Not only did the construction displace Indian people from their lands, but it decimated a crucial resource: the buffalo, traditionally hunted by Plains tribes such as the Lakota, Arapaho and Cheyenne for food, shelter and trade. According to the National Parks Service , the bison population fell from tens of millions in the early part of the 19th century to near extinction after being hunted by soldiers, railroad workers and travelers as the railroad progressed.
Some displaced tribes resisted the occupation of their lands by raiding railroad worker camps and disrupting construction. So the U. To prevent skirmishes, railroad companies frequently called on General William Tecumseh Sherman , a celebrated Civil War leader put in charge of protecting the railroads, to send troops.
Some army actions escalated into full-out attacks on native villages, such as the Sand Creek Massacre , which killed more than tribal people, mostly women and children. Not all tribes were affected the same way. Some bands of the Central Plains Pawnee nation, for example, cooperated with the U. Railroad workers celebrate and pose for a photograph at the driving of the Golden Spike Ceremony in Utah on May 10, signifying completion of the first transcontinental railroad route created by joining the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads.
Efforts to depict the transcontinental railroad as a grand project created by and for white Americans began just moments after the railroad was completed in , when a symbolic Golden Spike was hammered into the ground in Promontory Summit, Utah, where the rails constructed by the Central Pacific and Union Pacific met.
The official photo shows two engineers shaking hands, surrounded by workers with champagne bottles. Not one of the workers visible in the picture was Chinese.
Who else but Americans could have laid 10 miles of track in 12 hours? Since then, the U. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Twice a week we compile our most fascinating features and deliver them straight to you. They had to face dangerous work conditions — accidental explosions, snow and rock avalanches, which killed hundreds of workers, not to mention frigid weather.
All these groups are outside the classical American mainstream. The exhibition features a century-old pair of chopsticks, as well as canisters for tea and soy sauce.
The railroad company provided room and board to white workers, but Chinese workers had to find their own meals, which were often brought to them from local merchants. There are photos, as well, of the Native Americans, many of whom protested against the building of the railway in , which displaced the Lakota, Shoshone, Cheyenne and other communities.
The Chinese workers were educated and organized; 3, laborers went on strike in to demand equal wages, as the white workers were paid double. One telling photo on view is a shot of the Union Pacific board members sitting in a business class train car from By paying laborers a low wage, they were able to skim millions from the construction and get rich.
The ultimatum may not have cured the anger of the white crews, but it sufficed to quell rebellion. Less Pay The Chinese teams were organized into groups of 20 under one white foreman; as the difficulty of construction increased, so often did the size of the gangs.
Healthier Habits Workers lived in canvas camps alongside the grade. In the mountains, wooden bunkhouses protected them from the drifting snow, although these were often compromised by the elements.
Each gang had a cook who purchased dried food from the Chinese districts of Sacramento and San Francisco to prepare on site. To the dull palates of the Irishmen, the Chinese menu was a full-blown sensory assault. The newcomers seemed alien in other ways: they bathed themselves, washed their clothes, stayed away from whiskey. Instead of water they drank lukewarm tea, boiled in the mornings and dispensed to them throughout the day.
In such a manner they avoided the dysentery that ravaged white crews. A Famous Retort As work crews approached the summit, Strobridge continued to doubt the suitability of Chinese to certain tasks. When a group of Irish masons struck for higher wages, Crocker suggested using Chinese men in their place.
The foreman objected. Famously, Crocker replied, "Did they not build the Chinese Wall, the biggest piece of masonry in the world? The Ten-Mile Day Toward the end of the line, Crocker was so convinced of the skill of his Irish and Chinese workers that he decided to try for a record by laying 10 miles of track in one day. April 28, was the appointed day, and Crocker had prepared well. Its commander praised Crocker and his workers for their effort to lay so much rail in so little time.
Crocker, I never saw such organization as that; it was like an army marching over the ground and leaving a track built behind them. By April the jubilance of groundbreaking had long ago faded into the ether. Chief engineer Peter Dey continued to suffer setbacks in putting together his stalled project. Chief among these was a dearth of labor. Neither Dey nor the firms he wanted to reward with construction contracts could find enough men for the massive job.
Durant in turn asked the War Department to ship Dey some portion of those slaves freed by the ongoing Civil War. The government declined. Union General Grenville Dodge offered use of Indian prisoners from his winter campaign.
But no practical solutions were forthcoming. By the end of , only 40 miles of track had been laid across the inviting valley. Thousands of demobilized soldiers were eager for work. Additionally, by the railroad had managed to import Irishmen from the teeming cities of the eastern seaboard. Suddenly swarms of men surrounded Dodge, who had replaced the frustrated Dey as chief engineer. Joining him that winter in Omaha was construction boss Jack Casement.
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