Chinese Immigration and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
Chinese Immigration and the Building of the Railroad
Long ago, people needed to get across the country. They didn’t have cars and plains, so they used trains. Before the trains, they had wagon trails, which were slow to use. In the 1800’s, workers in the USA started building a train from Nebraska to the west while California built a railroad toward the east. The work building the railroad was hard. Since not enough men in the area wanted this hard construction work, the railroad companies hired Chinese Immigrants. Some people called them “China men.” They earned 30 dollars each month for working on the railroad. The Chinese workers didn’t quit the job because in China (at the time) it was hard to find a job and they didn’t have much money. There were also some Irish men that wanted to help build the railroad, because of a food shortage in Ireland, but these Irish workers were only about 10% of the total number of construction workers. The first 100 Chinese construction workers were already living in Chinatowns of California at the time of the railroad construction. They had been working on farms and restaurants, and agreed to the new railroad jobs because the pay was higher. Once trained, since their railroad work was very good, the railroad companies wanted more Chinese construction workers. This was the time that workers from China came to the U.S. in ships. The Chinese workers organized themselves into work crews. They brought their own food, tea tents, and chefs. They worked 12 hours/day. They built from 1-4 miles per day of railroad track, depending on weather conditions and terrain. All of their tools were hand-tools, like sledge hammers and hand-drills. They didn’t have power tools. They went through many lands and mountains to get the two ends of the railroad to meet. They went through snow, forests, deserts, mountains, and water. They didn’t build the railroad too carefully, either. In fact, some sections either broke or became
Long ago, people needed to get across the country. They didn’t have cars and plains, so they used trains. Before the trains, they had wagon trails, which were slow to use. In the 1800’s, workers in the USA started building a train from Nebraska to the west while California built a railroad toward the east. The work building the railroad was hard. Since not enough men in the area wanted this hard construction work, the railroad companies hired Chinese Immigrants. Some people called them “China men.” They earned 30 dollars each month for working on the railroad. The Chinese workers didn’t quit the job because in China (at the time) it was hard to find a job and they didn’t have much money. There were also some Irish men that wanted to help build the railroad, because of a food shortage in Ireland, but these Irish workers were only about 10% of the total number of construction workers. The first 100 Chinese construction workers were already living in Chinatowns of California at the time of the railroad construction. They had been working on farms and restaurants, and agreed to the new railroad jobs because the pay was higher. Once trained, since their railroad work was very good, the railroad companies wanted more Chinese construction workers. This was the time that workers from China came to the U.S. in ships. The Chinese workers organized themselves into work crews. They brought their own food, tea tents, and chefs. They worked 12 hours/day. They built from 1-4 miles per day of railroad track, depending on weather conditions and terrain. All of their tools were hand-tools, like sledge hammers and hand-drills. They didn’t have power tools. They went through many lands and mountains to get the two ends of the railroad to meet. They went through snow, forests, deserts, mountains, and water. They didn’t build the railroad too carefully, either. In fact, some sections either broke or became