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Volume 050-2 - April 1996 (16 pages)
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Page: of 16
Daniel W. Strong, a Dutch Flat miner and druggist, made a
compact to solicit subscriptions for a venture known as the
Central Pacific Railroad Company.
Under California law a railroad company could not incorporate until it had received subscriptions equal to $1,000 for
every mile of track it intended to build—and at least 10
percent of that amount had to be received in cash.
Because Judah had estimated a distance of 115 miles from
Sacramento to the state’s eastern border, he and Marsh and
Strong would have to raise $115,000 in pledges and $11,500
in cash. The trio naively supposed it would be fairly easy to
raise that amount, based on their early success in the village
of Dutch Flat, where residents promptly subscribed $46,500.
Judah wrote a prospectus for the railroad, and with it he
attempted to raise money from prosperous businessmen at
San Francisco. To his dismay, the railroad scheme met with
nearly total indifference at the bay city. Many investors had
become soured on such offerings after witnessing the difficulties encountered by organizers of the Sacramento Valley
Railroad—to say nothing of five or six other projects that
failed to lay a single mile of track.
Other potential investors were dubious about Judah’s cost
estimates, ranging from $50,000 to $150,000 per mile. At an
average cost of $88,000 per mile, Judah estimated the total
cost at about ten million dollars—a staggering sum for those
times, and yet some critics thought he wildly underestimated
the real cost.
He also encountered opposition from men who did not
want a railroad connection to the East because it would
conflict with their own plans. Existing railroad, steamship,
stage, express, and freight-hauling firms hated the idea of
more competition, and local manufacturers doubted their
ability to compete with lower-priced eastern products.
Discouraged but undeterred, Judah left San Francisco and
went to Sacramento, where he hoped to meet with a warmer
reception. In January 1861, he made his presentation to a
group of businessmen and bankers. Afterwards, as he was
preparing to leave, a hardware merchant took him aside and
asked Judah to meet him at his office some evening.
Judah did as Collis P. Huntington suggested, and their first
discussion was followed by another in the home of Huntington’s brother-in-law, E. D. Prentice. On that occasion, Judah
and Charles Marsh made a joint presentation to a group of
Republicans, all of whom were Huntington’s business associates or personal friends. The audience was impressed and
agreed to support the enterprise.
On April 30, 1861, the Central Pacific Railroad Company
was incorporated, and its first board of directors included
Collis Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, Mark
Hopkins, Theodore Judah, Lucius Booth, James Bailey, Dr.
Daniel Strong, and Charles Marsh.
It took more than a year to obtain congressional backing to
authorize the railroad, and even longer to determine the exact
location for the right-of-way. In California, much pressure
Marsh’s house at 123 Nevada Street is one of the city’s
oldest and least honored landmarks. (Author’s photo.)
was being exerted to move the Sierra crossing to the north or
south of where Judah and Marsh had placed it.
On September 6, 1862, Huntington, Judah, and Congressman Aaron A. Sargent left Nevada City to examine some of
the alternative routes, accompanied by Charles Marsh, who
had just returned from his honeymoon trip with the former
Ellen Brown Nichols of Marysville. After they had explored
Judah’s preferred route (between Dutch Flat and Donner
Lake) and inspected cabins used by the Donner party, the
group had gone to Virginia City. On their return trip, they
passed through Long Valley, Beckwourth Pass, and Sierra
Valley. Sargent then left the party, and Judah, Huntington,
and Marsh visited the Feather River canyon. The trip confirmed their expectations, and they settled firmly on the
Donner route.
Most historical sources, including the History of Nevada
County published in 1880 by Thompson and West, lose all
track of Marsh during the building of the railroad, and sometimes wonder what became of him. In fact, he continued to
serve on the board of directors of the CPRR throughout the
construction period. Marsh and Leland Stanford were the
only Central Pacific directors who went to Utah for the final
ceremonies at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869. (The
other directors were at Sacramento for a grander celebration
that included marching bands and military companies from
Nevada City and Grass Valley.)
At Promontory, four unique spikes fashioned of gold and/
or silver had been inserted in a series of holes pre-drilled in
the so-called “last tie” to be gently tapped in place. The tie
itself was a piece of highly polished wood of the California
laurel which bore a silver plate that listed the CPRR directors
as: L. Stanford, C. P. Huntington, E. B. Crocker, Mark Hopkins, A. Stanford, E. H. Miller, and Charles Marsh.
This did not end Marsh’s involvement with railroads. On
15