In the year of 1861, in the midst of America’s Civil War, Congress authorized one of the most ambitious projects that the country had ever envisioned: the construction of a transcontinental railroad. At one end of this immensely long railroad system which was planned to be over 1,700 miles long __ was the Central Pacific Railroad which stretched across the lands of California, the harsh granite walls of the Sierra Nevada and onwards to connect with the Union Pacific in Utah. Through my research of many historical articles by reputable sources I have found that even though the Central Pacific was built by a many different ethnicities the primary source that had the biggest impact on the advancement of the railroad system came from a group of
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This was famously known as the Gold Rush which was situated at the heart and soul of California. __ Initially, when the Chinese immigrants first arrived they accepted different jobs as simple laborers while others mainly focused on the mining efforts and get-rich-quick mentality. (The Chinese too came for this purpose, but as time passed and their presence increased, the Chinese immigrants faced growing prejudice and an increasingly restrictive laws limiting) their opportunities not only for mining, but for everyday life as well. An example of this was the Foreign Miners Tax which instituted a charge of $20 per month towards foreign immigrants as well as the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. These laws were mainly passed due to the racism and nervous views of American citizens who did not want the Chinese to take up any significant amount of wealth that the Americans felt entitled …show more content…
It was an immense undertaking that was only made possible due to the Chinese Migrant workers who were thought of lesser than that of women and were treated as merely tools for exploitation. The Chinese workers faced immense dangers and harsh conditions during their labor time, but were still resilient enough to complete a 690 mile long railroad system that stretched across the lands of California and the harsh granite walls of the Sierra Nevada. However, even though they were resilient many workers did die during the construction of the railroad and the CP did not even considered them as an important enough statistic when revealing death totals which was just one example of the time that portrayed the lack of accreditation for their grueling work. I believe it can be openly said that without the Chinese, the Central Pacific Railroad might have never been
This was famously known as the Gold Rush which was situated at the heart and soul of California. __ Initially, when the Chinese immigrants first arrived they accepted different jobs as simple laborers while others mainly focused on the mining efforts and get-rich-quick mentality. (The Chinese too came for this purpose, but as time passed and their presence increased, the Chinese immigrants faced growing prejudice and an increasingly restrictive laws limiting) their opportunities not only for mining, but for everyday life as well. An example of this was the Foreign Miners Tax which instituted a charge of $20 per month towards foreign immigrants as well as the Chinese Exclusion Act which prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. These laws were mainly passed due to the racism and nervous views of American citizens who did not want the Chinese to take up any significant amount of wealth that the Americans felt entitled …show more content…
It was an immense undertaking that was only made possible due to the Chinese Migrant workers who were thought of lesser than that of women and were treated as merely tools for exploitation. The Chinese workers faced immense dangers and harsh conditions during their labor time, but were still resilient enough to complete a 690 mile long railroad system that stretched across the lands of California and the harsh granite walls of the Sierra Nevada. However, even though they were resilient many workers did die during the construction of the railroad and the CP did not even considered them as an important enough statistic when revealing death totals which was just one example of the time that portrayed the lack of accreditation for their grueling work. I believe it can be openly said that without the Chinese, the Central Pacific Railroad might have never been