I am watching the Hell on Wheels tv series and was curious about the original plans for building a transcontinental railroad. I googled and googled but couldn't find a reason as to why the decision was made to grant three companies the bonds to begin construction, (making it a competition). Why not let one company built the entire railroad line from Sacramento to Omaha/Council Bluffs or the other way around? Why did they decide to start at two different ends and meet in the middle? Does anyone have more details about this?
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