Chapter 9 Section 3 Construction of the Transcontinental Railway in the United States and Canada
After the "Westward Movement" in the United States, especially after the gold mining boom, the development of the western region has become an urgent need.The development of the western region must not only rely on European immigrants and Chinese laborers, but also rely on the support of the economically more developed eastern region, so it is very urgent to strengthen the connection between the eastern and western parts of the United States.However, between the east of the United States and California in the west, there are continuous mountains, vast deserts and vast grasslands. It takes eight or nine months to walk 2,800 miles from east to west by land.Therefore, at that time, American residents from the east to the west of the United States traveled by water: one was from the east coast of the United States along the Atlantic coast to the south, passing through Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, around Cape Horn at the southern tip of South America, braved the stormy waves, and entered the Pacific Ocean. If you drive further north, you can reach San Francisco on the west coast of the United States. This route is 13,600 miles long and takes four to five months. Crossing the isthmus by land, and then taking a boat from the Pacific Ocean to the western United States, this road also has many difficulties, because although the isthmus of Panama is short, it is densely forested, and there are many robbers, mosquitoes, and crocodiles in the depressions along the way.
In order to exploit the gold mines in the western region and speed up the development of the western region, the U.S. Congress passed legislation in 1862, deciding to build the first railway line that runs through the central part of the continental United States and connects the east and west, namely the Union Pacific-Central Pacific Railway.
The Union Pacific-Central Pacific Railway is composed of east and west parts: the eastern section is the Union Pacific Railway, with a total length of 689 miles, flat terrain, good construction conditions, and it is relatively easy to build a railway, contracted by the Union Pacific Railway Company; the western section is the Central Pacific Railway, The total length is 1,800 miles, the terrain is complicated, and it needs to pass through the mountains at an altitude of two to three kilometers. Difficulty can be imagined.The western section was contracted by the Central Pacific Railroad Company.
Construction began on the Union Pacific-Central Pacific Main Line in 1863.The Eastern Union Pacific Railroad employed mostly Irish immigrant workers who had recently arrived in the United States, and the wages were relatively low; while the Central Pacific Railroad employed mainly white workers from California.Due to the difficult engineering in the west, wages are often twice as high as those employed in the east.In this way, white workers still feel tired of work and leave their jobs one after another.Therefore, Carliss Crocker, the shareholder who undertook the western railway project, proposed to recruit Chinese laborers.
At first, the Central Pacific Railway Company only hired 50 Chinese laborers and asked them to do rough work such as soil transportation.After trial work, it was found that the Chinese workers were not only hardworking, but also quick-witted and flexible, able to undertake tasks that were difficult for white workers.Therefore, the Central Pacific Railway Company accepted Carliss Crocker's suggestion to set up recruitment stations in Guangzhou, Hong Kong, and Macau through Chinese brokers to recruit a large number of Chinese workers to build railways in the United States.Liang Qichao once wrote in his "New World Travel Notes": "The Chinese laborers went to the United States, and they were actually recruited by the beauties. When Jiaxia (Xiaxia) Kuanni Province (California) first merged with the United States, they were eager to Colonization, while immigrants from Europe and the eastern part of the country are afraid of the distance, and there are not many people coming, and the capitalists are suffering. They have found gold mines, developed railways, and the shortage of labor and servants is even worse. They cross the sea to seek China. Today , the prosperity of Jiaxia Kuanni is the world created by the blood and sweat of the people of our country."
Since 1867, Chinese laborers have poured into the United States in large numbers, especially to the road construction sites in the western United States.The number of Chinese workers on road construction sites in the west is often maintained at 10,000 or even 11,000, while the number of white workers is only 800.
Before the Chinese workers entered the construction site, they were organized into small teams.Each team has 25-30 people, led by a captain, and equipped with a cook.Captains generally must have certain cultural knowledge, be able to speak and count.In addition to arranging employment, logistics support, and after-work life, the captain is also responsible for supervising meals and paying wages.
The western line contracted by the Central Pacific Railway Company has to cross the Sierra-Sierra Mountains, which are full of cliffs. A large amount of earth and rocks need to be used to fill up the deep valley between the two mountains, and to cross tall rocky mountains, sometimes hundreds of meters of tunnels must be dug. The Chinese workers took on the task of construction without fear of hardships and dangers.Some Chinese laborers stood in baskets made of wicker, drilling holes in the cliffs and filling them with explosives.If the rope is worn out, it will fall into a deep mountain valley; after the detonator is ignited, and the transfer is a little later, it will be blown to pieces, which is really horrible.Especially in the construction of more than 100 miles of railways in the Sierra Mountains, the death rate of Chinese laborers was as high as 10%.
James Strobridge, deputy to Central Pacific Railroad Director Charles Crocker, testified before an FBI about the hardships of building roads in winter:
"There were many winters when the railroad was blocked. During those coldest winters we could not keep the railroad open...We took the supplies of laying 40 miles of track, plus various parts, three locomotives and 40 wagons, over the snow To Donner Lake. We built 40 miles of railroad in the Grand Canyon at Trukee, and then over the top of the mountain to join the railroad... We made the railroad through the mountains at a great cost. These works should have been done in the summer. Construction costs are almost three times higher in winter than in summer.”
"The avalanche destroyed the tents of our Chinese workers. In the avalanche, we sacrificed a large number of workers (referring to the Chinese workers); many workers' bodies were not found until the snow melted the following year."
After hard work and bloodshed mainly by Chinese laborers, on May 10, 1869, the Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad joined forces at Plumentory Point, Utah.A Chinese laborer and an Irish laborer nailed two gold rivets, connecting the east and west parts of the railway, officially announcing the completion of the main artery across the United States, which is hailed as a miracle in the world's railway history.The railway was originally planned to be built for 14 years, but due to the active participation of Chinese laborers, it was completed in only seven years, half the time ahead of schedule.
At the celebration meeting held in Sacramento, although representatives of the Chinese workers were not invited to attend, and most of the representatives who spoke at the meeting did not mention the Chinese workers, a judge named ED Crocker still spoke for the Chinese workers:
"I want to remind you that the early completion of this railway is largely due to the loyalty, hard work and excellence of those poor and despised Chinese workers."
Leland Stanford, president of the Central Pacific Railway Company, also wrote: "Without Chinese laborers, the western section of this important national transportation line could not be completed within the time limit required by the Act of Congress." They were "quiet, docile, industrious, and thrifty. —willing and easy to learn the various jobs required of railway construction. In fact, they are the ideal workers a road foreman dreams of."
The completion of the Union Pacific Railway—the Central Pacific Railway greatly promoted the transportation between the east and west of the United States, played an important role in the development of the western region, and greatly promoted the development of American industry and commerce.Indeed, most of this great achievement in the world's railway history should be attributed to the loyal, diligent and outstanding Chinese workers.
In 1880, 11 years after the completion of the Central Pacific Railway, the Union Pacific Railway that traversed the east and west of the United States, construction of another Pacific Railway that traversed Canada from east to west was officially started.
France and Britain successively colonized Canada from the eastern Atlantic coast. On July 1, 1867, the United Kingdom promulgated the "British North America Act", announcing Canada as a dominion under the United Kingdom. Only the four eastern provinces participated in the Dominion Federation. After the discovery of gold deposits in western Canada in 1858, the western region gradually developed.However, since there is no direct railway line between western Canada and eastern Canada, most of the living and production materials needed in the western part of the country have to be transported by sea from the southern United States. Immigrants from Europe and eastern Canada also have to cross the continent by train from the eastern part of the United States. , Arrive in California in the western United States, and then go north to Canada by ship.In order to vigorously develop western Canada, it is necessary to build the Pacific Railway running through eastern and western Canada in time.
At this time, British rule over British Columbia was very weak. In order to prevent British Columbia's independence, it was also strongly encouraged to join the Eastern Dominion Federation. In 1871, British Columbia decided to join the Eastern Dominion Federation on the condition that the federal government build a railway from the east to British Columbia.
The Canadian Pacific Railway runs from Halifax, a port city on the Atlantic coast in the east, to Vancouver, a port city on the Pacific coast in the west, with a total length of more than 3,800 kilometers.Beginning in 1880, the Pacific Railway first started in full swing from Montreal in the east to Winnipeg.
Before the start of construction, there was a dispute over whether to hire Chinese laborers.Officials in British Columbia proposed that in order to prevent the spread of the "yellow peril", the employment of Chinese laborers must be banned.But then Canadian Prime Minister MacDonald retorted: "Our choice is that if we want to build the railway, we must have Chinese laborers. Without Chinese laborers, there will be no railway. There is no other way."
Practice has proved that Macdonald's prediction is correct. In 1881, the American Andrew Underdonk, who was in charge of bidding for the construction of the Pacific Railway, hired 3,000 white men to build roads, but found that they were not only drinking heavily, but also unwilling to do difficult and dangerous work during the trial period.Under Dunk had been engaged in railway construction in the United States for more than 10 years. He knew that Chinese laborers were smart and capable, so he decided to recruit Chinese laborers to build roads.
Since 1881, Underbank has been recruiting Chinese laborers in the United States and Hong Kong through the Chinese Merchants CIMB Company.Lianchang is composed of Li Tianpei who lives in Polon, Li Tianshi from Guangyuan in San Francisco, Chinese merchants from Victoria, Li Youqin from Guang'an Long, and Li Yide from Taiyuan. They have offices in Victoria and Hong Kong.They all used to recruit Chinese laborers to build roads.According to Ma Qing, a Chinese-Canadian writer, in the book "Pioneer": "Between June 1880 and July 1887, 25,000 Chinese came to Canada, accounting for 1/5 of the total population of British Columbia at that time."
The recruited Chinese laborers boarded the ship from Hong Kong, stayed in the crowded lower deck of the ship, and arrived at Lagon on Vancouver Island, Canada (more than 20 kilometers northwest of Victoria City) after more than two months.After disembarking, they were sent to the tent area to be quarantined, waiting for quarantine, and waiting here for recruiters to transfer them to employers who used Chinese labor.The employer then shipped them to New Westminster, where they were distributed to the railroad sites.
The Chinese workers live far away from the construction site. They have to walk dozens of kilometers to and from the construction site every day, and their working hours are up to 10 hours a day.The Chinese laborers were engaged in arduous and heavy labor such as blasting rocks, digging tunnels, building bridges, lifting railroad tracks, and transporting sleepers.Overworked, malnourished, and poor medical conditions, a large number of Chinese workers often died.According to the Canadian Daily Colonial, during the busiest period of road construction in Canada, Underbank employed 8,000 Chinese laborers, and it is estimated that 1,500 of them died in five years.According to the old overseas Chinese in Canada, on average, one Chinese laborer was buried for every Chinese mile of railway!
In 1885, the Canadian Pacific Railway was fully completed.The completion of the Pacific Railway made British Columbia in western Canada and Canada truly connected together and became a part of Canada, which changed the entire appearance of Canada.As the Daily Colonist noted: "We now have a transcontinental railroad. Travelers need only five days and 17 hours to travel from Pacific to Atlantic coast. It is almost unbelievable that in less than half a century Such a big change can happen in such a short period of time.” It is no exaggeration to say that the reason for this great change in Canada is the contribution made by China Workers.
Early American Chinese laborers, in addition to building the famous large railway across the east and west of the United States and Canada, also built the Southern Pacific Railway from San Francisco to New Mexico to Texas in the United States; the Northern Pacific Railway from California to Montana; The Lima-Oroa Railway was built in Peru; the Panama Railway was built in Panama and so on.It can be said that in the construction of American railways, the Chinese laborers have set up a monument that has been praised for generations with their sweat and life.
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