"No Danger From Strikes Among Them"
Building the Central Pacific Rail Road across the Sierra Nevadas came
at great cost to the twelve thousand Chinese workers hired by Charles
Crocker, who believed "there was no danger from strikes among them."
In the winter of 1866-67 deep snowfalls covered the mountain. Crocker
ordered the workers to dig tunnels far beneath the snow’s surface
to continue laying track. Snow slides buried entire crews. Their corpses
were found when the snow melted. In the spring five thousand Chinese workers
went on strike. Isolated from food supplies, and excluded from the labor
movement, they were forced to go back to work.
Mural panel by Anton Refregier.