USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Union Pacific construction train 1866. Westward construction continued. The workers, many of them Irish immigrants or veterans of the Civil War, were paid the average of a dollar a day.

Detailed explanation-2: -Most of the early workers were Irish immigrants. Railroad work was hard, and management was chaotic, leading to a high attrition rate. The Central Pacific management puzzled over how it could attract and retain a work force up to the enormous task.

Detailed explanation-3: -Teachers should understand that most of the people who worked to build the transcontinental railroad were immigrants from China and Ireland. These immigrants faced discrimination in the U.S., but their labor made this national achievement possible.

Detailed explanation-4: -By 1867, more than 90% of Central Pacific’s crew working on the transcontinental railroad were Chinese, with anywhere from 10, 000 to 15, 000 workers at any given time. Union Pacific, on the other end of the railroad, hired no Chinese workers, and most of their laborers were Civil War veterans and Irish immigrants.