Theodore Judah
| Theodore Dehone Judah | |
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T.D. Judah c1862
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| Born |
March 4, 1826 Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Died | November 2, 1863 (aged 37) New York City |
| Cause of death | Yellow Fever |
| Other names | "Crazy Judah" |
| Education | Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute |
| Occupation | Civil engineer |
| Employer | Central Pacific Railroad |
| Known for | railroad pioneer |
| Title | Chief Engineer, CPRR |
| Spouse(s) | Anne Pierce Judah |
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Theodore Dehone Judah (March 4, 1826 – November 2, 1863) was an American railroad and civil engineer who was a central figure in the original promotion, establishment, and design of the First Transcontinental Railroad. He found investors for what became the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR). As chief engineer, he performed much of the land survey work to determine the best route for the railroad over the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Theodore Judah was born in 1826 in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of an Episcopal clergyman. After his family moved to Troy, New York, Judah studied engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
At age 21 Judah married Anna Pierce on May 10, 1847. Theirs was the first wedding in the then new St James Episcopal Church of Greenfield, Massachusetts.
After working on a number of railroads in the Northeast, Judah was hired as the Chief Engineer for the Sacramento Valley Railroad in California. It was the first railroad built west of the Mississippi River. Throughout the 1850s, Judah was known as "Crazy Judah" for his idea to build a railroad through and over the Sierra Nevada, a project which many people at the time considered impossible.
As the chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR), Judah surveyed the route over the Sierra Nevada along which the railroad was to be built during the 1860s. Failing to raise funds for the project in San Francisco, he succeeded in signing up four Sacramento merchants, known as the "Big Four": Leland Stanford, Collis P. Huntington, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. They managed financing and construction of the CPRR.
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