a small sum, the railroads would be unable to dispose of their land at a much larger price. As a matter of fact the land was sold by the railroads for whatever it would bring; the prices increased as settlement became more dense. In Iowa railroad land sold from $5 to $50 per acre during the ’sixties and ’seventies. The remaining land held by the government was ordinarily increased in price from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre. Congress, evidently influenced by the demand for railroads, and falling back upon the precedent of the National Highway, heretofore mentioned, granted in 1850 to the State of Illinois a strip of land about 12 miles wide lengthwise through the state to be transferred by it to the Illinois Central Railroad. The act gave six sections per mile on each side of the track, amounting, as certified to later, 2,595,053 acres. In consideration of this and in lieu of all other taxes, the company agreed to pay the state an amount equal to 7 per cent of the gross earnings from freight and passenger traffic. The company had received from the sale (principal and advanced interest) of 2,250,633 acres, up to January 1, 1873, $24,296,596;[100] an average of about $11 per acre. Other companies were quick to take advantage of this precedent. Each had its representative in Congress. For over twenty years there was scarcely a Congress that did not make one or two such grants. More than a hundred such grants[101] were made between 1850 and 1872, aggregating 155,000,000 acres.[102] Several roads did not comply with the conditions of the grants hence the donation lapsed. Up to June 30, 1880, grants amounted to 155,504,994.59 acres, according to Donaldson, of which there had been patented to the same date, 35,214,978.25 acres.