Gadsen Purchase

The Gadsen Purchase in 1853 was bought for the sole purpose of building a Transcontinental Railroad through it. The southern United States was too mountainous to run a railroad through and they seek a solution to this problem. They decided to acquire land beyond the southern U.S. to solve this issue. It was bought for the price of ten million dollars compared to the largest land gain which was the Louisiana Purchase for fifteen million dollars. The Gadsen Purchase included small piece of land south from the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande.