Working on the Railroad
Who helped build the railroad?
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Building the transcontinental railroad was hard and dangerous work. Weather conditions weren't always ideal. For example, the Central Pacific Railroad workers faced cold, snowy weather in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Workers also had to blast through and chip away mountains of rock in the path of the tracks. On average, it took about a day to get through one foot of rock for a tunnel.
Both railroad companies hired immigrant workers to help lay the tracks. The Central Pacific Railroad had over 13,000 Chinese immigrants, and the Union Pacific Railroad hired around 8,000 Irish and German immigrants. Workers were paid about $35 a month; however, the Chinese started at $24 a month until they eventually earned as much as the European immigrants.
If it weren't for these workers, the railroad may not have been finished as fast and efficiently as it was.
