The completion of the Southern Pacific Railway was marked when its eastern part, which originated in Texas in the 1850s and was rechartered in 1870 by the Texas Legislature as the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Rwy., was brought together with the westward-building line of C. P. Huntington of California. The Texas line had been designed to join Houston and San Antonio to the Rio Grande, and after T. W. Pierce of Boston gained control in 1874, Huntington, seeking a Texas connection for his tracks, reached an agreement with Pierce. On Jan. 12, 1883, the two railroads met near the Pecos High Bridge and were joined by a Silver Spike.