The Experiment

Reluctantly Central Pacific's construction boss, James Strobridge, agreed to go along with Charlie Crocker's idea of using Chinese workmen to build the railroad through the tough mountain terrain.  With their trademark baggy blue pants and long pigtails, they were met by laughter, insult and curses from the white workers - just as Strobridge had predicted.  The Chinese, however, paid no attention.  They went to work with picks and shovels and a will that amazed all who watched.

Strobridge was so impressed he hired 50 more Chinese, then exhausting the supply in California, he sent for 1000 workers from China itself.  They worked from dawn to dusk through all kinds of weather.  They were disciplined, sober, and fearless...so fearless that even when avalanches took then, the survivors worked even harder to make up the difference!

Labor wasn't the only problem facing the Central Pacific's early days.  Supplies were constantly scarce.  There was little industry in California at that time, and almost every supply needed to build a railroad had to be shipped from the East, either through Panama or around Cape Horn.  Rails that cost $92 in the East would cost $141 by the time they got to San Francisco.  Some materials were not even available at any price.

Despite all this, Crocker and his crews persevered.  Only eight miles of track was laid between September 1865 and May of 1866 before the Chinese came to work.  In the six months after their arrival, 28 miles of Sierra Nevada track was laid.  The following year, 1867, during  a year of blizzards, 15 miles were blasted through the mountains. 

By 1868 the railroad was down the eastern slopes to the desert below.  The government subsidies and grants were being awarded and the Central Pacific was racing to meet the Union Pacific.  By the early spring of 1869 the Central Pacific was across Nevada and into Utah.  The two railroads were drawing near to joining each other.

Next time...the final spike
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Today in Pioneer History: "On May 14, 1804, One year after the United States doubled its territory with the  Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri, on a mission to explore the Northwest from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean.

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The Ground Breaking Railroad

On July 1, 1862 the Pacific Railroad Act was signed into law by President Lincoln.  It gave authority to the Central Pacific to build a railroad and telegraph line from Sacramento to the Nevada line and created a new company, the Union Pacific to build westward from Nebraska.  Land grants of 10 square miles were awarded for each mile of track laid.  Financial aid of loan bonds payable in 30 years at 6% annual interest was also given, amounting to $16,000 for each mile of track on flatland, $32,000 for each mile of track through the high desert land, and $48,000 for each mile through the mountains.  Quite a lucrative offer!

Ground breaking ceremonies began in Sacramento on January 8, 1863.  At the time the Central Pacific had only $156,000 on hand.  Chief engineer Theodore Judah estimated that the first 50 miles of track had to be completed before the government loans or land grants would be available.

The "Big Four" pledged their own savings to obtain the rails shipped from the East.  Huntington went to New York and Boston to raise more money but no one was interested.  War bonds were a much better investment in 1863.

The "Big Four" did not give up-they managed to lay 24 miles of flatland rail east of Sacramento that was previously designated mountainous country. That gave them an additional $768,000 in loan bonds plus opened up the bankers in the East to invest money in the project.

All this time Theodore Judah clashed with the rest of the "Big Four" over their focus on profits over well-built railroads.  When he died in the fall of 1863 of yellow fever, the "Big Four" were soundly in charge with no one to clash with.  The money was again scarce and construction lagged.  Huntington again went to Washington to lobby (and buy off) Congress to pass the Pacific Railroad Act of 1864.
Something else happened in Washington...a new acquaintance. 

Next time...A New Acquaintance
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On April 12, 1961, aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin becomes the first human being to travel into space. During the flight, the 27-year-old test pilot and industrial technician also became the first man to orbit the planet, a feat accomplished by his space capsule in 89 minutes.