| Theodore Judah, Railroad, Pacific Railroad Act
Theodore Judah
Born: 1826 in Bridgeport, Connecticut
Died: 1863 in New York
Theodore Judah was a civil engineer, lobbyist, railroader and surveyor, Theodore Judah before the age of 28 had engineered the Niagara Gorge railroad and had completed numerous eastern railway construction
In 1854, Theodore Judah was asked by Charles Wilson, president of the Sacramento Valley railroad to engineer a survey from Sacramento to Folsom which fueled the beginning of Theodore Judah 's unquenchable thirst for building the Transcontinental Pacific railroad
From 1854 to 1860 Theodore Judah lobbied in both the Senate and House for his railroad plan
In 1860, Daniel Strong from Dutch Flat in the foothills of the Sierras showed Theodore Judah an easier passage through the Sierras instead of Donner's Pass
Back at Strong's drugstore, Theodore Judah drew up the maps and articles for the Pacific railroad. In 1861, a scientific survey was financed by seven men, four of whom would become known as the Central Pacific Railroad Big Four, Collis Huntington, Mark Hopkins, Leland Stanford and Charles Crocker
The survey was very successful and when the railroad was finally built it deviated little from the original line that Theodore Judah had drawn. With the passage of the Pacific Railroad Act signed into law on July 1, 1862, Theodore Judah was ready to get to work building the railroad but the Big Four had other plans
Bitter arguments ensued with Theodore Judah finally leaving California in October of 1863 for the East. Traveling by boat, Theodore Judah contracted yellow fever while crossing the Isthmus of Panama and died less then a week later in New York
Theodore Judah who had dedicated his whole life to the dream of the transcontinental railroad did not live to see it completed |
