How many Chinese people died building the Canadian Pacific Railway?

How many Chinese people died building the Canadian Pacific Railway?

Upward of 15,000 Chinese labourers helped to build the Canadian Pacific Railway. Working in harsh conditions for little pay, these workers suffered greatly and historians estimate that at least 600 died working on the railway.

How many Chinese worked on the Canadian railroad?

Many Asians were brought to Canada to provide cheap labour. More than 15,000 Chinese came over in the early 1880s to build the most dangerous and difficult section of the Canadian Pacific Railway. One worker died for every mile of track lay through the Rocky Mountains between Calgary and Vancouver.

How much did Chinese railroad workers get paid?

According to the Project, Chinese workers hired in 1864 were paid $26 a month, working six days a week.

Where did Chinese railway workers live?

From 1863 and 1869, roughly 15,000 Chinese workers helped build the transcontinental railroad. They were paid less than American workers and lived in tents, while white workers were given accommodation in train cars.

What happened to the Chinese after the railroad was built Canada?

After the 1885 legislation failed to deter Chinese immigration, the Canadian government passed the Chinese Immigration Act, 1900 to increase the tax to $100. The Chinese had no choice but to pay it even though it was worth two years’ salary of a railway worker.

How many Chinese died working on the transcontinental railroad?

Between 1865-1869, 10,000 -12,000 Chinese were involved in the building of the western leg of the Central Pacific Railroad. The work was backbreaking and highly dangerous. Approximately 1,200 died while building the Transcontinental Railroad.

Are there Chinese workers on the Central Pacific Railroad?

At the start of construction the Central Pacific Railroad had no plans to hire Chinese workers.

When did the Chinese start building the railroad?

According to the Chinese Railroad Workers Project, Central Pacific started with a crew of 21 Chinese workers in January 1864. Chinese laborers at work on construction for the railroad built across the Sierra Nevada Mountains, circa 1870s.

Who was the director of the Central Pacific Railroad?

Hilton Obenzinger, associate director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University, says that Central Pacific Railroad director Charles Crocker recommended hiring Chinese workers after a job ad resulted in only a few hundred responses from white laborers.

How many Chinese workers worked on the Coquitlam Railway?

Over the course of the construction, there were 9000 workers and 6500 of those were Canadians of Chinese descent. The racism that the Chinese population faced was widespread.