Editing First transcontinental railroad (section)

===Central Pacific financing===
[[Collis Huntington]], a Sacramento [[Household hardware|hardware]] merchant, heard Judah's presentation about the railroad at the St. Charles Hotel in November 1860. He invited Judah to his office to hear his proposal in detail. Huntington persuaded Judah to accept financing from himself and four others: [[Mark Hopkins (railroad)|Mark Hopkins]], his business partner; James Bailey, a jeweler; [[Leland Stanford]], a grocer; and [[Charles Crocker]], a dry-goods merchant. They initially invested $1,500 each and formed a board of directors. These investors became known as [[Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|The Big Four]], and their railroad was called the [[Central Pacific Railroad]]. Each eventually made millions of dollars from their investments and control of the Central Pacific Railroad.

Before major construction could begin, Judah traveled back to New York City to raise funds to buy out The Big Four. Shortly after arriving in New York, Judah died on November 2, 1863, of [[yellow fever]] that he had contracted while traveling over the [[Panama Railroad]]'s transit of the [[Isthmus of Panama]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cprr.org/Museum/Ephemera/Judah%20Memoriam%20BCC.html|title=''In Memoriam, Theodore D. Judah, Died November 2, 1863''}}</ref> The CPRR Engineering Department was taken over by his successor Samuel S. Montegue, as well as Canadian trained Chief Assistant Engineer (later Acting Chief Engineer) Lewis Metzler Clement who also became Superintendent of Track.<ref name="judah"/><ref name="lmc"/>