Not all of the big four regarded it as a great blunder, as late as 1867 Mark Hopkins was arguing that railroads could never compete with steamships from Sacramento to San Francisco and Sacramento was the popular terminus.

Hyde to John Wilson, Auditor, Treasury Department, May 5, 1867, Letterbook 1: 79-83 Box 1, folder 1; Hyde to C.D. Morgan, Dec. 10 1866, Letterbook 1: 61-70 Box 1, folder 1, Hyde Papers.

Hopkins to CPH, March 30, 1867, CPH Papers, ser. 1, r. *