They became experts in drayage, masonry, carpentry and track laying. Often toiling in extreme weather, they cleared obstructions, moved earth, bored tunnels and built retaining walls - work done virtually all by hand. “The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad” and Chang’s separate book “ Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad,” which is scheduled to be released in May, both describe the Chinese taking on some of the most dangerous, most exhausting assignments for less pay (and worse treatment) than their Euro-American counterparts. They instead relied on Civil War veterans and East Coast immigrants, among others, according to Chang. The Union Pacific, by contrast, had no Chinese laborers during the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. At its highest point, between 10,000 and 15,000 Chinese were working on the Central Pacific, with perhaps as many as 20,000 in total over time. Less than two years later, almost 90 percent of the Central Pacific workforce was Chinese the rest were of European-American descent, mostly Irish. The Chinese had earlier worked on other California railroads as well as the Central Pacific in small numbers, according to the project.īy the end of July 1865, boatloads of Chinese were arriving in San Francisco. Hart Photographs, 1862-1869 / Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Librariesįacing a labor shortage, the railroad may have turned to recruiting Chinese at the suggestion of Central Pacific construction contractor Charles Crocker’s brother, E.B., a California Supreme Court justice and an attorney for the company. Chinese workers near an opening of the Summit Tunnel of the Central Pacific Road. Eventually, they headed to the Nevada silver mines for better wages and the prospect of striking it rich, Hilton Obenzinger, the project’s associate director, said. Many whites who took the jobs did so for only a time, reluctant to shoulder the demanding and hazardous work expected of them. Chang and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, co-directors of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University. To grow its workforce, the Central Pacific took out an advertisement in January 1865 seeking 5,000 railroad laborers, but only a few hundred whites responded, according to “The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad,” a book scheduled for release in April and edited by Gordon H. Stanford also served as president of the Central Pacific and later established the university that bears his name. It also generated tremendous wealth for railroad tycoons such as Leland Stanford, a former California governor who ran under an anti-Chinese immigrant platform. Produce and natural resources were among the things that could now be moved more quickly and cheaply from coast to coast. The first transcontinental railroad became a boon to the economy of a nation recovering from a civil war, shaving significant travel time across the continent from several months to about a week. Acts of Congress provided both companies with land grants and financing. The Union Pacific Railroad pushed west from Council Bluffs, Iowa (bordering Omaha), where their rails joined existing eastern lines. The Central Pacific broke ground on the first transcontinental railroad Jan. Stanford Historical Photograph Collection / Stanford University Libraries AN EXPERIMENT YIELDS SUCCESS Previous scholars and historians believed that there were no Chinese workers in this photo, but Stanford researchers identified two of them in the crowd. Leaders of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroad lines meet and shake hands in this iconic photograph taken by Andrew J. “It is the best opportunity I will have in my lifetime to have this story shared, to have it understood and appreciated by people outside our community,” said Michael Kwan, the association’s president, whose great-great grandfather worked for the Central Pacific. Among the events planned around the sesquicentennial is the 2019 Golden Spike Conference, organized by the Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association, which will feature workshops, lectures, tours and a musical by Jason Ma entitled “Gold Mountain.” This May, for the 150th anniversary, descendants of the Chinese railroad laborers and other advocates have been working hard to ensure history does not repeat itself. I was beside myself,” Choy, who passed away in 2017, recalled during a 2013 interview.
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