Railroad trivia question, would you help?

From: "Cindy Montano" cindy@montanodesigns.com

I am participating in a trivia contest about the West. This is one of the questions I'm stumped on. Would you help?

*On the fabled tenth of May, there was much hoopla and hooray, but it was all a bluff. Because even with the Douglas folks and the Council celebrating, a body of water still separated them. What two burgs still seemed oceans apart?*

I've played in this trivia contest before and typically all parts of the question have to fit the answer. Douglas, Council, burg (burg can mean a fortified town so Fort ??? is probable as one of the answers and ???-burg for the other) , ocean are all key. Is there something ironic about the transcontinental railroad? Maybe the Union Pacific and Central Pacific didn't connect two important place? San Francisco Bay? Like I said, I'm stumped ;)

Any and all help you would provide is greatly appreciated.

—Cindy Montano