Despite the intense backlash, there was never any foundation to the stories spread by detractors of the Central Pacific Railroad. Judah's successor as chief engineer, Samuel S. Montague, was immediately ordered to continue surveying the future route as far as the "Big Bend of the Truckee River" (where it turns north toward Pyramid Lake), more than east of the California border. Obviously, there was no doubt among the Big Four that the Central Pacific line would eventually connect with the Union Pacific somewhere in Utah or the Nevada territory.