Workers of the Central Pacific Railroad

Workers of the Central Pacific Railroad
By: Alec Winsor

               
               In 1850, Chinese workers arrived in California, with hopes of escaping the poverty and overpopulation in their homeland. At first, they worked in the mines in 5 year segments then started to find other jobs, working as laborers, fishermen, and domestic workers. As more and more Chinese came, they started to face prejudice and laws limiting their opportunity, placed by the government. Slowly over time, more and more Chinese workers were getting hired because the contractors discovered that they had a better work ethic and did more than the Irishmen, along with working for significantly less. They also were healthier because they ate nutritious food, bathed, and drank purified tea and water.

What do you think the attitudes of the owners of the Transcontinental Rail Road were about their workers?  Who do you think they hired?

• The owners probably preferred the white Irishmen over the Chinese at first, but probably started liking the Chinese more after they proved their worth, so started hiring more of 

them.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-cprr/