perhaps more important.

或许更重要
Historically,

在历史上
projects that involved high capital investment were funded locally.

大型资金投入的项目通常是在当地集资
People made investments within small circles,

人们在小范围内进行投资
within one city, within the people who lived next the zone

在同个城市内或在临近城市区域内
where people living next to a canal or a segment of a canal,

例如住在运河附近的人们
would in effect, buy bonds and finance the thing.

会通过购买债券为一个项目集资
Railroads were catastrophically expensive,

建造铁路相当地贵
they sucked up vast amounts of capital,

它们吞噬了大量资本
and so a device as in this bridge,

假设要建一个桥
the Eads Bridge in St. Louis over the Mississippi,

像密西西比河上的圣路易斯伊兹桥
there were hundreds, even thousands of terrifically expensive

有成百上千需要大量资金的