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铁路华工，老板女儿的结婚礼物

已有 1005 次阅读2024-7-9 04:24 |个人分类:华人历史|系统分类:转帖-知识

What does Stanford univ. has to do with Chinese RR workers？

What does a Newport Mansion have to do with the Chinese RR workers？

Fair established the South Pacific Coast Railroad in 1876, employing 600 Chinese workers to lay down track from Newark, California down San Francisco Bay, through San Jose and Los Gatos, and southward over the Santa Cruz Mountains.

In 1876, Fair started the South Pacific Coast Railroad which went from modern-day Newark, California, across the Santa Cruz Mountains into Felton, California. Fair employed 600 Chinese immigrant for the job which included two tunnels, one 6,200 feet long and the other 5,000 feet long. In the course of the tunneling thirty-one workers lost their lives largely due to natural gas explosions during the tunneling process. Only a decade later, Fair sold his ownership in the railroad to Southern Pacific Railroad who ran the line until 1940, when the rail line was shifted to avoid the Santa Cruz Mountains.

The Chinese railroad workers and a wedding gift from the father of the bride James G. Fair...

34 Chinese died in the blast of the Santa Cruz Tunnel.

"In 1876, in partnership with several others, James G. Fair established the narrow-gauge South Pacific Coast Railroad. From its beginning near present-day Newark, the line extended down the east side of San Francisco Bay, through San Jose and Los Gatos, and southward over the Santa Cruz Mountains over a route that entailed a 6,200-foot tunnel, another 5,000-foot tunnel and six shorter ones. Some six hundred Chinese workers were employed in clearing, grading, laying track, and tunneling. In that last activity, thirty-one workers lost their lives, primarily from explosions of underground natural gas. At its southern end, the railroad acquired the Santa Cruz & Felton Railroad in Felton. The line over the mountains was completed in May 1880.

The South Pacific Coast Railroad was immediately successful and soon profitable. In 1886, Southern Pacific purchased SPC for six million dollars. Southern Pacific later converted it to standard gauge and operated it until 1940, when the over-the-mountains portion of the line was abandoned."