Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book.Sample Book Insights: #1 In 1859, Grenville Mellen Dodge, a railroad engineer, was asked by Lincoln, a politician from Illinois, what the best route for a Pacific railroad would be. Dodge replied that it would be from Council Bluffs out the Platte Valley.#2 The transcontinental railroad was a dream of America, and it was made possible by the American engineers who were able to think outside the box and come up with new ways to deal with old problems.#3 The transcontinental railroad was the greatest building project of the nineteenth century. It was built by Dodge and Lincoln, and it was designed to run almost straight out the forty-second parallel from Omaha, alongside the Platte Valley until it reached the Rocky Mountains and then over the mountains to meet the railroad coming east from California.#4 Lincoln was one of the greatest railroad lawyers in the West. He was interested in the idea of a railroad that would connect the East Coast with the territories in the West.