Theodore D. Judah was born on March 4, 1826 in Bridgeport,
Connecticut to an Episcopal minister. Judah studied engineering at
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute after his family moved to Troy, New
York. His first experience with railroading occurred when he worked on
a line being laid from Troy to Schenectady. He realized that he had
found his career and he never left it. He married at the age of 22 and went to
California at the age of 28 to become the chief engineer of the Sacramento
Valley Railroad, planned to operate between Sacramento and one of the mining
districts east of the town. [Kraus 297]
Judah was the driving force behind California's role in the construction of the
Pacific Railroad; it was one of his major enthusiasms. He had a dream of a
railroad that would cross the continent, and talked about his dream to anyone
who would listen. His obsession, in part, led to the meeting of the Pacific Railroad
Convention in 1859, which was the beginning of the major push for a
transcontinental railroad. [Kraus 297]
After he completed his work on the Sacramento Valley Railroad in 1856 (the first
railroad in California), Judah continued to rally for the Pacific Railroad. His
enthusiasm eventually led to the founding of the Central Pacific Rail Road
Company and his lobbying efforts made the passage of the Pacific Railroad Bill
of 1862 possible. While the passage of this bill made his dream of a Pacific
Railroad possible, he died in November of 1863, before his dream could be
fulfilled. [Kraus 297]