ABSTRACT
Both California and Oregon were admitted as states even before such midwestern commonwealths as Iowa and Kansas, and many years before half a dozen far-western states were formed. Within less than a decade, migration to the Oregon country, and the gold rush of 'forty-nine to California, had attracted a population sufficient to encourage the best efforts of energetic promoters. This phenomenal development of a civilization on the far edge of the nation, while the middle of it was still largely a battleground for army troops and Indians, created favorable conditions for acquisitive men of vision. In Sacramento, no more than a dozen men attended his meeting. Sacramento had a railroad almost as soon as Chicago. By Theodore Judah had become wiser; he had seen that his idea of a railroad across the nation was far too big a dream for the local moneyed men.
