Editing Collis Potter Huntington (section)

===Building the first U.S. transcontinental railroad===
{{Main|First Transcontinental Railroad}}

In the late 1850s, Huntington and Hopkins joined forces with two other successful businessmen, [[Leland Stanford]] and [[Charles Crocker]], to pursue the idea of creating a rail line that would connect America's east and west. In 1861, these four businessmen (sometimes referred to as "[[The Big Four (Central Pacific Railroad)|The Big Four]]") pooled their resources and business acumen, and formed the [[Central Pacific Railroad]] company to create the western link of America's [[First transcontinental railroad]]. Of the four, Huntington had a reputation for being the most ruthless in pursuing the railroad's business; he ousted his partner, Stanford.<ref>[http://www.cprr.org/Museum/Galloway4.html ''The Builders of the Central Pacific Railroad'' @ CPRR.org as retrieved January 13 2007.]</ref>

Huntington negotiated in [[Washington, D.C.]], with [[Grenville Dodge]], who was supervising railroad construction from the East, over where the railroads should meet. They completed their agreement in April 1869, deciding to meet at [[Promontory Summit, Utah]].<ref>{{cite web |title=History & Culture - Golden Spike National Historical Park |url=https://www.nps.gov/gosp/learn/historyculture/index.htm |website=www.nps.gov |publisher=U.S. National Park Service |access-date=November 11, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11371/ |title = Ceremony at "Wedding of the Rails," May 10, 1869 at Promontory Point, Utah |website = [[World Digital Library]] |date = May 10, 1869 |access-date = July 20, 2013}}</ref> On May 10, 1869, at Promontory, the tracks of the Central Pacific Railroad joined with the tracks of the [[Union Pacific Railroad]], and America had a transcontinental railroad. The joining was celebrated by the driving of the [[golden spike]], provided for the occasion as a gift to the CPRR by San Francisco banker and merchant David Hewes.