Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

132 ENGINEERING WONDERS OF THE WORLD. I LIMITED EXPRESS NEAR GRAND ISLAND. (Photo, Union Pacific Railway Company.) So the scheme was launched. But though men approved with their mouths and on paper, the needful capital for starting operations was not forthcoming in adequate quantities. At last, however, amid the waving of flags and firing of guns and speechifying, the ground was broken at Omaha, Nebraska, on Decem- ber 3, 1863. A commencement had already been made at the western end by the Central Pacific Company. The money available was soon exhausted, and a long pause ensued. We must not lose sight of the fact that the United States were at this time in the throes of the A Start and yyar jn Eastern a Halt. and Southern States fierce battles were being fought, and money was being poured out to keep the Northern army in the field. Little wonder, then, that even so important an enterprise as this great rail- road hung fire for lack of funds. But Congress, having put its hand to the plough, did not look back. To attract capitalists, it amended the original charter in 1864, doubling the land grant. After some months of scraping and scratching for money, enough was collected to permit » a Second second start in 1864. Once Charter. more the excheque’? became depleted, and the Government, as a last resort, gave permission for the organizing of a construction company, which should finance the undertaking and have a first mortgage on the property. In this way the sinews of war were provided. Be it understood that in the early ’sixties Omaha was not yet in direct railway com- munication with the Eastern manufacturing states, and that as a result supplies had to be brought round to Omaha by water at great expense. We are told, too, that the engineer- ing of the finances by the construction com- pany—to its own undue profit—was hardly less wonderful than that required for the most difficult sections of the track.