How long did it take for Theodore Judah to build the Pacific Railroad?

Answer 1

As the chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, Judah surveyed the route over the Sierra Nevada along which the railroad was to be built during the 1860s, but he failed to raise enough funds for the project in San Francisco.

Finally he succeeded in signing up four Sacramento merchants known as the "Big Four". The group included Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins and Charles Crocker. They managed financing and construction of the CPRR.

With their backing, Judah lobbied for federal authorization and government financing of the transcontinental railroad in Washington, D.C. He contributed to the passage of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, which authorized construction of the first Transcontinental Railroad. After passage of the 1862 Act, the Big Four marginalized Judah. They put Crocker in charge of construction. Construction was completed in 1869, with virtually the entire course of the railroad having followed Judah's plans.

So Theodore Judah actually never finished building the railroad as the task was passed on to someone else.