Who Wants to Work on That?

Charles Crocker, former dry-goods merchant, was an outspoken, in-your-face kind of guy, and President of the Central Pacific Railroad.  A practical man, he was a hands-on president who didn't take to budget and plans of the financial side of things.  He wanted to be in the thick of the construction action, sharing in the dangers of rock slides, avalanches, and below-zero temperatures that killed many a worker.  Crocker acted like a field marshal, rally troops, plotting strategies and supervising the battles against the elements.

Crocker's biggest problem was the lack of labor.  With the lure of silver and gold in Nevada, why would any man endure back-breaking work for $35 a month when across the mountain fortunes were to be had for less work?  So workers stayed just long enough to get a free ride to the head of the line before taking off across the Sierras to Nevada.

Once the construction reached the Sierra mountains themselves, the dangerous and difficult work was more demanding and the Irishmen, who made up most of the labor force, refused to continue.  Crocker decided that California's Chinese population would be a perfect solution to his problem since they lived in shantytowns as servants, laundymen, and peddlers. 

In early 1865, Crocker's construction boss, James Strobridge, was authorized to hire these men.  He refused, stating that the white workers would walk off the job in force and refuse to work with the Chinese.  He also didn't think the physically smaller Asians could do the job of breaking granite, blasting through the wooded areas, or laying rails and spikes.  Crocker argued that the ancestors of these men had built the Great Wall of China for Heaven's sake!  At that Strobridge relented.

Next time...The Experiment
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Today in Pioneer History: "On May 10,  1869,  the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, and drive a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. This made transcontinental railroad travel possible for the first time in U.S. history.