Richard White, author of Railroaded: The Transcontinentals and the Making of Modern America will, next Thursday evening at Presidio of San Francisco, lecture about security and the history of transportation as a service.

One justification for federal funding of the transcontinental railroads was the need to save California for the Union, but by the time construction got underway, the Civil War was over and California was safe. The railroads were built ahead of demand, floundered in bankruptcy, and created political and economic problems that plagued the West for a generation.