Pacific Railroad Act 1862
The news of the July 1, 1862, Pacific Railroad Act (referred to as “The Pacific Railroad Bill” above) was announced in the July 4 issue of the Tri-Weekly Republican in Omaha, Nebraska
The Railroad Act of 1862 threw the support of the United States Government behind the transcontinental railroad. It authorized the Union Pacific Railroad, the first corporation chartered by the National Government since the Second United States Bank, to build westward from the Missouri River to the California boundary or until it met the Central Pacific. (Congress fixed the longitude and the President named Omaha the terminus.) The act also empowered the Central Pacific, which already had a charter from California, to push farther east and connect with the Union Pacific.
"The great Pacific Railway is commenced... Immigration will soon pour into these valleys. Ten millions of emigrants will settle in this golden land in twenty years... This is the grandest enterprise under God!" (The West)
"May God continue the unity of our Country, as the Railroad unites the two great Oceans of the world."
The Golden Spike and inscription - one of five spikes driven in on May 10, 1869