THE GOLDEN SPIKE A transcontinental railroad had been sought in America since the California Gold Rush in 1849. Congress, however, could do nothing but dither over the route. The southern states favored an all season route through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to Los Angeles. Congress went so far as to purchase more land in Northern Mexico to enable that route. The northerners opposed it because they were afraid slavery would expand to California. Several potential routes were surveyed farther north, but the Southerners opposed every one of them. Uncle Abe Lincoln was a staunch supporter of the transcontinental railroad and as soon as the southern senators left the union an authorization bill was passed for construction of the line from Omaha up the Platte River, across the Rockies, and on through the sagebrush wastes to
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