BGuthrie Photos: DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad

DC -- Natl Museum of American History -- Exhibit: Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad:

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Description of Pictures: Forgotten Workers: Chinese Migrants and the Building of the Transcontinental Railroad
May 10, 2019 – Spring 2020
Marking the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, a critical episode in the development of the American West, Hidden Workers focuses on the forgotten Chinese workers who built the western leg of the railroad across the Sierra Nevada Mountains. A large floor graphic maps the United States so that visitors can walk the Transcontinental Railroad route. A display describes how the railroad was a catalyst for positive change but displaced Native Americans and caused the near extinction of the American buffalo.

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[1] FORGOT_190516_003.JPG	[2] FORGOT_190516_008.JPG	[3] FORGOT_190516_012.JPG
[4] FORGOT_190516_016.JPG	[5] FORGOT_190516_019.JPG	[6] FORGOT_190516_020.JPG
[7] FORGOT_190516_023.JPG	[8] FORGOT_190516_026.JPG	[9] FORGOT_190516_031.JPG
[10] FORGOT_190516_037.JPG	[11] FORGOT_190516_040.JPG	[12] FORGOT_190516_041.JPG
[13] FORGOT_190516_044.JPG	[14] FORGOT_190516_051.JPG	[15] FORGOT_190516_054.JPG
[16] FORGOT_190516_060.JPG	[17] FORGOT_190516_063.JPG	[18] FORGOT_190516_067.JPG
[19] FORGOT_190516_071.JPG	[20] FORGOT_190516_080.JPG	[21] FORGOT_190516_081.JPG
[22] FORGOT_190516_087.JPG	[23] FORGOT_190516_093.JPG	[24] FORGOT_190516_104.JPG
[25] FORGOT_190516_116.JPG	[26] FORGOT_190516_119.JPG	[27] FORGOT_190516_122.JPG
[28] FORGOT_190516_123.JPG	[29] FORGOT_190516_131.JPG	[30] FORGOT_190516_137.JPG

Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FORGOT_190516_008.JPG: The Transcontinental Railroad The Transcontinental Railroad, enabled by the Civil War and completed in 1869, accelerated expansion into the American West leading to opportunities for some, challenges for many, and hardships for others. Maps tell powerful stories. The General Land Office, a U.S. government agency, created this map in 1868. It identifies townships and the boundaries of land claims, and it contains important clues about the strategic location of the Transcontinental Railroad. Images beside the map explore the stories this map hints at. What did railroad companies and the U.S. government consider as they built the railroad? How did life change for Native peoples? For railroad workers? For new settlers?
2. FORGOT_190516_016.JPG: This enlarged detail shows Promontory Summit, where the Central Pacific Railroad met the Union Pacific Railroad to create the Transcontinental Railroad. What other points of interest can you find? Use the next slide to help decode the map.
3. FORGOT_190516_023.JPG: The Transcontinental Railroad 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. Railroads provided employment for immigrant workers, opportunities for investors, and a means for farmers to seize new lands. But these new transportation routes also carried settlers. Lakota, Shoshone, Cheyenne and other tribes fiercely resisted the railroad as it encroached on indigenous communities. The Pawnee worked with the railroad, seeing benefits to the partnership. Farmer, miners, and even tourists changed the landscape, destroying wildlife and habitats.
4. FORGOT_190516_026.JPG: Native American man (Shoshone) looking at the Central Pacific Railroad, about 1869 Courtesy of Library of Congress The Shoshone were among some of the Native peoples who resisted as the Transcontinental Railroad, aided by U.S. Army troops, pressed into their lands. Both the railroad and the settlers who used it threatened Native peoples' ways of life and sovereignty.
5. FORGOT_190516_044.JPG: Detail from stereo view of laying track, Nebraska Territory, 1866 Courtesy of Union Pacific Railroad Museum The backbreaking work of grading the bed and laying the track required thousands of workers, who were poorly paid. Building west from Nebraska, the Union Pacific hired Irish immigrants and Civil War veterans. The Central Pacific Railroad Company, building from California, hired Chinese migrants. In the center, Mormon laborers worked for both lines.
6. FORGOT_190516_051.JPG: Ceremony to drive the last spike, May 10, 1869 Courtesy of Oakland Museum of California, Andrew J. Russell Collection 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 built the road. Golden spike Gift of Union Pacific Railroad The Union Pacific Railroad made replica spikes commemorating the event, including this one given to the Smithsonian in 1958.
7. FORGOT_190516_054.JPG: Detail from stereo view of Union Pacific board members and others in company business car, 1869 Building the Transcontinental Railroad presented both physical and monetary challenges. Even with huge government subsidies, the railroad companies had to raise millions of dollars to cover construction costs. Directors skimmed millions off the construction and became rich. Operating the enterprise was often less profitable.
8. FORGOT_190516_060.JPG: Displacing Native Americans Native Americans along a ridge on horseback view a train running through the valley. 'Indians First View of Railroad Train' from Marvels of the New West, 1888. The Transcontinental Railroad, hailed by the U.S. government and business leaders as a symbol of progress and unity, devastated Native communities. The U.S. government forced Native peoples to sign treaties ceding their lands or granting settlers safe passage. Lakota, Shoshone, Cheyenne, and other Native peoples fiercely resisted the railroad as it encroached on indigenous communities and threatened their ways of life. Can you identify which Native peoples would have faced conflict to protect themselves and their lands?
9. FORGOT_190516_063.JPG: Settling the Land Print of a Dakota Wheat Farm showing Farmhouse, Barn, and bundles of wheat in a field. 'A Dakota Wheat Farm,' from Marvels of the New West, 1888. The Transcontinental Railroad facilitated colonization in the western territories through human settlement. In the 1860s, the U.S. government encouraged white Americans and European immigrants to occupy the land, often by creating homesteads. Farmers claimed pieces of the prairies, fencing in lands that Native peoples relied on for free-roaming bison and other resources. Ranchers used the communal free range but their cattle (unlike bison) were personally owned and branded. Can you identify areas that farmers might have claimed?
10. FORGOT_190516_067.JPG: Supporting Military Operations Print showing soldiers on horseback and settlers in wagons going into the wood-walled Fort Bridger. Old Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Courtesy of the Utah State Historical Society. Railroads played an important role in military operations, and likewise the U.S. Military protected the railroad's construction. Before the Transcontinental Railroad, outposts like Fort Bridger (pictured here) housed and supported soldiers throughout the West. Native Americans clashed with U.S. soldiers who sought to protect fur traders, merchants, and settlers in transit. Railroads could move soldiers and supplies quickly across the West, eventually rendering many forts obsolete. Can you identify the military forts along the Transcontinental Railroad?
11. FORGOT_190516_071.JPG: Exploiting Workers Print of workers building the Pacific Railroad -- laying ties, bring wood, nailing rails, etc. 'Building the Pacific Railroad' from Beyond the Mississippi, 1867. Railroad companies employed thousands of Irish, Mormon, and Chinese laborers to build the railroad. Not all workers labored under equal conditions or with equal compensation. Chinese workers for the Central Pacific Railroad were paid less than white workers. Some died in mountain avalanches and workplace accidents. Can you identify areas where it would have been difficult to build a railroad?
12. FORGOT_190516_081.JPG: Extracting Natural Resources Image of lead miners loading a mine cart underground. 'Lead Miners Under Ground' from Beyond the Mississippi, 1867. The Transcontinental Railroad cut through lands containing rich mineral resources. The railroad made it easier to extract and transport these natural resources to their destinations. Can you identify the various minerals and coal fields along the railroad?
13. FORGOT_190516_087.JPG: Degrading the Environment Herds of buffalo flee away from the railroad tracks as men on the train shoot at them. 'The Far West -- Shooting Buffalo on the Line of the Kansas-Pacific Railroad' from Beyond the Mississippi, 1867. The Transcontinental Railroad dramatically altered ecosystems. Its trains brought thousands of hunters who killed the bison Native peoples relied on for food and rituals. The tracks disrupted land where livestock grazed. Railroad laborers and settlers alike chopped down trees for wood. Can you identify ways that the railroad would have to cut through the western landscape to connect its route?
14. FORGOT_190516_116.JPG: Forgotten Workers The construction of the Transcontinental Railroad was an engineering feat of human endurance, with the western leg built largely by thousands of immigrant Chinese laborers. Workers using mostly muscle power graded the road, bored the tunnels, and laid the track. Workers pushed the Central Pacific Railroad over the granite wall of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and across the arid west.
15. FORGOT_190516_122.JPG: Hong family, 1903 Chinese workers found some 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.
16. FORGOT_190516_123.JPG: Chopsticks, 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.
17. FORGOT_190516_131.JPG: Bottle gourd canteen, about 1900 Chinese workers typically drank tea, which was safer than unboiled water.
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