As a result, Evans, together with other local business leaders, including David Moffat, William Byers (founder of the Rocky Mountain News), Joseph E. Bates, Bela M. Hughes, Walter Cheesman and Luther Kountze partnered with East Coast investors to form a railroad company that would link the Denver City and to a lesser degree the Territory of Colorado with the national rail network.
To promote the new company and attract investors, Governor Evans orchestrated a large publicity campaign throughout Arapahoe County, including Denver City.
Some of his partners lobbied wealthy locals to invest, while others persuaded middle and lower class citizens of Arapahoe County to contribute in the form of small pledges and even donations of their own time and labor to work to construct the line.
The fortunes of the company were further enhanced by the decision of the Kansas Pacific Railway to extend its line westward to Denver after receiving $6 million from German investors.
Racing to beat the Golden investors, the company broke ground on its Cheyenne line on May 18, 1868, at a spot near where the Denver Coliseum now stands.
By this time, Denver had established its supremacy over its rival as the population center and capital city of the newly admitted State of Colorado.