China Workers' Contribution to the Pacific Railway

Jules verne, a famous French science fiction writer, also mentioned the significance of this railway construction in his "Around the World in Eighty Days": Without it, the dream of traveling around the world in 80 days will always be just a dream. In the past, it took six months to get from new york to San Francisco, but it only took seven days after the railway was completed. However, when the whole world was praising the project, no one noticed the contribution of China workers. In fact, without the labor and wisdom of China workers, it would take far more than seven years to build this railway. On the Central Pacific Railway with a total length of nearly1100km, 95% of the projects have been completed in the four years since China workers joined the road construction army. For a long time, it was a little-known fact that the most dangerous section of this big railway was built by workers mainly from China. In the payroll records of railway workers of China Pacific Railway Company, the proportion of China workers was as high as 95% at the later stage of the project.

1863, the railway construction project was finally contracted to Central Pacific Railway Company and Union Pacific Company. The former is responsible for the construction of the western section of the railway, while the latter is responsible for the construction of the eastern section. The designer's plan is that the western section of the railway will be built from west to east, and the eastern section of the railway will be reversed. The two railways will eventually meet somewhere in Utah.

In contrast, the construction of the western section of the railway, the so-called "Central Pacific Railway", is much more difficult than that of the eastern section. The east is dominated by plains, while the west faces towering mountains and harsh climate. After the fierce resistance of Indians, the Pacific Railway Company in the east suffered another financial scandal. Some people accuse the contractor of falsely reporting the cost to the government, which is more than 1 time. The accusation also pointed out that some members of Congress had been bribed by the railway company and colluded with the railway company to defraud at least $5 million, and the Eastern Railway had to be temporarily suspended. The final solution to this scandal was only the resignation of the chairman of the railway company, and there was no other punishment, and no one else was punished. The progress of the eastern railway has been restored. 1October 8th, 1863, the western section of the railway broke ground at the intersection of two streets in Sacramento, the capital of California. However, from west to east, it was the most difficult project from the beginning. In front of them is the Sierra Nevada at an altitude of 265,438+000 meters. The first 40 miles are all through mountains, and 50 bridges and more than 65,438+00 tunnels need to be built. The construction conditions are extremely difficult. Not long after the start of construction, hundreds of workers sneaked away and joined the gold rush. The slow progress makes the engineering contractor face the crisis of bankruptcy.

At first, it didn't seem difficult for the Central Pacific Bureau in charge of the western section to find road builders. Every day, a large number of Irish people arrive in San Francisco by boat, but these people simply can't adapt to the dangerous and exhausting road building, drinking, fighting and the constant demand for higher wages. Even so, hundreds of Irish workers still flee every day, and the slow progress of the project can only be described as snail crawling, resulting in the Central Pacific Bureau laying only 50 miles (about 80 miles) in two years. Desperate, Crook, an executive of the Central Pacific Railway Company, suggested hiring China workers. With a try attitude, the management hired the first batch of 50 Chinese workers from South China in California. At that time, there were nearly 50,000 immigrants from China to California, 90% of whom were young men. At that time, China people came to the American continent. They opened gold mines, built railways, developed agriculture, and participated in small-scale manufacturing, small-scale catering and service industries in California. In all the places where they can survive or even others think they can't, they have left the mark of China people's hard work. In this important event in the history of modern American industrialization, thousands of China laborers were called to participate in the most arduous construction of the Central Pacific Railway. In engineering, they played a key role and made a decisive contribution in road construction with the unique spirit of hard work and outstanding wisdom of China people. They also paid a heavy price, and a large number of China workers died of high-intensity and high-risk labor. However, it is outrageous that Chinese workers were treated unfairly at that time, such as meager remuneration, racial discrimination and the wave of Chinese exclusion.