The late 1860s and early 1870s were a time of frenetic railway construction and associated land speculation. Rather than a managed system of national railroad construction through public works or leaving the construction of lines strictly to market forces, Congress attempted to spur the growth of the industry through the grant of enormous tracts of public lands to privately owned railway companies. In May 1869 the First Transcontinental Railroad across the North American continent was completed, bringing many localities to within reach of a national market for the first time.