We've been talking a lot about railroad construction and what it did for the economy of the United States, so I thought I could go in depth into the topic of the Transcontinental railroad and what it was like for the people to build it.
The building of the first transcontinental railroad began in 1863 due to the difficulty that it was to trek across the country at that time period. The railroad was completed by three private railroad companies: The Western Pacific Railroad company, the Central Pacific Railroad company of California, and the Union Pacific Railroad company. The railroad took 6 years to complete and was made possible by government bonds and the manual labor of hardworking people, many of whom were immigrants from China. While some of the most famous moments of the railroad, such as the hammering of the golden spike were performed by rich people who funded the railroad, the truly hard work was done by laborers who did not receive much payment or credit for their hard work. Due to these workers, the time it took to travel across the United States was reduced from six months to one week, and the cost of this journey was lowered from around 1,000 dollars to 150 dollars.
Building a railroad requires lots of manual labor that is at times very dangerous and difficult work. When the railroad was beginning to be built, the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California did not have nearly enough workers to build a railroad halfway across the country, so to fill the lack of workers, the company turned to Chinese immigrants. These workers were hired for wages that amounted to about 30 dollars per month and had to lay tracks in places such as the Sierras, where the elevation of the mountains raised 7,000 feet in 100 miles. To lay down tracks in such high raising mountains, the Chinese laborers had to perform very dangerous tasks, one of which involved a worker hanging by ropes in a basket, and chipping away the granite walls of the mountain to plant explosives for tunnels. While the work they were performing was extremely difficult, simply staying alive in the Sierras was a difficult task itself. These workers were living in poorly built wooden bunkhouses that were often compromised by terrible weather. Due to these conditions while building the railroad in the Sierras, hundreds on Chinese workers died building the railroad that connected the nation.
After working for a long time at wages around 30 dollars per month, the Chinese workers held a strike to raise wages. The strike was initially unsuccessful, as a railroad executive withheld food supplies until the workers would go back to work, but the strike eventually worked and their wages were raised to 35 dollars per month. While this was a significant raise in pay, it was still nothing compared to the amount of money that the investors in the railroad made. While these laborers risked their lives working all day to build the railroad, the investors in the railroad made fortunes by doing no work at all.
sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Transcontinental_Railroad#The_Last_Spike
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/general-article/tcrr-cprr/
http://cprr.org/Museum/Chinese.html
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3147
Its very sad that so many laborers lost their lives in the pursuit of a better life. The Chinese did so much for the building of an industrial America as we know it, and there is a lot of irony in the fact that a Chinese Exclusion Act was passed directly aimed at them. They did the dirty work that I'm pretty sure many Americans would feel is far too dangerous.
ReplyDeleteGreat explanation Patrick. As you talk about the railroad strike, I think it's also appropriate to bring up the various labor unions. In this comment, I will attempt to explain what each industrial labor union we studied is, and decipher the significance of each one.
ReplyDeleteNational Labor Union - This was the first big labor union, organized in 1866. Labor unions as a whole got a big push after the civil war, since so many men were off at war, there was less laborers, therefore increasing the laborers' unionizing power. This union aimed to unify workers in all sorts of trades and manufacturing in attempt to challenge their bosses. Their claim to fame is they eventually won an eight hour workday for government workers. The Panic of 1873 hit this labor union hard. Panics generally cause less power for the laborer, and it resulted in this labor union's demise.
Colored National Labor Union - Racism is a bitter thing. And many white laborers disapproved of the blacks continued support of the Republican party. The two labor unions were divided, obviously decreasing their power.
Knight of Labor – Sort of like a continuation of the National Labor Union, the Knights of Labor sought to include all workers in one big union. They focused more on economic and social reform, rather than political. (This is in contrast to the farmers movements, which were often very political.) Social reform often regarded safety precautions in the factories. Though, this labor union had an interesting demise. In the Haymarket Square incident in the spring of 1886, a large union strike, somebody (No one knows who) through a bomb. Though, after this turmoil, the Knights of Labor lost a lot of public support, as they were seen as violent anarchists. Arguably, One of fundamental problems with this labor union, was they included both skilled and unskilled laborers. Unskilled labors can be easily replaced, and therefore have less power per person. The skilled laborers got tired of being weighted down by the unskilled laborers, and left the Knights of Labor. This caused the Knights of Labor to loose a lot of power. It also brings us to the next union.
American Federation of Labor – Comprised of only skilled craftsmen, this labor union was much more realistic in their goals than the Knights of Labor. They sought economic and social reforms such as better wages, shorter workdays, and improved working conditions. Samuel Gompers, their leader, often organized many boycotts and prolonged strikes. Their fallback was they really only represented a small minority of all working people.
During all this time the vast majority of manufacturers fought labor unions. By the turn of the century, only a few companies had decided compromising with labor unions was cheaper than fighting them. I hope this helps! Feel free to add anything, or clarify and points I made.
Awesome and very informative blog Patrick. One thing I would like to add, however, is that you could have compared the Chinese working conditions to the white and Irish conditions. Before the agreed raise in work, many Chinese were actually working for about $20-25 a month, and their Irish counterparts were able to get $35. Along with pay, white workers were provided with food and shelter and Chinese had to provide their own source of food and shelter. A common diet for a Chinese miner composed of seafood, fruits, and broths. Not only did they receive less benefits, but most Chinese immigrants underwent social ridicule and out casting as well. It was unfortunate they were the hardest workers, but yet at the same time treated unfairly.
ReplyDelete