Prospect Hill Cut by A. Hart
Before smoke and steam could fill the skies of the American West, the sweat, muscles, and arduous labor of thousands of men and draft animals was needed to build the first transcontinental railroad. A labor force rivaling the size of an army would be needed to overcome the numerous obstacles confronting both the Central and Union Pacific Railroads. The Central Pacific faced immediate challenges building east from Sacramento, California. The looming Sierra Nevada Mountains, miles of parched desert in the new state of Nevada, and tempting gold fields that could lure away entire workforces.
The Central Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was chartered in 1862 to build the western portion of the first transcontinental railroad. Progress during the first two years of construction was slow, partially due to the long supply lines used by the Central Pacific to acquire the material to build and to a critical shortage of labor. The labor shortage was often created by the report of gold strikes. Workers would often quit whenever a lucrative strike was reported, leaving the arduous manual labor of railroad construction for a fleeting chance at riches in the gold fields. CPRR managers like Charles Crocker started to consider alternative labor sources in 1864.
Bank & Cut at Sailor's Spur by A. Hart
The CPRR was initially reluctant to hire Chinese immigrants due to anti-Chinese sentiment and concerns that white workers would not work with the Chinese immigrants due to racist attitudes. California had attracted numerous Chinese immigrants ever since the discovery of gold in 1849. The Guangdong province, located in southern China, was rife with civil war and poverty in the 19th century, and many from that province found their way to California looking for work and a chance to earn wages to send back to China. The majority of the Chinese immigrants were male, many having left wives, mothers, sisters, daughters, and future spouses at home in China. Foreign miner taxes in California, often aimed squarely at Chinese immigrants, prevented them from staking mining claims, which in turn forced them to look for opportunities elsewhere.
The CPRR hired an initial group of 50 Chinese workers that in short time dispelled the negative assumptions held by some CPRR managers. They fostered a reputation of strength, efficiency, and reliability. More Chinese workers would be hired and they held a variety of jobs: laborers, foremen, contractors, masons, carpenters, cooks, teamsters, interpreters, and medical professionals. Even so, racial inequalities persisted. Chinese workers were paid an average of 30% less than their white counterparts. They were segregated in work camps and had to pay for their own lodging, food, supplies, and equipment.
Snow Plow at Cisco by A. Hart
The disparity came to a head on June 24th, 1867, when all Chinese railroad workers from Cisco to Truckee, California, a 30 miles section of track, stopped work. At the time it was the largest organized labor strike in the United States. Their demands included higher wages, reduced workdays from 11 to 10 hours, and shorter work shifts in the tunnels. The strike lasted a week before the CPRR cut off all food and supplies to their camps. The workers demonstrated the kind of self-discipline, organization, and willingness to stand up for their dignity that would be seen in later labor movements.
In addition to a wage disparity the Chinese laborers faced dangerous working conditions in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Numerous tunnels had to be bored out of solid granite rock for the railroad and this critical and dangerous work frequently fell to the Chinese. Rockslides, explosions, environmental exposure, violence, and even avalanches claimed many lives. While no accurate number is available it is estimated that over one thousand Chinese laborers died building the CPRR.
Heading of East Portal by A. Hart
The self-discipline, organization, and determination to build a railroad in a difficult environment would culminate in a world record that was set on April 28th, 1869, as the two railroad companies neared Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. The CPRR and UPRR had a running bet on who could lay the most miles of track in a day. The CPRR sought to win the bet by laying 10 miles of track in one day, besting the UPRR by almost 2 miles. As dawn broke on April 28th, 1869, eight Irish track layers commenced to move the rails into place. Behind these eight men were no fewer than 400 Chinese laborers shoring up the track and tamping down ballast (rock found between the railroad ties). The Chinese were also there laying ties, spiking the rails to the ties, and bolting rails together. As the sun slipped below the western horizon the total amount of track laid stood at 10 miles and 56 feet.
On the morning of May 10th, 1869, eight Chinese men moved the final rail into position. The polished laurel wood cross tie was also moved into place and four holes were drilled for the precious metal spikes. Following the completion of the railroad, many Chinese workers remained with the CPRR or took jobs with other burgeoning railroad companies. Many small railroad towns included Chinatowns that housed railroad workers and catered to their needs and diet.
End of Track by A. Hart
Unfortunately, an economic recession in the 1870s started a chain of events that would drive many Chinese out of the United States. Nativist fears about non-white immigrant labor spurred mob violence against Chinese communities. The 1875 Page Law restricted immigration of Chinese women and made Chinese families a rarity in the United States. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 severely limited Chinese immigration for 10 years. It was later renewed in 1892 as the Geary Act before being made a permanent law in 1902. The law was finally rescinded in 1943 at which point Chinese were eligible for citizenship. Racial violence peaked between 1885 and 1887 and the population shrunk from 133,000 in 1882 to 90,000 by 1900.
Some historians have called the Chinese railroad workers “Silent Spikes,” because none of their correspondence or diaries are known to still exist in the United States or in China, making it difficult to tell the stories of individuals. But the workers were also systemically anonymized. CPRR business records and white observers provide ample evidence of Chinese immigrants involvement in the railroad project, even newspapers at the time wrote about them, but they excluded individual names. Twentieth century histories written about the transcontinental railroad project often obscured, even marginalized, or omitted the contributions of the Chinese railroad workers.
Laborers & Rocks by A. Hart.
At Golden Spike National Historical Park we strive to provide an inclusive telling of the building of the first transcontinental railroad. In recent years efforts by various organizations like the Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association (CRWDA) have aided in bringing to light many previously unknown stories. Through their efforts, a previously underrepresented yet substantial portion of the CPRR workforce is finally gaining attention for their contributions to railroad construction. The smoke and steam that filled the skies between Sacramento, California and Promontory Summit, Utah Territory owes much to the 10,000 Chinese laborers whose tireless efforts made the first transcontinental railroad a reality.
