First Transcontinental Railroad Research Paper

To What Extent did the
Chinese-Americans Build the First Transcontinental Railroad?

2,832 words

Abstract This paper analyzes the extent to which the Chinese-Americans built the first transcontinental railroad. It doesn’t include the contribution of any other ethnicities apart from the Chinese-Americans since it would significantly increase the range of the topic. This paper will analyze the topic by dividing it into three sections. It will firstly assess the manual labor force needed in order to construct the first transcontinental railroad. Subsequently, it will evaluate the expenses of the construction of the railroad and its financial restrictions. Finally, it will address
how effective the use of Chinese labor resulted. In order to come to a conclusion, this paper uses mainly secondary sources. Such sources refer to many letters, forms, and documents in order help us understand the primary source while still keeping an objective interpretation. Many sources are more valuable through extensive content like George Kraus’s Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific. Other sources may be more valuable through the author’s reputation like John King Fairbank, a leading Chinese Scholar. Primarily, this paper will focus more on the western coast. This investigation concludes that the Chinese-American laborers built the first transcontinental railroad to a great extent through its manual labor force, economical advantages through the project’s financial restrictions and its great effectiveness over other options.

Word Count: 203

Table of Contents
Introduction……………………………………….......1-2
Labor Force…………………………………………...3-5
Expenses and Financial Restriction…………………..6-7
Effectiveness……………………………………….8-10
Conclusion…………………………………………….11
Bibliography…………………………………………..12

Introduction
In 1863, the construction of the first transcontinental railroad had commenced. Also known as the Pacific Railroad, this was the start of the first railroad that would connect the west coast of America to the east coast of America. The railroad began in Sacramento, California and it extended throughout the country ending in Promontory Summit, Utah (Suping).
This new railroad opened new opportunities for the whole country. It was a great economic improvement since trading became one of the main advantages this railroad provided. Not only throughout the country, but worldwide trade was also made easier since resources and merchandise would be able to be transported from one coast to the other faster in order to trade with specific areas of the world. Also, with the California Gold Rush and the opening of the West came an increased interest in building a transcontinental railroad (Atluri).
Meanwhile, the American civil war was present in unison with the construction of the railroad. This slowly absorbed the nation’s wealth. It eventually became an obstacle and created restrictions in the American economy. This event also affected the construction of the railroad since it meant that the railroad had to be made within a tight budget as well.
Unfortunately, it is common to praise the result of events rather than acknowledging the process through which these results were achieved. In this particular situation, American-Chinese laborers composed the majority of the workforce of the first transcontinental railroad (Kraus 42). The contribution of these Chinese emigrants is commonly belittled since it is usually ignored how many events were accomplished (Kraus 45). However, it is important to give recognition to these workers because of the gravity of their contribution towards the American country, a country that is not their own. These aliens became one of the main reasons to why the railroad was built at such speed and at such low cost. Such determination of the Chinese-Americans also sparked a small era of enlightenment for many American giants, who previously underestimated the once known as “Chinaman’s” abilities and capabilities.
Recognition to these individuals is needed in order to show how much they have given to the American country. It should be mentioned that because of the contribution of the Chinese-American community, the progression of the railroad would take many more years to complete (Doolittle 1). The collaboration of the Chinese-American laborers demonstrated how a minority in a society achieved a great feat and left a mark in the society’s history. Like today, the minorities during the 1800s were ignored. Once this minority was given a chance, it stood up to prove itself. Feats like this have happened constantly in history like the rise of Malcolm X or Martin Luther King Jr. This paper analyzes to what extent did the Chinese-Americans build the first transcontinental railroad.

Labor Force
When the contribution of Chinese-American emigrants to the first transcontinental railroad is evaluated, it is important to note the labor force of this project. During the years around 1863, many Chinese citizens had migrated to the United States. Many of these emigrants came to the United States in order to escape from the Taiping Rebellion, which had started in 1850 (Fairbank 207). Later on, a couple of Chinese emigrants started to be recruited as laborers for the construction of the railroad (Kraus 42). A big part of the laborers of the first transcontinental railroad belonged to the Chinese race. During the construction of the railroad, about 10,000 to 15,000 workers were of Chinese origin (Goldman 1). This became to be about two thirds of the worker population.
Initially, a very small amount of Chinese-American laborers were working on the construction of the First Transcontinental Railroad. Only about 50 Chinese-Americans were initially employed to work on the railroad. However, after their outstanding performance, another fifty were hired. This happened constantly and before the railroad was finished, there were about twelve thousand Chinese workers on the payroll (Kraus 43).

Chinese workers soon became the foundation of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. Charles W. Crocker, known as the organizer, construction genius, and leader of the men among the Central Pacific’s Big Four, was the man responsible for recruiting the Chinese, first in California, and later in the Canton Province and bringing them to California (Kraus 42). Charles Crocker became a main contributor to the first transcontinental railroad as well (Kraus 43). Previous to Crocker’s ideas, the notion of using any Chinese-Americans in the construction of the railroad was inexistent. The idea of bringing any Chinese emigrants wasn’t even considered by anybody. Even through all of Crocker’s efforts, some individuals still disapproved and dismissed his intentions of bringing Chinese emigrants into California and using them in construction (Goldman 1). During 1863, the amount of white workers was scarce (Doolittle 1). This was because the California Gold Rush was recent and many workers would rather be working in mines or factories (Kraus 47). Because of the lack of workers, Charles Crocker had proposed the idea of using Chinese-American emigrants as laborers. He had first done this through a letter to his friend, Cornelius Cole.
Friend Cole,. . . We have now about 2000 men at work with about 300 wagons and carts and I can assure you they are moving the earth and rock rapidly. We are now on some of the heaviest work in the mountains, but so far we have been fortunate in meeting very little hard rock. You will be astonished when you come back and see the amount of work we have done.
A large part of our force are Chinese, and they prove nearly equal to white men, in the amount of labor they perform, and are far more reliable. No danger of strikes among them. We are training them to all kinds of labor, blasting, driving horses, handling rock, as well as the pick and shovel . . . . We want to get a body of 2500 trained laborers, and keep them steadily at work until the road is built clear across the continent, or until we meet them coming from the other side . . . . (Crocker 1)
Not only were many Caucasian workers unavailable through the California Gold Rush, but also many Caucasian workers were unavailable from the civil war.
The civil war not only required a great amount of funds, but also required a large amount of manpower. Many Caucasian men were pulled off their lives in order to join the civil war and fight for either the north or the south. This proved to take away a large amount of white manual labor force.
These Chinese emigrants later on proved to be more useful than expected since they would construct the railroad in fewer years than expected (Konrad 1). According to Strobridge, Chinese workers started to become very popular since they learned quickly, didn’t fight, had no strikes that amounted to anything and are very cleanly in their habits (1869, cited in Doolittle 1). They started to become a popular choice since they became if not more, as efficient as the white Caucasian workers the railroad companies
had.
It is without doubt that the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, if not impossible, would have been delayed significantly without the contribution of the Chinese-American laborers. These emigrant workers composed more than two thirds of the workforce of the railroad’s laborers. They had migrated to the United States due to the Taiping Rebellion. Charles Crocker had made a great move by taking advantage of this massive movement and had started recruiting Chinese workers into the project. Later on, due to great success of the new laborers, Crocker had recruited even more laborers, this time from the province of Canton. Without a question, Chinese labor had greatly constituted to the creation of the first transcontinental railroad.

Expenses and Financial Restriction Chinese-American laborers had become a great asset to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, but economic restrictions would interfere with the achievement of the ultimate goal. During the winter of 1864, the project for the railroad was only able to hire three hundred laborers due to a shortage of money (Kraus 42). However, according to Governor Stanford, two years later, they would have twelve thousand additional laborers on the payroll (1865, cited in Kraus 46). But on January 2, the California Supreme Court reaffirmed the constitutionality of the state legislature 's act providing for payment by California of interest on $1.5 million in bonds for the hard-pressed Central Pacific at the rate of seven per cent (Kraus 42). This allowed an increment of workers on the railroad. They had in mind the Chinese laborers since after all, who better to hire than the race that built the Great Wall of China (Crocker)? Charles W. Crocker is a meritorious source because he is a primary source. Not only that, but Crocker was responsible for the main Chinese labor contribution. He was responsible for bringing all the Chinese workers into the project so his opinion, speeches and documents may be highly regarded. However, a limitation may be that we do not know of his errors and about how other peers around him felt about his actions.
A big economical drawback however, was the Chinese-American’s eating habits. They ate a lot more than the white Caucasians, which proved to be more expensive.
The difference in the eating and drinking habits of the Chinese and white workers building the Central Pacific was as great as their other living habits. The Chinese menu included dried oysters, abalone, cuttlefish, bamboo sprouts, mushrooms, five kinds of vegetables, pork, poultry, vermicelli, rice, salted cabbage, dried seaweed, sweet rice crackers, sugar, four kinds of dried fruit, Chinese bacon, peanut oil, and tea. Seemingly, this was the forerunner of the modern American well-balanced diet. The fare of the Caucasian laborer consisted of beef, beans, bread, butter, and potatoes (Kraus 46)
Another economical drawback was that the Chinese workers required tea instead of water to quench their thirst. This meant that several times daily, a Chinese mess attendant brought fresh tea, poured into a big barrel (Kraus 46).
A factor that must be considered is the American Civil War that started in 1861 and ended in 1865. During this time, the project to construct the first transcontinental railroad had begun. This imposed more economic restrictions since most of the nation’s wealth was invested in battle. This meant that with the budget the project had, each investment on the railroad had to be as cost effective as possible. This became an obstacle until the idea of hiring of Chinese-American laborers was introduced.
The Chinese-American laborers were content with lesser wages because to them, it was much better than what they received back in China (Fairbank 210). This allowed even more laborers to be hired for the project. Consequently, this decreased the amount of time it took to construct the railroad. Finally, it also meant that the Chinese had made a great contribution by not fighting back because of their wages. This created a lesser amount of conflicts between the workers and the leaders and chiefs.

Effectiveness When dealing with the contribution of Chinese-Americans towards the construction of the first transcontinental railroad, not only do we have to evaluate the labor force and the expenses or financial restrictions, but we also have to decide how effective was the decision to hire Chinese laborers instead of white Caucasian laborers. Why use Chinese laborers and go through all the trouble of bringing them from across the world to work on the railroad when the railroad could be constructed by white Caucasian laborers? That would be one of the major questions imposed when dealing with the reason of using Chinese-American laborers. The effectiveness of the Chinese-American laborers proved to be much greater than what they had expected since these Chinese workers worked efficiently. Their wages were far lesser than the ones of the white laborers which made it more economical (Kraus 46). This was because according to Governor Stanford, they were contented with lesser wages and were more prudent and economical (1865, cited in Kraus 47).
They were paid a lot less than white workers. They only received about thirty to thirty-five dollars a month per laborer. They would pay an American clerk about one dollar a month so he would evenly split the money between each worker. With this money, they would buy food, clothes and other necessities and saved about twenty dollars at the end of the month. Once in a while, they would gamble some of their money (Wilder 1865, cited in Kraus 48). Chinese-American laborers were more economical and cheaper. They were satisfied with lower wages than the Caucasians. The Chinese workers received lower wages than the white Caucasians working with them with the same positions (Doolittle 1). Because of their economical advantage, a larger number of laborers could be hired, therefor increasing the construction speed of the railroad. The last ten miles of track were laid in less than twelve hours by a Chinese crew (Doolittle 1). This proved the efficiency of Chinese laborers. Compared to Caucasian laborers, Chinese laborers behaved better in general. According to Strobrdige, they learn quickly, do not fight, have no strikes that amount to anything, and are very cleanly in their habits. They will gamble, and do quarrel among themselves most noisily — but harmlessly (1865, cited in Kraus 45). This raised a quick interest in them since they would obey easily to orders and didn’t cause much trouble. They seemed like perfect laborers. Finally, the Chinese laborers were spontaneous and improvised. Chinese laborers used their own ideas in achieving goals. An example would be the way they would go over obstacles during the project.
Building the Central Pacific road over and through the granite walls of the Sierra Nevada was done literally by hand. Chinese were lowered in baskets over cliffs two thousand feet above the base of the American River Canyon to chisel a roadway through the granite reaches and occasional shale deposits for the iron rails.11 It is easy to understand why Central Pacific 's Chinese became known as "Crocker 's Pets," when you consider their industriousness and steadiness (Kraus 47).
This clearly proved how the Chinese laborers worked efficiently together to overcome obstacles in the most extreme of situations.
Not only that, but according to many individuals like George Kraus, Charles Crocker or Governor Stanford, they proved to be a far superior choice of workers than the white Caucasian laborers. They clearly proved their efficiency through the course of their actions. Finally, the majority of the laborers were able to work together in much larger groups since they were content with lower wages, thus, letting more of them to be hired. Additionally, because of their numbers, it was easier for the Chinese laborers to work together since there wasn’t a language gap that would be there otherwise if they were less Chinese laborers. They were able to communicate with each other thoroughly and efficiently to keep work fast and
progressive.
George Kraus’ Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific is valuable because it belongs to a collection of documents and short books related to the first transcontinental railroad. This collection belongs to the Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum, which means that it can be considered as a reliable source. A drawback however, can be that in specific sections, it is only George Kraus’ ideas since he evaluates primary sources.

Conclusion
The Chinese-American workers constructed the first transcontinental railroad to a great extent because of the Chinese laborers, Chinese intervention during financial restrictions and their effectiveness.
First, Chinese laborers proved to compose most of the workforce that had built the first transcontinental railroad. They composed about two thirds of the workforce that had constructed the railroad. Also, there was a lack of Caucasian workers during the time because of the recent event of the California Gold Rush. Charles W. Crocker became one of the most historical individuals in the construction of the railroad, since he was responsible for the recruitment of Chinese emigrants and for bringing many of them into California. This opportunity appeared for him after the Taiping Rebellion, where many Chinese wanted to leave China in order to start a new and better life. Even though these Chinese laborers worked under Caucasian bosses, they composed most of the workforce.
Additionally, Chinese laborers were very cheap. This imposed new possibilities, since the Caucasian workers demanded higher wages, which ultimately lead to fewer workers. This gave the opportunity to hire Chinese laborers in large amounts. This lead to the construction and completion of the project in less time than expected.
Finally, the Chinese laborers proved to be more efficient than expected. They became a great asset to the construction of the first transcontinental railroad since in general, historians would agree that the Chinese laborers made the completion of the railroad a lot earlier than expected. The Chinese laborers worked well, efficiently and caused no major trouble in general.
Works Cited
Atluri, Shilpa Chowdary, ed. State Improvement Grant. U of Memphis, n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2013. .
Doolittle, John T., ed. Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum. N.p., 1999. Web. 22 Mar. 2013. .
Fairbank, John King, and Merle Goldman. China: A New History. 2nd Enl ed. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Print.
Goldman, Corrie. "Stanford Scholars Search for Documents from the Chinese Workers Who Built the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad." Stanford News. Stanford University, 21 Sept. 2012. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. .
Kraus, George. "Chinese Laborers and the Construction of the Central Pacific." Utah Historical Quarterly. N.p.: Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum, n.d. 41-57. Print. Vol. 37 of The Last Spike is Driven. 81 vols.
Lu, Suping. "Transcontinental Railroad Construction and Chinese Laborers in the U.S. Congressional Serial Set." Readex. Readex Microprint, 2007. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. .
Ng, Konrad, ed. Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Center. Smithsonian Institution, n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2013. .
WGBH, ed. American Experience. PBS, n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013. .