News and Society > The Chinese in California
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Article rating : 0.00, 0 votes. Author : Alton Pryor
Chinese workman proved vital in building California’s early railroads. All other potential workers had left for the gold fields.
One of the earliest employers of Chinese was the California Central Railroad, which was extending a line from Sacramento to Marysville.
When work was finally started on the western end of the long-talked about transcontinental railroad, there were skeptics about the potential progress from the California end.
Eastern opinion was that the Central Pacific, confronted at the start with the rugged Sierra Nevada, going from nearly sea level to 7,000 feet within 100 miles, would not reach the eastern border of California before the Union Pacific arriving from the east.
Two years after the beginning of construction, less than 50 miles of running track had been completed. Construction superintendent J.H. Strobridge needed 5,000 laborers, but the largest force he could muster any time during the spring of 1885 was 800.
When it was suggested to Strobridge that Chinese workers be hired, Strobridge was adamant, “I will not boss Chinese. I will not be responsible for work done on the road by Chinese labor.”
As the labor situation grew more critical, Strobridge was forced to relent. He decided to experiment by hiring fifty Chinese workers to load carts.
The Chinese proved so adept at the task they were soon given the duty of driving the carts as well as loading them. Strobridge then tried using them on softer excavations, with excellent results.
Convinced, he began hiring Chinese workers in earnest. Railroad agents scoured the towns of California for Chinese laborers. By the fall of 1865, there were 3,000 Chinese on the payroll.
Soon, four men in every five hired by the Central Pacific were Chinese. When the supply of local Chinese labor was exhausted, the railroad began recruiting in the Far East.
The number of Chinese workers increased to ten or eleven thousand by the time the golden spike was placed May 10, 1869.
According to the Chinese Historical Society of America, Chinese workers were divided into gangs of 12 to 20 each.
Each group had a cook. His job was not
only to prepare meals, but also to have a large boiler of hot water ready each night so the workers could take a hot sponge bath and change their cloths before their evening meal.
Hours of work were from sunrise to sunset, six days per week. Initially, the wages of the Chinese workers were set at one dollar per day or twenty-six dollars per month. Later, this was raised to thirty dollars, and finally to thirty-five dollars per month. After expenses were deducted, each man had $20 to $30 left.
These workers soon set an example for diligence, steadiness, and clean living. They had few fights and no “blue” Mondays.
At one point in the construction of the railroad, the workers faced a particular hazard. The area was known as Cape Horn, a nearly perpendicular promontory. The American River ran 1,400 feet below.
Chinese workmen were lowered from the top of the cliff in wearing safety belts. The men chipped and drilled holes for explosives, then scrambled up the lines to safety and then the gunpowder exploded beneath. Inch by inch they gouged a roadbed from the granite.
The ordeal of the Chinese workers worsened. One year after construction started, the railroad had only reached the western slope of the Sierra.
Charles Crocker, one of the owners of the rail line, ordered the workers to start tunneling Donner Summit. The Chinese lived practically out of sight of the sky that entire winter. They dug chimneys and airshafts and lived by lantern light. They tunneled their way from their camps to the portal of the tunnel to work long, underground shifts.
Soon, a remarkable labyrinth developed under the snow. Some corridors were wide enough to allow two-horse sleds to move through freely. They ranged up to 200 feet long. Through them, workmen traveled back and forth, digging, blasting, and removing the rubble.
Loss of life was considerable. The Dutch Flat Enquirer reported on December 25, 1866, that “a gang of Chinamen (sic) employed by the railroad were covered up by a snow slide and 4 or 5 died before they could be exhumed.”
Years later, superintendent Strobridge told a federal investigating commission:
“The snow slides carried away our camps and we lost a good many men in these slides; many of them we did not find until the next season when the snow melted.”
In mid-1868, the Central Pacific finally broke through the Sierra barrier. The true cost in human lives will probably never be known since few records were kept.
Alton Pryor has been a writer for magazines, newspapers, and wire services. He worked for United Press International in their Sacramento Bureau, handling both printed press as well as radio news. He traveled the state as a field editor for California Farmer Magazine for 27 years. He is now the author of 10 books, primarily on California and western history. His books can be seen at http://www.stagecoachpublishing.com. Readers can email him at stagecoach@surewest.net.
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