(The following appeared on the Lexington Clipper-Herald website on May 31, 2011.)
LEXINGTON, Neb. — Building a transcontinental railroad was first discussed by congress in the 1830s, but it wasn’t until California became a state in 1850 that the serious planning began.
California, with its promise of gold, touched off the greatest migration in history with discovery of gold at Sutter’s Mill, near what is now Sacramento, Calif., on Jan. 24, 1848.
In 1862 the northern Congress passed a bill that chartered the Union Pacific Railroad Company (UPRR). President Abraham Lincoln attended the groundbreaking ceremony Dec. 23, 1863 in Omaha.
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