Before Theodore Judah started the survey for the Central Pacific Railroad, he raised the funds to pay for it. He traveled tirelessly from Washington, D.C. to California, and between San Francisco and Sacramento. He presented his vision for a transcontinental railroad to anyone willing to listen. But at first there were few takers. The project was enormously expensive and impressed potential investors as a bad idea given the countless obstacles involved and sparse western population. Furthermore, the endless debate over slavery and states' rights had erupted into Civil War in 1861 and people’s attention was focused on the East.

But Judah wasn’t one to take no for an answer. To make his vision more feasible, he stopped discussing the transcontinental railroad, focusing instead on the shorter line into Nevada. This offered more appeal to California businessmen who were already trading with Nevada mining companies on the other side of the mountains. Through relentless campaigning, Judah raised $115,000 through the sale of stock to fund the survey and create the Central Pacific Railroad Company. A majority of the original investment came from four Sacramento-based shopkeepers, who would later be known as the "Big Four."

Judah wasn't one to take no for an answer. Judah provided the vision, the energy and the skills to fund and build the Central Pacific, but unfortunately he would not live to see it built. He died long before the first steam engine scaled the Sierra Nevada. On a return trip to New York via the Panama isthmus, he came down with yellow fever. He died in November 1863, five and a half years before his dream became a reality.

Today, engineers and historians continue to praise Judah’s skills. With minor changes, his initial survey route is the one the railroad followed. Even today it is considered the most practical route for crossing the Sierra Nevada. Thanks to the engineer’s talents, others were able to harness the elephant that he drew.