Just over a decade ago, Stanford University quite ironically began “The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project,” a project that sought to detail the story of Chinese immigrant workers during the early days of their presence in America. The founder of Stanford University, Leland Stanford, amassed his wealth largely due to his ownership of the Central Pacific Railroad, the first railroad to connect the US with the Pacific coast. Stanford, who was the first Republican governor of California, sided with anti-Chinese sentiments following their influx of immigration during the Gold Rush. In a message to the California legislature, Stanford stated
the settlement among us of an inferior race is to be discouraged by every legitimate means. Asia, with her numberless millions, sends to our shores the dregs of her population.
Anti-Chinese movements were popular at the time, as the cheap labor the Chinese provided came at odds with union and local workers who couldn’t compete at such low wages. Though Stanford was initially praised for his message, he lost support when his hypocrisy became apparent as he continued to import thousands of Chinese workers to construct his railroad. In fact, out of the over 10,000 workers in his company, 90% of them were Chinese, making him one of the biggest employers of Chinese laborers at the time. The very community he demonized and spewed hate against was the same community that made him one of the wealthiest Americans at the time–the same people who faced violent repression, slave-like working conditions, and unbridled hatred everywhere they went.
California’s American history began with the Gold Rush, and with the Gold Rush came the first transcontinental railroad, which stretched from Iowa to the San Francisco Bay. On the western portion, Stanford’s Central Pacific Railroad (CPR) company managed the 690 miles connecting the San Francisco Bay to Utah, with construction beginning in 1863. Upon completion in 1869, this railroad connected the continental United States from coast to coast, solidifying California’s entry into the union. The people who worked on this at first were largely Caucasian laborers, many of whom were civil engineers or soldiers during the American Civil War. The CPR had no shortage of experienced workers, but finding semi-skilled laborers to work on railroads was challenging–many Caucasian workers preferred working in agriculture or mining, and the dangerous conditions on the railroads turned them away. As a result, railroad companies had to find a new source of labor, and they did so by experimenting with recent Chinese immigrants. At first, there were some worries that their lack of experience and “small stature” would make the Chinese poor railroad workers, but after proving themselves as more than capable, many companies ended up prioritizing hiring Chinese laborers.
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