TWHP


Theodore Judah, 1826-1863   

As a young engineer, Theodore Judah found himself much in demand on the East coast in the 1840s, when railroads were first being built through the populated areas inland from the Atlantic Seaboard. He moved to California in 1854, and by 1856 he'd constructed the first rail line in California, from Sacramento to Folsom, gateway to the gold fields. He became obsessed by the idea of a transcontinental train, and he began to lobby in Washington for a route; but getting over the Sierras was considered impossible. After initial disappointment--he was, by now, known as "Crazy Judah"--he looked for local support from businessmen. After meeting with Collis P. Huntington and his partners in Sacramento, Judah had the money he needed to perform a survey of a route through the mountains. His plans were viable, and the Central Pacific Railroad was based on them. After construction began, Judah became disillusioned with his partners, whose primary concern was making money; Judah wanted to link the nation. His association with the Central Pacific's Big Four partners ended in 1863, when Judah traveled East to seek financial backing. He contracted disease during his crossing of the Isthmus of Panama, and died in New York. The Central Pacific--and later the Southern Pacific--ignored his pioneering involvement in their histories, but when the Transcontinental Railroad was completed with the driving of the final, Golden Spike in 1869, it was on Judah's route that the trains ran through the mountains.


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