<Li> Kansas City, Kansas / Leavenworth, Kansas accessed via the Leavenworth, Pawnee and Western Railroad, controlled by Thomas Ewing Jr. and later by John C. Fremont . </Li> <Li> Council Bluffs, Iowa / Omaha, Nebraska, accessed via an extension of Union Pacific financier Thomas C. Durant's proposed Mississippi and Missouri Railroad and the new Union Pacific Railroad, also controlled by Durant . </Li> <P> Council Bluffs had several advantages: It was well north of the Civil War fighting in Missouri; it was the shortest route to South Pass in the Rockies in Wyoming; and it would follow a fertile river that would encourage settlement . Durant had hired Lincoln in 1857 when he was an attorney to represent him in a business matter about a bridge over the Missouri . Now Lincoln was responsible for choosing the eastern terminus, and he relied on Durant's counsel . Durant advocated for Omaha, and he was so confident of the choice that he began buying up land in Nebraska . </P> <P> One of the most prominent champions of the central route railroad was Asa Whitney . He envisioned a route from Chicago and the Great Lakes to northern California, paid for by the sale of land to settlers along the route . Whitney traveled widely to solicit support from businessmen and politicians, printed maps and pamphlets, and submitted several proposals to Congress, all at his own expense . In June 1845, he led a team along part of the proposed route to assess its feasibility . </P>

Who won the race to build the transcontinental railroad