HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: "A transcontinental railroad had been suggested and discussed as far back as the 1830's, but it wasn't until 1853 that Congress charged Jefferson Davis (Secretary of War) to conduct feasibility surveys for a transcontinental railroad route. Years of debate over the best route followed. Among the options discussed included a northern route from St. Louis and a southern route from New Orleans to Southern California. The secession of the South from the Union opened the door for the northern route and in July of 1862, President Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act, which granted a charter to the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroad companies, authorizing them to build a railway and a telegraph line between Omaha and California Territory. The Act gave the railroads loans for each mile of track laid, as well generous amounts of public land along the way. The Union Pacific was commissioned to build west from Omaha, Nebraska, across the Great Plains, and the Central Pacific to build east from Sacramento, through the Sierra Nevada."

Category: Post-Civil War