The Humongous Railroad
About the Railroad
Before the transcontinental railroad was built (by the Canadian Pacific Railway also known as the CPR) (in the 1800’s) lots of people traveled by horse and buggy. The transportation was really slow at that time. British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871. John A. Macdonald (the first Prime Minister of Canada) promised to make a transcontinental railway that would link the province to the rest of Canada. Although John A. Macdonald said that the transcontinental railroad would be finished by 1881, the first train was driven in 1885 from Montreal arriving in Vancouver July 1885.
The Chinese Railroad Workers
Before the Chinese came to build the railway the American and the white people started the railroad. But May 10th, 1869 over 11,000 railroad workers were Chinese. They used Chinese labour to build the railway. Chinese Railroad Workers got $25.00 a month, because of *discrimination while the other people building the railroad got $35.00 a month and they did not have to buy their own things because they were provided with things. Chinese Workers got the most dangerous part of the railway. This included using dynamite and blasting bombs through tunnels. Lots of people died building the railway. More than 17,000 people died building the railway. It was estimated that four Chinese people died every mile.
*Discrimination means that you are treating other people differently because of their gender, national origin or religion.
Values
The Chinese railroad workers valued their family. An example of a more than a million Chinese people who valued his family that was working and building the railway is Dong Yee. He really wanted to stay and work on the railway even though it was really dangerous. More than 40000 people died each year, and he wanted to build the railway so he could get enough money to buy land in China for his family. Lots of Chinese Railroad Workers value their family and they work in the CPR to get money for their family in China.
Change
After the railway was built there was a big change. Transportation became a lot faster and thousands of *homesteaders to Western Canada. The homesteaders started farms on the prairies. Lots of people thought that building such a big railroad over swamps, forests and mountains would be impossible but, the railroad finished only four years later than John A. Macdonald promised British Columbia.
*Homesteaders are people that come from Europe or other parts of North America.
Alberta at the time
In 1871 British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. At that time people traveled by boats, horses and buggies. Transportation was really slow in the 1800’s. Then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald promised British Columbia a railway from Eastern Canada to British Columbia by 1881. The railway finished in 1885. An American named William Cornelius Van Horne was hired to manage the building of the railway. William really wanted to finish the railway fast. The railway cost a lot of money. In return of building the railway the CPR (the company who built the railroad) was given $25 million and lots of free land. The Chinese were given the most dangerous part of building the railway including, blasting bombs through tunnels and using dynamite. The Chinese got paid $10.00 less than the other people because of *discrimination. After the railroad was built transportation became a lot faster. Lots of people thought building the railway would be impossible but they were wrong. Lots of Chinese built the railway and lots of them valued their family but a person named Dong Yee really valued his family. He wanted to stay and build the railway so he could get enough money to buy land for his family in China, even though his job was very dangerous. He said that more than three people die each day, and he really misses his family. Building the railroad took a lot of people (and lots of people died) and time, but after the railroad was built there was a big change.
*Discrimination means that you are treating other people differently because of their culture or language.
References
1. Ordinary people in Alberta’s Past pages 50-52
2. http://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/ChineseRailWorkers.php
3. http://www.cpr.ca/en/about-cp/our-past-present-and-future/pages/default.aspx
4. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_History/Canadian_Pacific_Railway
5. http://www.vpl.ca/ccg/Railway.html
6. http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/exhibits/timemach/galler08/frames/cpr.htm
7. http://www.ccnc.ca/cccop/index.php?section=content/history.php&func=viewEntry&entryID=59
Before the transcontinental railroad was built (by the Canadian Pacific Railway also known as the CPR) (in the 1800’s) lots of people traveled by horse and buggy. The transportation was really slow at that time. British Columbia joined Confederation in 1871. John A. Macdonald (the first Prime Minister of Canada) promised to make a transcontinental railway that would link the province to the rest of Canada. Although John A. Macdonald said that the transcontinental railroad would be finished by 1881, the first train was driven in 1885 from Montreal arriving in Vancouver July 1885.
The Chinese Railroad Workers
Before the Chinese came to build the railway the American and the white people started the railroad. But May 10th, 1869 over 11,000 railroad workers were Chinese. They used Chinese labour to build the railway. Chinese Railroad Workers got $25.00 a month, because of *discrimination while the other people building the railroad got $35.00 a month and they did not have to buy their own things because they were provided with things. Chinese Workers got the most dangerous part of the railway. This included using dynamite and blasting bombs through tunnels. Lots of people died building the railway. More than 17,000 people died building the railway. It was estimated that four Chinese people died every mile.
*Discrimination means that you are treating other people differently because of their gender, national origin or religion.
Values
The Chinese railroad workers valued their family. An example of a more than a million Chinese people who valued his family that was working and building the railway is Dong Yee. He really wanted to stay and work on the railway even though it was really dangerous. More than 40000 people died each year, and he wanted to build the railway so he could get enough money to buy land in China for his family. Lots of Chinese Railroad Workers value their family and they work in the CPR to get money for their family in China.
Change
After the railway was built there was a big change. Transportation became a lot faster and thousands of *homesteaders to Western Canada. The homesteaders started farms on the prairies. Lots of people thought that building such a big railroad over swamps, forests and mountains would be impossible but, the railroad finished only four years later than John A. Macdonald promised British Columbia.
*Homesteaders are people that come from Europe or other parts of North America.
Alberta at the time
In 1871 British Columbia became the sixth province of Canada. At that time people traveled by boats, horses and buggies. Transportation was really slow in the 1800’s. Then Prime Minister John A. Macdonald promised British Columbia a railway from Eastern Canada to British Columbia by 1881. The railway finished in 1885. An American named William Cornelius Van Horne was hired to manage the building of the railway. William really wanted to finish the railway fast. The railway cost a lot of money. In return of building the railway the CPR (the company who built the railroad) was given $25 million and lots of free land. The Chinese were given the most dangerous part of building the railway including, blasting bombs through tunnels and using dynamite. The Chinese got paid $10.00 less than the other people because of *discrimination. After the railroad was built transportation became a lot faster. Lots of people thought building the railway would be impossible but they were wrong. Lots of Chinese built the railway and lots of them valued their family but a person named Dong Yee really valued his family. He wanted to stay and build the railway so he could get enough money to buy land for his family in China, even though his job was very dangerous. He said that more than three people die each day, and he really misses his family. Building the railroad took a lot of people (and lots of people died) and time, but after the railroad was built there was a big change.
*Discrimination means that you are treating other people differently because of their culture or language.
References
1. Ordinary people in Alberta’s Past pages 50-52
2. http://www.mhso.ca/tiesthatbind/ChineseRailWorkers.php
3. http://www.cpr.ca/en/about-cp/our-past-present-and-future/pages/default.aspx
4. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Canadian_History/Canadian_Pacific_Railway
5. http://www.vpl.ca/ccg/Railway.html
6. http://www.bcarchives.gov.bc.ca/exhibits/timemach/galler08/frames/cpr.htm
7. http://www.ccnc.ca/cccop/index.php?section=content/history.php&func=viewEntry&entryID=59