Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

===Railroad self-dealing===
The federal legislation lacked adequate oversight and accountability. The two companies took advantage of these weaknesses in the legislation to manipulate the project and produce extra profit for themselves. Despite the generous subsidies offered by the federal government, the railroad capitalists knew they would not turn a profit on the railroad business for many months, possibly years. They determined to make a profit on the construction itself. Both groups of financiers formed independent companies to complete the project, and they controlled management of the new companies along with the railroad ventures. This self-dealing allowed them to build in generous profit margins paid out by the railroad companies. In the west, the four men heading the Central Pacific chose a simple name for their company, the "Contract and Finance Company." In the east, the Union Pacific selected a foreign name, calling their construction firm "Crédit Mobilier of America."<ref name="klein"/> The latter company was later implicated in a far-reaching scandal which would greatly affect the railroad's purpose, described later.

Also, the lack of federal oversight provided both companies with incentives to continue building their railroads past one other, since they were each being paid, and receiving land grants, based on how many miles of track they laid, even though only one track would eventually be used. This tacitly-agreed profiteering activity was captured (probably accidentally) by Union Pacific photographer [[Andrew J. Russell]] in his images of the Promontory Trestle construction.<ref>{{cite book|title=This Radical Land: A Natural History of American Dissent|first=Daegan|last=Miller|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|date=2018}}</ref>