A decade would seem to be ample time for the construction of this comparatively short railroad, particularly with the inducement of so extraordinary a land grant. Not only the Union Pacific but the Central Pacific and Kansas Pacific--all built within this decade--had to accomplish far more construction in order to secure their respective grants, and yet they had their complete lines in operation years before the Santa Fe had fifty miles of track in actual commission. The reason for this delay was of course a financial one. The other roads had all received government aid in cash or securities in addition to land grants. But the Atchison line was, from the start, thrown on its own resources in raising capital, and it was not until late in 1869--nearly a year after the opening of the Union Pacific to the coast--that any construction work whatever was done. In that year the section from Topeka to Burlingame, consisting of about twenty-eight miles, was opened for traffic, and a year later the extension to Emporia was finished, thus making a total of sixty-one miles under operation. The terms of the land grant provided that the entire line across Kansas should be completed by June, 1873. When by 1872 only sixty-one miles of track had been built, the company still had over four hundred miles to go within ten months if it expected to obtain the land grant. But so energetically did the owners of the property work from that time on that within seven months they had reached the eastern boundary of Colorado and had thus saved the grant. But like most of the Western railroads built in those early days the Santa Fe property was, in a sense, ahead of its time. The rapidity with which it shot across the State of Kansas in 1872 was equaled only by the promptness with which it fell into financial straits. No sooner had its complete line been opened for traffic than the panic of 1873 occurred; the company became embarrassed by a large floating debt; and a compromise had to be made with the bondholders whereby a postponement of a year's interest was arranged.