Why were Chinese workers chosen to build the railroad

In the US, May is recognized as Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month (AAPIHM). The selection of this month to recognize Asian Americans is linked to one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 19th Century: The completion of the 1,776 mile Transcontinental Railroad on May 10th, 1869. The success of that engineering marvel would not have been possible without the sacrifices of some 10,000–15,000 Chinese immigrants who dug tunnels, built bridges, and laid track from Sacramento, CA to Promontory Summit, UT. The story of how they became part of that chapter of American history and their amazing accomplishments demonstrate that those Chinese workers were true MVP’s of the Transcontinental Railroad.

An Unlikely Workforce

The Transcontinental Railroad was built by two companies working from opposite sides of the US with plans to meet in the middle: The Union Pacific began working in Omaha, Nebraska and laid track to the west. The Central Pacific Railroad started in California and worked east. As the work started in 1865, the Central Pacific (CP) had need of 4000 workers for their task. Due to labor shortages, the CP could only manage to hire and retain about ¼ of that number. Most of those workers were Irish immigrants from the East Coast of the US. In an attempt to bolster the workforce, Charles Crocker, who managed construction for the Central Pacific, suggested taking advantage of a largely untapped workforce: Chinese immigrants. Thousands of Chinese had come to California in the 1850’s to try and strike it rich in the California gold rush. Like the majority of prospectors, most were unsuccessful and forced to take other jobs to survive.

Crocker’s suggestion faced stiff resistance from others on the Central Pacific. Most thought the Chinese to be unreliable workers and not strong enough to handle the hard labor needed to build the railroad. To counter that argument, Charles Crocker was said to have retorted, “the Chinese made the Great Wall, didn’t they?” Central Pacific executives reluctantly agreed and brought on a small number of Chinese to replace striking Irish railroad workers. The Chinese proved to be excellent workers, excelling at all jobs. The Central Pacific hired more Chinese and began recruiting even more from mainland China. By 1868 some 12,000 Chinese were on the payroll making up 80% of the Central Pacific’s workforce.

Based on those numbers alone, the Chinese were clearly a critical part of building the railroad. But that’s only part of the story. Consider these three examples of how those Chinese immigrants showed that they were true MVP’s.

1 ) Tunnelling with Explosives

The route from West to East carved out by the Central Pacific required workers to lay track through the Sierra Nevada mountains. That meant carving grades, building bridges, and blasting tunnels. In all, they dug 11 tunnels through the mountains, enduring harsh conditions, backbreaking work, and fierce winter storms that left 18 feet of snow on the summits. Digging through the granite mountains required use of explosives which were mainly handled by the Chinese workers. At times, workers were lowered down the sheer mountain faces on ropes, reportedly in baskets, to drill holes and set explosives. The Chinese workers appeared fearless when confronted by the staggering heights of the mountains or working with dangerous black powder.

Later on, black powder explosives were replaced by more powerful, but much more temperamental, nitroglycerin. The work was hazardous and without the patience and expertise in handling explosives brought by the Chinese workers, traversing the Sierra Nevada mountains would have taken much longer and probably cost the lives of many more workers.

2) Diet and Hygiene

More than 100 years before the term “wellness” entered the corporate vocabulary, Chinese railroad workers demonstrated the value of self-care in creating and efficient workforce. Healthy diet and hygiene practices were a significant factor in the success of the Chinese workers. Unlike the other workers on the Central Pacific, the Chinese had food brought in specifically for them. Their diet was much more varied than the meat, beans and potatoes which was the staple diet of the other workers. The Chinese workers arranged to have items such as rice, dried vegetables, dried oysters, dried abalone fish, pork, poultry, and of course tea, brought to the work site. Because the Chinese workers drank boiled tea instead of untreated water, they were much less susceptible to dysentery and other diseases that were constant threats to the workers on both routes of the Transcontinental Railroad. Food was so important to the Chinese workers that their cooks were often paid more than typical laborers.

The Chinese also had hot water ready for them after their work shifts so that they could bathe and change into clean clothes before their evening meal. Chinese physicians were available at work sites to tend to the physical health of the workers, and Buddhist shrines and joss houses were erected to address spiritual health.

Those “wellness” perks were not free, though. Unlike the white workers whose board was included, the cost of food for the Chinese workers was taken from their already low salaries.

3) Ten Mile Day

One of the most amazing accomplishments of the Central Pacific workers started as a bet. The Union Pacific (the company laying track from the east) and Central Pacific teams had a running competition as to which team could lay the most track in one day. Union Pacific workers laid 6 miles of track in one day, then Central Pacific workers put down 7 miles of track. The Union Pacific next beat that record by ½ mile. Charles Crocker of the Central Pacific made the bold claim that his workers could lay 10 miles of track in one day. Union Pacific Railroad Vice President, Thomas Durant, reportedly wagered $10,000 that they couldn’t, and the race was on.

The Central Pacific crews worked with assembly line efficiency. Starting at 7am, eight Irish workers and some 4000 Chinese began laying track. They worked at an astonishing rate of almost one mile an hour. A correspondent for a San Francisco newspaper timed the track layers. He wrote: “I timed the movement twice and found the speed to be as follows: The first time 240 feet of rail was laid in one minute and twenty seconds; the second time 240 feet was laid in one minute and fifteen seconds. This is about as fast as a leisurely walk and as fast as the early ox teams used to travel over the plains.”

By 7pm they were done, and had set down 10 miles and 56 feet of new track. By the end of that 12 hours, each rail handler had lifted 125 tons of iron.

Nameless Heroes

Sadly the names of the majority of the Central Pacific’s Chinese laborers are lost to history as most were not listed in the company’s payroll. Only the eight Irish workers from the “Ten Mile Day” were specifically recognized by name. In spite of the fact that over 2/3rds of the Central Pacific work crew were Chinese, they are largely absent from pictures showing the celebration of the “golden spike” completing the Transcontinental Railroad. To add injury to insult, many of those same Chinese workers faced discrimination and hostility as an anti immigration sentiments grew in US. Less than 20 years after the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 which effectively barred immigration from China until 1943.

In 2014, the Department of Labor tried to help right some of those wrongs and recognized the contributions of those thousands of Chinese railroad workers by inducting them into their “Hall of Honor.” The citation commends the Chinese workers saying, “Their efforts, which connected the western United States to the eastern United States, laid the foundation for the extraordinary economic prosperity enjoyed by the United States in the years that followed.”

As we recognize the contributions of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders this month take some time to remember and honor the thousands of Chinese immigrants who risked life and limb to construct an engineering marvel that spanned a continent. Their sacrifices helped to link this country together in a way that has allowed generations of Americans to dream of even greater achievements and lay down their own tracks toward the future.

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