 In 1849 William H. Aspinwall, the man who had won the bid for the building and operating of the Pacific mail steamships, conceived a plan to construct a railway across the isthmus of Panama; he and his partners created a company registered in New York, the Panama Railroad Company, raised US$1,000,000 from the sale of stock, and hired companies to conduct engineering and route studies.Their venture happened to be well-timed, as the discovery of gold in California in January 1848 created a rush of emigrants wanting to cross the Isthmus of Panama and go on to California or return home.Cholera, yellow fever, and malaria took a deadly toll on the Railroad workers, and despite the continual importation of large numbers of new workers, there were times when the work stalled for simple lack of alive and semi-fit workers.