200 feet is tiny in the scope of the American West. If anyone else wanted to build a railroad, telegraph line, etc. somewhere else, they were free to do so, and there were plenty of routes to choose from. Many did: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_railroad#Subs...
The reason the UP/CP right-of-way was attractive to telegraph lines, fiber, etc. was that they had already done all the hard work of clearing, grading, building infrastructure to make it accessible, etc. It makes sense that they were allowed to charge for others to benefit from the improvements they made.
The reason the UP/CP right-of-way was attractive to telegraph lines, fiber, etc. was that they had already done all the hard work of clearing, grading, building infrastructure to make it accessible, etc. It makes sense that they were allowed to charge for others to benefit from the improvements they made.