Chinese workers who came to the United States found economic opportunity, but also experienced hostility, racism, violence, and legal exclusion. Many came as single men; others left families behind. Despite laws restricting Chinese immigration, a few workers were able to send for wives and establish families and lasting communities in the United States. Cover Image: Ging Cui, Wong Fook, and Lee Shao, three of the eight Chinese workers who put the last rail in place, 1867

The majority of Chinese railroad workers came from the province of Guangdong in southern China. They were recruited through a vast network of small firms and labor contractors that supplied workers to railroad companies. After arriving in America, many migrants relied on labor contractors and ethnic associations, like the Chinese Six Companies in San Francisco, to find employment and to broker labor contracts with prospective employers. Officers of the Chinese Six Companies, undated

Railroad companies considered Chinese migrants a source of cheap, unskilled labor. In America in the 1800s, Chinese workers were seen as racially inferior to white workers. Employers used this prejudice to justify paying Chinese workers less than other workers and to relegate Chinese workers to the most undesirable jobs. Central Pacific Railroad Company Payroll, 1865

Chinese migrants confronted prejudice and racism. Local governments passed laws to restrict immigration and exclude Chinese workers from certain jobs. Chinese migrants faced violence from vigilantes, mobs, and organized labor. Local anti-Chinese movements culminated in the passage of the 1882 Exclusion Act, the first federal law to restrict the immigration of a group of workers by the criteria of race and class, and made Chinese migrants “illegal aliens.” Anti-Chinese Cap Pistol, 1876

Workers performed strenuous and backbreaking labor, often under pressure by managers to complete the railroad faster. Workers toiled six days a week, from dawn to dusk, under extreme weather conditions. To speed progress, a second shift of workers often labored at night by the light of lamps and bonfires. Near Humboldt Lake, Nevada, about 1868, Chinese workers transferring track to an installation handcart.

Chinese workers typically drank tea, which was safer than unboiled water. The tea was carried to their worksites in old blasting powder kegs. Tea carrier at tunnel, about 1867 - Bottle gourd canteen, about 1900

The railroad company provided meals to white workers. Chinese workers, however, had to secure their own provisions, which they bought primarily from San Francisco merchants. The railroad company provided dormitory train cars for white workers, while Chinese workers lived in tents. Camp, near Humboldt Wells, Nevada, about 1869. Soy sauce jug and chopsticks, about 1900.

The Transcontinental Railroad fundamentally changed the American West. As the United States pushed across North America, railroads connected and populated the growing nation. Railroads also sparked social, economic, environmental, and political change. The Union Pacific Railroad made replica spikes commemorating the event, including this one given to the Smithsonian in 1958. Model of Central Pacific Railroad locomotives Jupiter and 119.

For many, completing the Transcontinental Railroad symbolized achievement and national unity—yet it was built with mostly immigrant labor. Ironically, the famous photos show few of the workers who actually built the road. Ceremony to drive the last spike, May 10, 1869