transcontinental railroad golden spike

The descendants feel this is a woefully neglected chapter of American history. It just seemed to resonate, to be an important symbol of Americanization. Nickel Plate 759 steams through Brewster, Ohio in May of 1969. Did these Chinese railroad workers build communities in the United States? Gordon H. Chang, the Senior Associate Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education, Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities, and Professor of American History at Stanford University, co-directs the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project and recently published Fateful Ties: A History of America’s Preoccupation with China (Harvard University Press). In the United States, there was this opportunity: They were paid in gold and sent the money back to China to their home villages and families, and this sustained the population in that portion of the country. The money these workers earned in the United States was considerably more than what they could earn in China. An engineering feat like no other, by the time the Golden Spike was driven in, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads, and the people involved, were becoming legends in history. And they became the foundation of what we would call today the Chinese-American community. We hit your inbox once a month and never abuse your personal information. Visitors to the park can see the location of the Last Spike Site, 1869 railroad construction features, walk or drive on the original railroad grade, and get an up close view of Victorian era replica locomotives. This book tells the story from beginning to end, as well as describing what this experience means for us today. This negative sentiment was rooted in racial prejudice, as well as a sense of competition with them as workers, and a very violent and pervasive anti-Chinese movement developed across the country by the late 1870s and early 1880s, seeking to drive the Chinese out of the country entirely. ad, [1] The railroads changed the United States and North America. Please check www.nps.gov/gosp for updates. What were the project’s most important findings, and what findings were you surprised by? Local volunteers reenact driving the golden spike marking the completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah. The Last Spike Ceremony is reenacted every year on the May 10th anniversary, as well as every Saturday and Holiday from May 10th to September, and at the annual Railroader's Festival held the second Saturday in August and during the Winter Steam Festival on the last weekend in December. Sean Fraga holds a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University. ), There is an easy, flat 1.5 mile/2.4 km trail called the Big Fill Walk at Golden Spike. Why did the United States build a transcontinental railroad, and why did it do so at this moment, in the late 1860s? There is lots of information at our project website: chineserailroadworkers.stanford.edu. Those who were able to save some money and establish themselves—maybe by starting a store after working on the railroad—were able to marry, either other people in America or Chinese women who came over from China. Presented that day were two golden spikes, a silver spike, and a spike made of both gold and silver. They were very proud of their stories and very proud of their ancestors because the railroad is so typically American. Golden Spike 150 ceremony: How Utah celebrated the transcontinental railroad anniversary By Carter Williams, KSL.com | Updated - May 10, 2019 at 2:37 p.m. | Posted - … Printer Friendly Version >>>. Those gaps challenge us to do a better job to understand the past in a richer way. Help us continue to bring you the best of the archives... without the dust! Visit Today While we learned about a lot of big things, we also learned about small things. American boosters and entrepreneurs envisioned a rail line as early as the 1840s. Transcontinental Railroad, 1869. Golden Spike event celebrates the Transcontinental Railroad’s 150th anniversary Doug Foxley, left, and Spencer Stokes re-create a historic photo at the Golden Spike … But there are so many things, still, today, despite the efforts of many scholars and writers to understand the past—there are so many things that we don’t know. There are many omissions and gaps in our understanding of history; the writing of history is ongoing task of recovery. Golden Spike National Historical Park. There were Chinese railroad workers as far away as Tennessee or Alabama or New York, even out to Long Island, in the 1870s, 1880s, and 1890s. On May 10, 1869, the last spike of the Transcontinental Railroad was ceremonially driven into a polished laurel railroad tie at Promontory Summit, Utah, to commemorate the joining of the rail lines built by the Central Pacific railroad from the west, and the Union Pacific Railroad from the east. But, simultaneously, there arose a movement that saw them as alien threat and an undesirable workforce. Major companies in Wayne County included the Pennsylvania Railroad, Erie Railroad, and B&O Railroad. The driving of this final golden spike represented a new era in connecting people, moving goods, and igniting America’s … ), Copyright © 2020 Utah.com. The labor of Chinese workers was instrumental to the transcontinental railroad’s construction. San Francisco, California Asa Whitney lived to see the transcontinental railroad constructed. They had to work year-round, even through the terrible Sierra winters. But a handful did, particularly the managers or supervisors or labor contractors who recruited the workers on to the rail line. 1 South Main St. But while their labor was crucial, the workers themselves have been largely forgotten. Up to twelve hundred, or more, Chinese died in the construction of the railroad. (The West Auto Tour is a 14-mile round trip, the East Auto Tour is about a 2 mile loop. Previous historians had written about parts of the railroad experience of Chinese workers, but I was really surprised and excited to learn about so many new aspects of this five-year experience. The slightly undersized 5 1/2" x 1/2" golden spike, now located in the Stanford Family Collection of the Stanford University Museum, was manufactured for the joining of the rails ceremony by the San Francisco William T. Garratt Foundry and then engraved by San Francisco jewelers, Schultz, Fischer and Mahling (for which they charged $15.25). What could be more American than working on the railroad? What are some resources for people who want to know more about Chinese railroad workers in North America? Why was the role of Chinese railroad workers something that had to be recovered? Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project, Immigration in Perspective: The Chinese Exclusion Act, The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad, Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, Politics of Transparency and Secrecy: Revisiting the French Revolution, Writing History with Oceans: Approaching the Pacific through Water, Reconstructing Approaches to America’s Indian Problem. How do these descendants tend to view the railroad today? Not that it mattered—as both the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads were on the rail line to make it happen. A railroad linking America's east and west coasts had been a dream almost since the steam locomotive made its first appearance in the early 1830s. At any given time, between ten thousand and twelve thousand Chinese workers were employed on the project, largely by Central Pacific. Driving the Golden Spike. Many of the Chinese communities that sprung up in the 1870s and 1880s and continued on were the result of the railroad workers dispersing across the country and people establishing themselves, and a small number starting families and having native-born Chinese-Americans in the United States. Worth - Liberia 20 dollars 2000, History of America - Transcontinental Railroad "Golden Spike" in the coin catalog at uCoin.net - International Catalog of World Coins. On May 10, 1869, officials of the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad met here to drive four symbolic spikes (two gold), celebrating the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. The fact that their ancestors were railroad workers is something the descendants are proud of and would like to publicize. 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of America’s first transcontinental railroad. We learned what they ate—largely Chinese food. Recently re-designated as a historical park, visitors to the Golden Spike National Historical Park can see the location of the Last Spike Site, 1869 railroad construction features, walk or drive on the original railroad grade, and get an up close view of Victorian era replica locomotives. One is The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad, a volume of collected essays by over twenty authors about various aspects of the railroad’s history, published by Stanford University Press. They started families and our project identified a good number of these families—maybe fifteen—who were descendants of railroad workers. It’s been my pleasure to let people know about this. Union Pacific railroad presents The 150th Anniversary of Driving the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah. The second book is Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad, which I authored, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. He studies historical connections between technology, mobility, the environment, and social change, primarily in the North American West and Pacific World during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Many of the Chinese railroad workers remained single their entire lives because they worked hard but didn’t have much money or the ability to start families. The Golden Spike of the first transcontinental railroad was but one of millions in the nearly 2,000-mile route between Sacramento, Calif., and Omaha, Neb. That’s one new, major issue: This was an immense contribution that Chinese railroad workers made, but they have not been honored or acknowledged for that effort. Shop The Bradford Exchange Online for Golden Spike Cuckoo Clock. What happened to these workers after the railroad was completed? Visit website, This historic park witnessed one of the most important accomplishments of the 19th century. (Schedule subject to change. Between 1863 and 1869, two companies built a rail line across the United States. The original legislation granted each railroad 6,400 acres and up to $48,000 in government bonds for each mile completed. Few people bothered to drive the dirt road out to the Spike site. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. ), Working replicas of the 1860's steam locomotives 'Jupiter' and '119' are in operation from May-September. And we learned that, after the railroad was completed, many of them continued to be railroad workers and went eastward to work on railroad lines throughout the entire country. Brigham Young famously supported the … Utah Travel What they did was really quite astounding. It was engraved on all four sides, including the names of the railroad officers and directors along with start and end dates of construction. The visitor center is open year-round. The Golden Spike. They became known as the go-to railroad workers, since they had experience and were good workers. Several U.S. … On May 10, 1869, work crews from the two companies met in the Utah desert at Promontory Summit to link their rails and hammer home the final spikes. Union Pacific, starting from Council Bluffs, Iowa, built west, laying more than a thousand miles of rail; Central Pacific, starting from Sacramento, California, built east, laying nearly seven hundred miles of track. It was also understood, particularly by the boosters who pressed for this line early on, that it would open enormous political and economic potential by linking the East and the West, and by bringing the Far East—Asia—closer to the United States, via shipping lines out of San Francisco. The Sierras is the toughest mountain range in the continental United States. Golden Spike National Historic Park is located 32 miles northwest of Brigham City on State Routes 13 and 83. Slide programs, films, and museum exhibits are available at the visitor center. To recover is to find information that speaks to those gaps and silences in history. The 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad’s completion is a once-in-a-lifetime celebration taking place now in Ogden and at Golden Spike National Historical Park! The Last Spike Ceremony is reenacted every year on the May 10th anniversary, as well as every Saturday and Holiday from May 10th to September, and at the annual Railroader's Festival held the second Saturday … They worked through horrendous snowstorms to build through California to Donner Summit and to get the line through these mountain passes. It would link, literally, New York City with San Francisco—the two great harbors in North America. You can find essays about the railroad workers, and information about other resources that are available, including school curricula: We worked with other Stanford folks to complete a K-12 curriculum unit that introduces the subject to students. On May 10, 1869, East met West at the completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad across the United States, connecting the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific lines. She was pulling the Golden Spike Special, celebrating the 100th anniversary of completion of the United States Transcontinental Railroad. The crowd cheers as Governor Leland Stanford drives the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, Utah to complete the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869. Many of the descendants we interviewed were very eager to come forward. I learned that 90% of the construction workforce on the Central Pacific, on the western portion of the line, was Chinese. It’s a passion as well as an intellectual endeavor. Many died. In 1850, California became part of the Union, but California, as rich and as important as it was, was still far removed from the East Coast and even from the Midwest. San Francisco contractor David Hewes, friend of Central Pacific President Leland Stanford, was disappointed to discover no one had prepared a commerative item for the completion of the transcontinental railroad, which … On May 10, 1869, officials of the Central Pacific Railroad and Union Pacific Railroad met here to drive four symbolic spikes (two gold), celebrating the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. And I should mention the two books the project produced. Entrepreneurs and employers around the country sought to employ Chinese to work on rail lines in other parts of the country and on other infrastructure projects. The history of Chinese railroad workers, what they did on the railroad line, and how they lived the experience has been elusive, if not absent entirely, in the history of the railroad. All rights reserved. Gordon H. Chang: American leaders in the nineteenth century understood that the United States would have a great geographic advantage if the country was linked by rail line from east to west and west to east—if it had a rail line that would link the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean, that would span this large country from coast to coast. The line was envisioned as an important, strategic advantage for the northern states. Small crowds. There was already an extensive rail system, particularly in the North, before the Civil War, but this rail line would give the North even greater advantages. The rails they laid eventually met track set down by the Union Pacific, which worked westward. The spike is now on display at the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University, while a second "Last" Golden Spike is also on display at the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento. (Schedule subject to change. National Train Day is observed annually near the anniversary of the driving of the “golden spike,” the final spike hammered into the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 in Promontory Point, Utah.. Railroads have been going through Warren County since the mid-1800s, playing … Most of them had been farmers in the southern part of China, along the Pearl River Delta. Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. The Golden Spike Ceremony, which took place May 10, 1869, was held at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory. © 2020 U.S. History Scene, all rights reserved. How did the construction of the railroads change China? Coronavirus Updates: Stay current on the latest news and park access. Brigham City, UT 84302 Then they carved out fifteen tunnels through granite, which required hand-tools, chisels, and blasting powder, to blast out the solid rock from these gargantuan mountains. This resulted in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which tried to keep Chinese people out of the United States altogether. May 10, 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the laying of the “Golden Spike” and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory, Utah. 150 years after the completion of … Completing the. Industry Website. They were really responsible for building the western portion of the transcontinental railroad, and without them, the railroad might not have been completed, and certainly would not have been completed in the time that it was. With the 150th anniversary coming up, many are very pleased that the story of Chinese railroad workers will finally make it into the public’s consciousness, through public events and books and other work that the project has completed. One of the golden spikes, considered the official golden spike, was a gift to Leland Stanford of CP. Our website is reliable, easy to use, and can lead you to other resources. He died in 1874, five years after the golden spike was laid in Utah. Sean Fraga: Let’s start with the big picture. During that Ceremony, four special spikes were presented. How did the project come about, and what were its initial goals? On May 10, 1869, the golden spike was hammered in at Promontory, Utah. We formed the project to concentrate our resources and get researchers out there to see if we could find documentation on the railroad workers. Big mountains. "We want to hear the iron horse puffing through this valley." Rangers offer talks daily from May 31 to September 1. Tourists could pose with full-size plywood replicas of the two famous Golden Spike locomotives. The Chinese began working in 1864 and worked all the way through, to 1869, on the western portion of the railroad, which ended in Utah. I’ve been long interested in Chinese railroad workers and trans-Pacific interaction. How has the legacy of the transcontinental railroads changed over time? Chinese laborers made up a majority of the Central Pacific workforce that built out the transcontinental railroad east from California. Visitors can also drive two self-guided auto tours at the site. In this interview, he reflects on the history of the first transcontinental railroad and discusses how he and colleagues have worked to bring the histories of Chinese railroad workers to light. So the rail line had both domestic importance as well as perceived international trade advantages. They were really responsible for building the western portion of the transcontinental railroad, and without them, the railroad might not have been completed, and certainly would not have been completed in the time that it was. They’re very happy with our project, to make this history known. What didn’t you expect to learn? Even today, some of these villages from which they came are still known as railroad villages. Much of what we know—or believe we know—about History with a capital H, and American history more generally, are things that we can read in our history books. 435-734-3300 I’d studied and had written about those issues extensively in my earlier career, and finally, in 2012, I had a chance to co-found and co-direct this project, to recover the history of Chinese railroad workers. It was at Promontory Summit on May 10, 1869, that Leland Stanford drove The Last Spike (or golden spike) that joined the rails of the transcontinental railroad. Summer 2019: Golden Spike Redux The role that Chinese immigrants played in building the Transcontinental Railroad has long been buried. It’s still relatively unknown among the American public. And so, The Great Race began. We learned from them about family lore and what the railroad meant to their families today. When we celebrate the 150th anniversary, what are we celebrating? The authorization supported two companies: the Union Pacific, which built from Omaha, Nebraska, westward, and the Central Pacific, which built from Sacramento, California, eastward. The descendants, to continue your question earlier, many are proud—but many are also sad or have been angry because the story of Chinese railroad workers had not been recovered or known before. So they’re very happy, on the one hand, to have the story come forward, but still have deep feelings about why it’s taken so long for this part of American history to be known. And we wanted to correct that. This interview has been condensed and edited. With the outbreak of the Civil War, the stalemate was broken, and Abraham Lincoln signed a bill in 1862 to authorize federal support for the building of the line. You’re the co-director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America project at Stanford. The golden spike ceremony originated in 1869 when the transcontinental railroad was completed in Utah, and the golden spike was the last one driven to … I hope that people who are interested will go find those books and learn much more than what we could cover here in this interview—there’s a lot of information that we didn’t cover at all. They pressed for its construction over the years, but the sectional conflict—between North and South, the slave states and the northern states—blocked agreement about where the route should go.

Wot A46 Review, Brewster Bus Depot, Assist In A Way, Wot A46 Review, Fly High Song Meaning, B&q Laminate Fire Back Panels,

By in Uncategorized on December 7, 2020