How Did China Build The Transcontinental Railroad

Have you ever wondered how the Chinese’s life was like during the construction of the transcontinental railroad? Chinese in the 1800's faced many challenges in the process of building the transcontinental railroad. The Chinese faced discrimination, dangerous working areas, and long hours of work with little wage.
The transcontinental railroad had a purpose for its construction. It served to transport goods and supplies to areas in which it was burdening to transport to using other kinds of transportation. Building the railroad served to also receive land, loans, and profits from the land they sold to settlers that wanted to cultivate or settle in the west, in which profits were given to people in charge of the construction of the railroad. To build this railroad they needed workers, but why did they choose the Chinese over any other type of person?
Charles Crocker, an American railroad executive, hired Chinese people willing to labor for money, because he was desperate for workers. The Chinese
hoped to get rich from working in the transcontinental railroad and go back to China in a fortune. After Crocker saw how well the Chinese worked, he decided to hire more Chinese. Charles Crocker hired the Chinese over any other type of person because before, their lives were awful so most were willing to work in dangerous places and work for little wage. Amount this, it was easy to transport Chinese from Asia in boats to the United States. However the Chinese didn't have as much luck as Crocker.
One of the challenges the Chinese faced was discrimination. They were discriminated by the Irish because they were taking up all the job positions and leaving none for the rest of the Irish laborers. Another way the Chinese were discriminated was because they had to pay their contractors for food, shelter and even their tools, while the Irish had all their needs covered by their contractors. Even though they had a good reputation with the contractors and leaders, they were discriminated because they were foreigners and they thought of them as just laborers with no rights in America. Even though they were discriminated by the Irish and the contractors, they also had other challenges coming their way.
Another challenge that the Chinese faced was the dangerous areas of work.
When the Chinese worked in tunnels, they had to risk their lives because of explosions. If the conditions were dangerous, why did they do it? To make way through mountains, they had to build “wooden trestles on the western slopes and used gunpowder, and nitroglycerin to blast tunnels through the granite” (source 3). If they didn't make tunnels, they couldn't successfully complete the railroad and all their hopes of becoming rich will vanish. Their only hope of becoming rich was to work in dangerous areas, even if they didn't want to. Other than the dangers of building tunnels, there were other hazardous obstacles to cross. Another way that they faced dangerous working areas was because to level out the terrain for the tracks, they had to grate, level out and clear trees, stumps, rocks and other obstructions along the way which could get them killed just like the blastings to make way for
tunnels.
In addition, the Chinese faced long hours of work with little wage. Since the group of contractors the Chinese worked with had a competition with another continent, they had to work for long hours to build a longer railroad and save time. Though they had to work for long hours such as 10 to 12 hours per day, they were paid little wages since there were many Chinese contracted by the same contractor. The Chinese earned about $24 to $35 per month if they were lucky, others earned less. Many Chinese thought that after completing the transcontinental road that they would live in fortune, but some were not in such luck. Many Chinese went back to China with their hopes of getting rich broken, and still lived in poverty like they did before. Some even stayed at the United States and helped build farms and small businesses also, in hopes of getting rich.

Life for the Chinese laborers in the 1800’s was hard due to all the challenges they had to face. While building the transcontinental railroad, they had to face discrimination, dangerous working areas, and long hours of work with little wage. This was how life in the 1800’s was like for the Chinese that were working on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad.