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4-6 month travels
It would take, on average, 4-6 months to get from one coast to the other, before the Transcontinentsl Raildroad was built -
Railroad became a vision
The population was starting to increase, people were wating to puch west, and people becoming frustrated over how long it would take to go from one side of the country to the other, were all reasons why we needed a railroad like this one. -
Big Four contracted
The "Big Four", which were the four people incharge of the Central Pacific railroad, were awarded the contract to lay down the tracks east from Sacramento. WHile their rivals were gave the contract to lay railroad west from Omaha. -
Recruitment Drive
Union Pacifc wanted 5000 workers. They sent out advertisment to all post offices telling the people of how much they would get paid and the rewards of it. Although only about 800 white men agreed to come work, most of those men weren't good workers. Finally they hired Chinese immagrants. -
Snow, Snow, and more Snow
In the winter of 1865 there was a snow storm. They ran into 30 foot snow drifts that they had to move out of the way. Chinese workers spent weeks moving snow out of the way. -
Whites want higher pay
When the whites talked about going on strike Charles Crocker started recruiting more Chinese workers. This made th whites return but only if the Chinese weren't hied, 50 Chinese were hired anyways. Whites were getting $35 a month and Chinese were only getting $30. The whites thought if the Chinese weren't there they would get $50 a month and only have to work half as hard. -
Chinese are too fragile
On average the Chinese man was only 4 foot 10 inches and weighted about 120 pounds. Crocker said that if this race could have built the Great Wall of China they can build a railroad. They all agreed, but only gave them light jobs, until they proved themselves. -
More efficient working
There were many shifts of men to work instead of just a few shifts. This menat that you could work the same amount of time but get well-rested people in more often. This made it easier to get more done in a shorter amount of time. -
First of Chinese inventions
When the Union Pacific ran into a spot were they had to put down rails on a very steep mountain side, many thought it was impossible. The Chinese came up with an idea on how they could work on the mountain side. They would place people in a basket and lower them down the mountain. ALthough many times the Chinese weren't pulled up soon enouh and they exploded. -
Homeric Winter
The second snow storm was in 1866. This was the biggest snow storm ever recorded. There were 40 foot snowdrifts. The workers tried to build sheds to protect the already built railroad. The snow would break the sheds. The Chinese carved under the snow to make tunnels. They had a little city under the snow that they worked in. -
Dutch Flat Enquier's message
His message was that a whole group of Chinesemen had been covered in snow. 4 or 5 had died while people tried to save them. Later they heard that a whole camp had been covered in snow. Later in the spring when the snow melted you could still see the frozen bodies holding shovles. -
Chinese Strike
2000 Chinese workers walked off the job. They had an organized strike that only lasted a week. They went back to work because Crocker cutoff their food supply. Even though they went back to work they did get a small reward, $2 a raise per month. -
More Chinese
In 1867 Charlie Crocker wanted to bring more Chinese immagrants over. He believed it would benefit the United States if half a million more came over in he following year. -
Burlingame Treaty was signed
The Burlingame Treaty was between the U.S government and China. It said that they would sent over more immagratns to help with the railroad. -
Mysterious explosions
Whenthe railroad was almost done the Irish were taunting the Chinese. Irish workers had placed explosives near the Chinese that killed some of them. A few days later there was a mysterious explosion that killed and injured the Irish workers. The white men had more respect for the Chinese after that. -
Compettition between sides
There was a $10,000 bet on whos side could lay the msot track. The Chinese won by laying more than 10 miles of railroad in 12 hours and 45 minutes. -
Contecting of the Coasts
The railroad was finally done. In the end Central Pacific layed only 690 miles of track while Union Pacific layed 1,086 miles. -
6 days
With the railroad completed it now only took 6 days to get from coast to coast instead of 4-6 months
