USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Altogether, the Central Pacific Railroad hired an estimated 12, 000 Chinese workers, some as young as 12. The Chinese workers, at that time the largest industrial workforce in American history, made up 90 percent of the Central Pacific’s total labor force.

Detailed explanation-2: -Most of the Chinese workers, who numbered over 11, 000 by the end of the project, were employed by the Central Pacific Railroad building out of Sacramento, California. The use of Chinese labor started as an experiment.

Detailed explanation-3: -Chinese workers made up most of the workforce between roughly 700 miles of train tracks between Sacramento, California, and Promontory, Utah. During the 19th century, more than 2.5 million Chinese citizens left their country and were hired in 1864 after a labor shortage threatened the railroad’s completion.

Detailed explanation-4: -Reducing the time it took to cross the continent from months to days, the railroad helped pave the way for Western migration. Often left out of the storytelling about the effort is the labor of an estimated 15, 000 to 20, 000 Chinese migrants who laid the tracks of the western half of the railroad.

Detailed explanation-5: -About 10, 000 to 15, 000 Chinese workers came to the United States to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Chinese workers found some economic opportunity but also experienced hostility, racism, violence, and legal exclusion. Many came as single men; others left families behind.