Page "First Transcontinental Railroad" Paragraph 35

Collis Huntington, a hardware merchant, heard Judah's presentation about the railroad at the St. Charles Hotel in Sacramento in November 1860.

He invited Judah to his office to hear his proposal in detail.

Huntington changed Judah's strategy of finding several investors and instead sought to raise the money from three partners: Mark Hopkins, his business partner ; James Bailey, a jeweler ; Leland Stanford, a grocer, future governor of California, and founder of Stanford University ; and Charles Crocker, a dry-goods merchant and eventual owner of Crocker Banks.

They initially invested $ 1, 500 each and formed a board of directors: The investors became known as The Big Four and their railroad was called the Central Pacific Railroad.

Each were eventually to make millions of dollars from their continuing investments and control of the Central Pacific Railroad ( CPRR ).