Building a Railroad in California
Building the railroad was very difficult work. At first railroad companies, like the Central Pacific, only hired white men to do this job, but these men proved to be unreliable. A lot of white workers only worked long enough to save money to go to California or Nevada and then they would quit. They were also more likely to strike and ask for higher pay. The Central Pacific decided to hire Chinese workers because the Chinese worked very hard and did not cause problems. Working conditions were very hard and pay was so low that some Chinese workers finally got tired and decided to strike. In June of 1867 the Chinese working on the Sierra Nevadas walked off the job and refused to go back unless they got paid more, had safer working conditions, and shorter working shifts. Charles Crocker told them he would not give in to their demands. The Chinese workers decided to continue the strike until their demands were met. In the end, however, the Chinese went back to work because they needed the money and had no other options.
If you were a Chinese worker on the railroad, would you have continued the strike, gone back to work, or done something else? Why?
If I was a Chinese worker, working on the railroad, I would continued the strike and get all the people to strike so the owners of the company would have to race the payme
