Even today, some of these villages from which they came are still known as railroad villages. 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. 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. Union Pacific railroad presents The 150th Anniversary of Driving the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit, 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. The line was envisioned as an important, strategic advantage for the northern states. In the late 1950s a tourist attraction, the Golden Spike Railroad Museum, opened many miles away from the Spike site, but close to the nearest highway. He died in 1874, five years after the golden spike was laid in Utah. Golden Spike event celebrates the Transcontinental Railroadâs 150th anniversary Doug Foxley, left, and Spencer Stokes re-create a historic photo at the Golden Spike ⦠And they became the foundation of what we would call today the Chinese-American community. 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 ⦠There are many omissions and gaps in our understanding of history; the writing of history is ongoing task of recovery. 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. You mentioned connections back home. We hit your inbox once a month and never abuse your personal information. Golden Spike National Historical Park. The original legislation granted each railroad 6,400 acres and up to $48,000 in government bonds for each mile completed. 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. How do these descendants tend to view the railroad today? Our website is reliable, easy to use, and can lead you to other resources. This interview has been condensed and edited. The railroad would solve that problem. They numbered anywhere from twelve thousand to fifteen thousand, at a high point, and maybe up to twenty thousand overall because of turn-over. 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. Completing the. Golden Spike National Historic Park is located 32 miles northwest of Brigham City on State Routes 13 and 83. High quality Golden Spike gifts and merchandise. But a handful did, particularly the managers or supervisors or labor contractors who recruited the workers on to the rail line. 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. "We want to hear the iron horse puffing through this valley." What they did was really quite astounding. National Train Day is observed annually near the anniversary of the driving of the âgolden spike,â 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 ⦠Transcontinental Railroad, 1869. 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. The money these workers earned in the United States was considerably more than what they could earn in China. 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. 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. 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. ), There is an easy, flat 1.5 mile/2.4 km trail called the Big Fill Walk at Golden Spike. On that website, you’ll find videos about the history and about our project. It was engraved on all four sides, including the names of the railroad officers and directors along with start and end dates of construction. Up to twelve hundred, or more, Chinese died in the construction of the railroad. This book tells the story from beginning to end, as well as describing what this experience means for us today. 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. It’s a passion as well as an intellectual endeavor. Brigham Young famously supported the ⦠We learned what they ate—largely Chinese food. They overcame great physical, climatic, and working conditions. (The West Auto Tour is a 14-mile round trip, the East Auto Tour is about a 2 mile loop. Sean Fraga holds a Ph.D. in History from Princeton University. Inspired designs on t-shirts, posters, stickers, home decor, and more by independent artists and designers from around the world. 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 - ⦠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. 1 South Main St. The Sierras is the toughest mountain range in the continental United States. 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. Rangers offer talks daily from May 31 to September 1. Read more... Come to Ogden. We learned from them about family lore and what the railroad meant to their families today. 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. May 10, 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the laying of the âGolden Spikeâ and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Promontory, Utah. This resulted in the passage of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882, which tried to keep Chinese people out of the United States altogether. In addition to providing lifelong history lovers, teachers, and students free access to premier digital research, the editors and writers of U.S. History Scene are available for freelance or consulting work. How did the project come about, and what were its initial goals? The driving of this final golden spike represented a new era in connecting people, moving goods, and igniting Americaâs ⦠Nickel Plate 759 steams through Brewster, Ohio in May of 1969. On May 10, 1869, the golden spike was hammered in at Promontory, Utah. Sean Fraga: Let’s start with the big picture. Did these Chinese railroad workers build communities in the United States? And I should mention the two books the project produced. One of the golden spikes, considered the official golden spike, was a gift to Leland Stanford of CP. But while their labor was crucial, the workers themselves have been largely forgotten. What are some resources for people who want to know more about Chinese railroad workers in North America? 150 years after the completion of ⦠So the rail line had both domestic importance as well as perceived international trade advantages. We learned about they did in their leisure time: They read, played games, wrote letters back home to their relatives and sent money back. Coronavirus Updates: Stay current on the latest news and park access. 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. They started families and our project identified a good number of these families—maybe fifteen—who were descendants of railroad workers. 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 ⦠Tourists could pose with full-size plywood replicas of the two famous Golden Spike locomotives. All orders are custom made and most ship worldwide within 24 hours. 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. What were the project’s most important findings, and what findings were you surprised by? You’ll find images of research materials that we used, including payroll records and photos of the workers. 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the completion of America’s first transcontinental railroad. Between 1863 and 1869, two companies built a rail line across the United States. 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. ), Copyright © 2020 Utah.com. American boosters and entrepreneurs envisioned a rail line as early as the 1840s. The Golden Spike. To recover is to find information that speaks to those gaps and silences in history. And we wanted to correct that. Visitors can also drive two self-guided auto tours at the site. Big mountains. Spikes date back to the first railroads in the 1830s and are still the fastener of choice for most North American railroads. How did the construction of the railroads change China? ), Working replicas of the 1860's steam locomotives 'Jupiter' and '119' are in operation from May-September. All rights reserved. There was not an extensive cash economy there. 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. After the completion of the transcontinental railroad, communities all along the backbone of the Western United States â some created by the railroad â were forever changed. 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. Small crowds. 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