Gambling, opium, and life as a Chinese railroad hand

The hard labour of clearing the right of way, grading, laying track or tunneling through granite demanded a release.  Many Chinese hands found that release through gambling.  A variety of games were played like battling bulls, with each man rolling the dice to determine who should throw the dominoes first.  But mostly fan-tan was played.  The dealer placed a small handful of buttons from a pan on the ground under a cup.  After bets were laid down, the cup was lifted and the buttons counted out four at a time.  The men who guessed how many buttons would be left; one, two, three, or none would be the winners.^⁠ Gambling drew the ire of local authorities.  In Washington territory, gambling was outlawed, but “Chinamen continued to take the chances.”  As the Seattle Post-Intelligencer  noted the consequences were that, “Chief Woolery and officer Thompson lit down on two of them and arrested the dealers and captured considerable money.”^⁠1  The two arrested were fined $10 each.

The smoking of opium was another way to take away the painful drudgery of everyday life on the railroad.  Although, according to a Chinese merchant called to testify at the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration, opium smoking was “not as injurious as drunkenness,” the drug did have addictive qualities that had negative consequences for its users.^⁠2  One railway contractor stated that he had seen labourers “under the influence of opium,” as such they risked impaired judgment at often dangerous work-sites.  Another problem was over use.  One contractor commenting on the advantages of the contract system touched upon opium abuse, noting, “if the boss had to have a certain number of men at the railway the fact that ten of his men might be sleeping off an opium debauch would not prevent ten others being in their places.”^⁠3   After waking the reality for the ten sleeping off the “opium debauch” would have hit, no wages for that day and competition to regain employment on the line.

 

References

¹ Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 31, 1883.

² Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (Ottawa, 1885), 172.

³ Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (Ottawa, 1885), xxvii.

The dangers of railroad construction

Blasting could cause vast amounts of shrapnel to rain down on the labourers, causing all sorts of injuries and even death.  In March 1881, the Portland Standard reported that a “most deplorable and fatal explosion,” had occurred on the 10th inst. at Grange City, beyond Walla Walla, on the Northern Pacific Railroad.  Barrels of giant powder had been moved close to a fire in a deliberate attempt to thaw the contents.  “Suddenly a flash was seen and a terrible report rang out upon the startled air, tearing up the earth in great fragments and hurling them about in every direction.”  The barrels of giant powder had exploded.  Two Chinese labourers standing close to the fire “were violently sent up into the air and killed, their bodies being almost unrecognizable from the effects of the explosion.”  Another labourer survived the blast but was “discovered horribly mutilated” and was doubtful whether he would survive his injuries.  The explosion created “immense hollows and deep cavities” in the ground and was “heard for a distance of twenty miles.”  While the Portland Standard declared it “hard to determine who is responsible for the sad catastrophe,” the truth was the dangers of the railroad construction could strike at anytime and anyone.^⁠1

 

Reference

¹ Portland Standard cited in Inland Sentinel, March 31, 1881.

Railroad construction and the problem with white labour

The low wages and poor working conditions associated with railroad construction appealed to few white labourers across North America during the mid-late nineteenth century.  Contractors for the Central Pacific Railroad, the Mendocino Railroad, and the Canadian Pacific Railway all placed advertisements for white labour in respective local newspapers.  The respond was typically minimal.  An interview with the Mendocino Railroad contractor, Mr West Evans, revealed a lack of desire by white workers to take up railroad employment.  The type of work that made up the bulk of railroad construction simply did not appeal.  A transcript of the interview details why the contractor turned to Chinese labour to construct his railroad:

Q. Are you the West Evans who advertised extensively in a newspaper a year or two ago, for white laborers?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What success did you meet with?

A. I got very few.

Q. How many did you advertise for?

A. I wanted a hundred.

Q. How many did you get?

A. Twenty or thirty. I sent more than a hundred up to work, but they would not work when they got there.

Q. For what reason?

A. They thought it was too hard work.

Q. Do you think there is a surplus of white laborers in the State?

A. I have not been able to employ it. I want men now and cannot get them.

Q. White men can do any work that the Chinamen could do?

A. Oh, yes; but, understand me, I tried to get white men to do this work and failed.^⁠1

 

Reference

¹ Report of the Royal Commission on Chinese Immigration (Ottawa, 1885), xxii.