CHAPTER II
RESOURCES FOR CONSTRUCTION—STATE AND LOCAL AID
Source of Funds
Some years after the Central Pacific and Western Pacific railroads were completed, Leland Stanford laid before a committee chosen by Congress the following memorandum showing the receipts of these two roads from all sources up to December 31, 1869:
Memorandum Showing the Receipts of the Central and Western Pacific Railroads from All Sources to December 31, 1869
| Source of Funds | Par Value | Approximate Sum Realized |
| United States bonds issued to Central and Western Pacific | $27,855,680 | $20,735,000 |
| Central and Western Pacific first mortgage bonds | 27,855,560 | 20,750,000 |
| Central Pacific convertible bonds | 1,483,000 | 830,000 |
| Central Pacific state aid bonds | 1,500,000 | 980,000 |
| City and County bonds: | ||
| San Francisco to Central Pacific | 400,000 | 300,000 |
| Sacramento to Central Pacific | 300,000 | 190,000 |
| Placer County to Central Pacific | 250,000 | 160,000 |
| San Francisco to Western Pacific | 250,000 | 175,000 |
| San Joaquin County to Western Pacific | 250,000 | 125,000 |
| Santa Clara County to Western Pacific | 150,000 | 100,000 |
| Land sales, balance Central Pacific | 107,000 | |
| Profit and loss balance, January 1, 1870 | 1,610,000 | |
| ————— | ————— | |
| Total | $46,062,000 | |
| Company owed Contract and Finance Company | 1,827,000 | |
| ————— | ||
| Grand total | $47,889,000 | |
We have in the foregoing table a summation of the resources on which Judah and the Huntington group were able to draw in order to build a transcontinental road. It will be noticed that there is no mention in the table of the personal fortunes of the associates, unless the contribution of these gentlemen appears in the profit and loss balance, or in the debt to the Contract and Finance Company—none of the earnings of the railroad during construction, and none of the proceeds of the sale of Central Pacific capital stock. Under these categories some slight addition to Stanford’s list must probably be made, though the importance of the addition will not be great.
Collectively the fortunes of the associates, while considerable, were not sufficient to cover more than the preliminary expenses of the work. Judah had but little capital, while, according to Huntington’s own statement some years later, the combined assets of Stanford, Crocker, and the firm of Huntington and Hopkins, amounted to something like $1,000,000 when the construction of the Central Pacific was begun.[23] Other estimates put the figure at $160,000,[24] or even as low as $109,000.[25] We do not know, as a matter of fact, how much property the associates possessed, but we do know that it was slight compared with the undertaking which they had in hand.