<P> Four northern California businessmen formed the Central Pacific Railroad: Leland Stanford, (1824--1893), President; Collis Potter Huntington, (1821--1900), Vice President; Mark Hopkins, (1813--1878), Treasurer; Charles Crocker, (1822--1888), Construction Supervisor . All became substantially wealthy from their association with the railroad . </P> <P> Former ophthalmologist Dr. Thomas Clark "Doc" Durant was nominally only a vice president of Union Pacific, so he installed a series of respected men like John Adams Dix as president of the railroad . Durant and its financing arrangements were, unlike those of the CPRR, mired in controversy and scandals . </P> <P> In February 1860, Iowa Representative Samuel Curtis introduced a bill to fund the railroad . It passed the House but died when it could not be reconciled with the Senate version due to opposition from southern states who wanted a southern route near the 42nd parallel . Curtis tried and failed again in 1861 . After the southern states seceded from the Union, the House of Representatives approved the bill on May 6, 1862, and the Senate on June 20 . Lincoln signed the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862 into law on July 1 . It authorized creation of two companies, the Central Pacific in the west and the Union Pacific in the mid-west, to build the railroad . The legislation called for building and operating a new railroad from the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa, west to Sacramento, California, and on to San Francisco Bay . A second law to supplement the first was passed in 1864 . </P> <P> To finance the project, the act authorized the federal government to issue 30 - year U.S. government bonds (at 6% interest). The railroad companies were paid $16,000 / mile (approximately $436,000 today) for track laid on a level grade, $32,000 / mile (about $872,000 today) for track laid in foothills, and $48,000 / mile (or about $1,307,000 today) for track laid in mountains . The two railroad companies sold similar amounts of company - backed bonds and stock . </P>

Who signed the order to build the transcontinental railroad