After President Abraham Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act in 1862, railroad engineer Theodore Judah sent a telegram to his western partners: "We have drawn the elephant. Let us see if we can harness him up."1

The "elephant" was the first leg of the Central Pacific Railroad, a 115-mile stretch of track running from Sacramento, California, over the mountains and into Nevada. The completed survey left no doubt about the complexity of the actual construction. To be practical, railroads needed to avoid steep grades and sharp curves. But the rugged western slope of the Sierra Nevada rose 700 feet in under 20 miles. Narrow canyons and thick walls of granite called for miles of deep cuts and tunnels. It would take an engineer of extraordinary talents to find a workable route in such extreme terrain. He had always talked, read, and studied the problem of a continental railway and would say: 'It will be built and I am going to have something to do with it.' - Anna Judah, wife

Theodore D. Judah was just such an engineer. Born in 1826 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, he built his reputation and career designing bridges and railroads in the East. According to his biographer, Oscar Lewis, Judah "believed passionately in the limitless future of the railroad."2 By some accounts he was almost fanatical about the subject. He was known to corner an elected official or potential investor and badger them to the point of rudeness. He was "studious, industrious, resourceful, opinionated, humorless and extraordinarily competent," wrote Lewis.3