This also attracted immigrants to move west, railroad owners sold them excess land at inflated prices. The new railroads also provided access to goods for their farm and/or home from other cities. The railways provided great help to the farm, they even delivered the houses along the tracks. There was a great expansion with the combination of the Homestead Act and the railroad, “over 1.6 million real estate applications were processed, and more than 270 million acres – 10 percent of all land in the United States – passed into the hands of private individuals” (National