Colonel C. Lincoln Wilson came to California in 1849 not to look for gold but to build a transportation industry. After operating a successful toll road and toll bridge in the San Francisco area and a shipping line on the Sacramento River, he turned to railroad building. He founded the City of Lincoln, served as the first president of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, and founded the California Central Railroad. He was responsible for bringing Theadore Judah to California in 1854, the West’s most important civil engineer. In 1859 he laid out the town of Lincoln, which bears his name, and its city lots were sold by public auction in 1861.