can anyone give me any information at all re. the employment of Chinese labour on the Crowsnest Pass Railroad?
Chinese on Crowsnest Pass Railroad
- Thread starter davidkerkkonen
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Remember Wikipedia has been known for mistakes but it gives you a start
Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owing to labour shortages, Onderdonk contracts labour agents in Kowloon to supply thousands of Chinese coolies for the project. BC was up in arms over the mass transfer of labour and "Asiatics" fearing it would upset the White Anglo Saxon classes in "British" Columbia. Macdonald accedes owing to the labour costs that would be saved. BC at the time only had two or three thousand Europeans, not nearly enough people to build such a large project. Macdonald's riposte was BC could either have Chinese workers and a railway, or no Chinese and no railway.Historians estimate he brought in several thousand Chinese from China and many more thousand from California. The Chinese workers were always kept on crews separate from the white workers and often given the most dangerous jobs including the tunnel blasting using the highly unstable nitroglycerin explosive. Many Chinese were killed in accidents or died of scurvy during the winter, though part of the blame for the scurvy lies with the workers' dietary reliance on rice. Unlike the white workers, injured Chinese workers were not provided access to the company hospital and were abandoned to the rest of the workers to help. Discrimination and racism led to fights between the Chinese workers and the white workers, including white foreman of the Chinese crews. Generally the Chinese were seen by management as efficient, hard working and well behaved workers. The Chinese crews thus worked year round in the cliffs and forests leveling a grade. In British Columbia, the CPR hired workers from China, nicknamed coolies. A navvy received between $1 and $2.50 per day, but had to pay for his own food, clothing, transportation to the job site, mail, and medical care. After two and a half months of back-breaking labour, they could net as little as $16. Chinese navvies in British Columbia made only between $0.75 and $1.25 a day, not including expenses, leaving barely anything to send home. They did the most dangerous construction jobs, such as working with explosives. The families of the Chinese who were killed received no compensation, or even notification of loss of life. Many of the men who survived did not have enough money to return to their families in China. Many spent years in lonely, sad and often poor conditions. Yet the Chinese were hard working and played a key role in building the western stretch of the railway; even some boys as young as 12 years old served as tea-boys.
Canadian Pacific Railway in British Columbia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Owing to labour shortages, Onderdonk contracts labour agents in Kowloon to supply thousands of Chinese coolies for the project. BC was up in arms over the mass transfer of labour and "Asiatics" fearing it would upset the White Anglo Saxon classes in "British" Columbia. Macdonald accedes owing to the labour costs that would be saved. BC at the time only had two or three thousand Europeans, not nearly enough people to build such a large project. Macdonald's riposte was BC could either have Chinese workers and a railway, or no Chinese and no railway.Historians estimate he brought in several thousand Chinese from China and many more thousand from California. The Chinese workers were always kept on crews separate from the white workers and often given the most dangerous jobs including the tunnel blasting using the highly unstable nitroglycerin explosive. Many Chinese were killed in accidents or died of scurvy during the winter, though part of the blame for the scurvy lies with the workers' dietary reliance on rice. Unlike the white workers, injured Chinese workers were not provided access to the company hospital and were abandoned to the rest of the workers to help. Discrimination and racism led to fights between the Chinese workers and the white workers, including white foreman of the Chinese crews. Generally the Chinese were seen by management as efficient, hard working and well behaved workers. The Chinese crews thus worked year round in the cliffs and forests leveling a grade. In British Columbia, the CPR hired workers from China, nicknamed coolies. A navvy received between $1 and $2.50 per day, but had to pay for his own food, clothing, transportation to the job site, mail, and medical care. After two and a half months of back-breaking labour, they could net as little as $16. Chinese navvies in British Columbia made only between $0.75 and $1.25 a day, not including expenses, leaving barely anything to send home. They did the most dangerous construction jobs, such as working with explosives. The families of the Chinese who were killed received no compensation, or even notification of loss of life. Many of the men who survived did not have enough money to return to their families in China. Many spent years in lonely, sad and often poor conditions. Yet the Chinese were hard working and played a key role in building the western stretch of the railway; even some boys as young as 12 years old served as tea-boys.
The labour wasn't Mc Donalds doing nor Van Horne. The Chinese Benevolent Society funded by the Tongs and a guy name Au Tom who was one of the few to make it big in the BC gold rush.
Every few years he'd head north from the shores of Pitt Lake to his hidden gold mine where he'd return with two sacks of as much gold as he could carry. He took the location of the mine to his death.
The society would sponsor workers to immigrate but they had to repay the debt plus interest to the society.
Chinese workers on the main CPR line are pretty well documented, but there is no 'official' record of them on the Crowsnest rrd. in fact, i believe by that time it was illegal to use Chinese labour on such projects. there are stories, however. i hope to find actual proof of this.
No. Contact the Chinese Benevolent Assoc in Vancouver (formed to look good as they were criminals for prior 40+ years) in 1895.
They've trafficed people all over north america for well over 150 years.
You could try checking out the various census records. There are hundreds of chinese listed and it usually gives their occupation. It may not say which railroad but by their location you should be able to figure that out on your own.
i'll try this. even if they weren't instrumental in placing these workers, they may still have some info. thanks.
most Chinese who were not really settled anywhere (prospectors, railroad workers, etc.) managed to elude the census. thanks.
They'll have all you need inregards to their history and more than happy to share.
Sorry but I don't agree with you. The list is much too long to consider that most may have eluded the census. There are pages and pages. I would have to go back in my records to tell you the years and that would take me quite some time but I know that here in BC at least, I was amazed at how many chinese were listed because I did not realize so many chinese people were in this country at that time. I don't know if the page is still available but I was searching the records held by (the name at the time) the Okanagan College. I believe the name was changed to something like "Living Landscapes". It was a site that held a lot of information regarding BC natives but it also had the census for various years. Somewhere in my belongings I have printed off a lot of the pages from before they changed the name and did a lot of changes to the site. A shame because it was better before they changed it. I moved 6 months ago and have not even begun to un-pack things like genealogy records so I cannot tell you addresses or years but maybe I have given you a little to go on. I have not worked on my genealogy for well over a year and it's a winter project if I get time this year so it could be a long time before I get to the un-packing part. Between my husband's family and my own, we have boxes. Mine just happens to include a lot of chinese names due to the census records I was searching. As I look at some of my genealogy sites, I am wondering about your question. Are you searching for a particular person or just knowledge on any and all chinese who may have worked on the railroad? If you are searching for a person, you can go to the random acts of kindness site and donate what you can for someone to look something up for you from an area. The more information you have to give them, the better. I used this service to locate a specific address where one of my grandfather's was buried. The person there was back to me within hours with the exact information. This is where you would look if that is the case: http://www.ragk.org which is random acts genealogy kindness organization or you can also try http:www.ragk.com/listing.htm You can also try a site called Post 1901 Census Project. http://wwwglobalgenealogy.com/census/ These are sites I have had bookmarked for quite some time and I have no memory of what is on them but it doesn't hurt to have a glance and see if they bring you anything.
Suffering from the ravages of rebellion, floods, dire food shortages and a huge population explosion in the Guangzhou and Guangdong areas of China, the distant vista of Canada became a light of hope for Chinese immigrants in the mid-1800s. Canada was verging on an innovative era of growth and expansion, but all was not to be well for the new arrivals.
The first wave of Chinese immigrants to Canada moved north from San Francisco in 1858. Arriving first in the United States, they came to British Columbia to prospect for gold on the Fraser River. Working “as gold miners, laundrymen and market gardeners,” said Paul Yee in his book, Chinatown, the new immigrants “also became teamsters, coal miners, salmon canners and servants.” Mainly men, they had left their wives and families behind in China; much of their Canadian earnings was sent home to care for their families.
Trans-Canada Railway Labour
The first wave of Chinese immigrants to Canada moved north from San Francisco in 1858. Arriving first in the United States, they came to British Columbia to prospect for gold on the Fraser River. Working “as gold miners, laundrymen and market gardeners,” said Paul Yee in his book, Chinatown, the new immigrants “also became teamsters, coal miners, salmon canners and servants.” Mainly men, they had left their wives and families behind in China; much of their Canadian earnings was sent home to care for their families.
Trans-Canada Railway Labour
By 1860, there were approximated 7,000 Chinese on Vancouver Island and in lower BC, with Barkerville becoming the first Chinese community in Canada, stated Canadian Encyclopedia. Determined, hard workers, the new Government of Canada under Sir John A. Macdonald recruited the Chinese to work on large projects such as the final leg of the Trans-Canada rail line in British Columbia. Speaking against strong opposition, Macdonald said, “It is simply a question of alternatives: either you must have this labour or you can’t the have railway.”
Besieged with dismal conditions and under inhumane circumstances, the Chinese workers cleared the forests to build and level the railway bed, and did the exceedingly perilous tasks of clearing the tunnels for the railway. None of it was easy. Many were killed in bridge collapses, in tunnel explosions, from exhaustion due to excessive vigorous work. Others yet became ill from scurvy, noted the Chinese Canadian National Council. The 15,000 Chinese workers composed the majority of railway builders in British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 - they also earned a third less than white men for the same work. When the railway was completed, the Chinese were let go and spread out across the country to find work.
Forced to Flee
Besieged with dismal conditions and under inhumane circumstances, the Chinese workers cleared the forests to build and level the railway bed, and did the exceedingly perilous tasks of clearing the tunnels for the railway. None of it was easy. Many were killed in bridge collapses, in tunnel explosions, from exhaustion due to excessive vigorous work. Others yet became ill from scurvy, noted the Chinese Canadian National Council. The 15,000 Chinese workers composed the majority of railway builders in British Columbia between 1881 and 1885 - they also earned a third less than white men for the same work. When the railway was completed, the Chinese were let go and spread out across the country to find work.
Forced to Flee
Facing racial discrimination, the immigrants were viewed as inferior to white Canadians. Whites did not understand the foreign, seemingly exotic ways of the Chinese. Not permitted to vote, they were chased away from the polls in 1880s. The Chinese workers were even forced to flee from their jobs by hostile white men, fearful of losing their own jobs to the lower-paid labourers. Often dangerous attacks, their shacks were destroyed, and bedding, clothing and belongings of the Chinese set ablaze.
As more Chinese made Canada their home, they grouped together to form neighbourhoods. In Vancouver, said Paul Yee, “it was not surprising that Chinatown was near the docks, railways lines and the commercial downtown.” The first Chinatown buildings there were made of wood with the false fronts popular in the era, and later transformed into sturdy brick buildings with apartments overtop of the businesses at the street level.
Chinese Business Flourished
While most of the Chinese were employed with average jobs as laundrymen, tailors, cooks or porters, many were astute businessmen, creating their own fortunes in Canada. The Sam Kee Company, for example, began as a laundry that expanded into real estate, import/export of rice and herring, fuel sales and labour services. It was one of several companies that made “annual incomes of $150,000 to $180,000,” stated Yee. By 1911, Vancouver’s Chinatown population stood at 3,600.
Over long decades of struggle, including immigration prohibitions and outrageously expensive head taxes, life for the Chinese in Canada gradually improved. Discrimination eased, rights to vote and participate in government were given, and generations of new Chinese Canadians were born. This year, 2008, is the 150th Anniversary of Chinese Immigration to Canada. It is a time to celebrate the arrival of the industrious, undaunted people who helped build Canada into the extraordinary country that it is today.
Read more at Suite101: Anniversary of Chinese Immigration: 150 Years ago, troubles in China gave Canada new source of labourers http://canadianhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/1858_chinese_came_to_canada#ixzz0nYBBbhUV
As more Chinese made Canada their home, they grouped together to form neighbourhoods. In Vancouver, said Paul Yee, “it was not surprising that Chinatown was near the docks, railways lines and the commercial downtown.” The first Chinatown buildings there were made of wood with the false fronts popular in the era, and later transformed into sturdy brick buildings with apartments overtop of the businesses at the street level.
Chinese Business Flourished
While most of the Chinese were employed with average jobs as laundrymen, tailors, cooks or porters, many were astute businessmen, creating their own fortunes in Canada. The Sam Kee Company, for example, began as a laundry that expanded into real estate, import/export of rice and herring, fuel sales and labour services. It was one of several companies that made “annual incomes of $150,000 to $180,000,” stated Yee. By 1911, Vancouver’s Chinatown population stood at 3,600.
Over long decades of struggle, including immigration prohibitions and outrageously expensive head taxes, life for the Chinese in Canada gradually improved. Discrimination eased, rights to vote and participate in government were given, and generations of new Chinese Canadians were born. This year, 2008, is the 150th Anniversary of Chinese Immigration to Canada. It is a time to celebrate the arrival of the industrious, undaunted people who helped build Canada into the extraordinary country that it is today.
Read more at Suite101: Anniversary of Chinese Immigration: 150 Years ago, troubles in China gave Canada new source of labourers http://canadianhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/1858_chinese_came_to_canada#ixzz0nYBBbhUV