How was the transcontinental railroad funded

Funding initially was primarily from the personal savings of the Big Four Sacramento merchants (Stanford, Crocker, Huntington, and Hopkins) and additional investors. These men each risked their entire life savings, as limited liability companies such as modern corporations were not yet available. 

Plate Tectonics is a unifying theory that states that the Earth is composed of lithospheric crustal plates that move slowly, change size, and interact with one another. century and culminated in the 1960s. Found six major pieces of evidence the continents move, hence his theory is known as Continental Drift.