“The little railroad was begun in 1850, with the idea that it could be finished in two years. It was finished five years later, and at a cost of $8,000,000, six times beyond anyone’s estimate. McCullough, David (2001-10-26T22:58:59). The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (Kindle Locations 410-411). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. hours. It was also the world’s first transcontinental railroad—one track, five-foot (or broad) gauge, exactly forty-seven and one-half miles long—and the most expensive line on earth on a dollar-per-mile basis, expensive to build and expensive to travel. A one-way ticket was $25 in gold. To its owners the railroad was the tiny but critical land link in the first all-steam overseas system to span the new continental United States. McCullough, David (2001-10-26T22:58:59). The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (Kindle Locations 413-417). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. Once, standing at $295 a share, Panama Railroad was the highest-priced stock listed on the New York Exchange. So dazzling a demonstration of the cash value of an ocean connection at Panama, even one so paltry as a little one-track railroad, was bound to draw attention. Matthew Fontaine Maury, the pioneer oceanographer, had told a Senate committee as early as 1849 that a Panama railroad would lead directly to a Panama canal “by showing to the world how immense this business is,” but nobody had been prepared for success on such a scale. The volume of human traffic alone—upward of 400,000 people between 1856 and 1866— McCullough, David (2001-10-26T22:58:59). The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870-1914 (Kindle Locations 426-430). Simon & Schuster. Kindle Edition. ”
