By Pamela Dell

Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA, Lexile, and Reading Recovery are provided in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.

Scott Foresman Reading Street 5.1.5S tt F R di St t 5 1 5

GenreComprehension

Skill and StrategyText Features

Nonfi ction Cause and Effect

Graphic Sources

Text Structure

Captions

Diagrams

Map

Glossary

ISBN-13:ISBN-10:

978-0-328-52069-50-328-52069-1

9 7 8 0 3 2 8 5 2 0 6 9 5

9 0 0 0 0

52069_CVR.indd Page A-B 6/1/09 7:35:19 PM EL-Hi5-017 /Volumes/104/SF00327/work%0/indd%0/SF_RE_TX:NL_L...

Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only. Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, sidebars, and extra features are not included.

By Pamela Dell

6

There was one major obstacle to this goal, however. To get across the California border into Nevada, the railway would need to scale the rugged Sierra Nevada. This mountain range lay like a forbidding giant along Californias eastern border.

Few believed it was possible to build a railway up and over the giants massive shoulders. The directors of the Central Pacific were confident it could be done. All it would take were money, engineering expertise, and enough men to do the heavy laborthousands of them.

The rugged Sierra Nevada

77

A Need for LaborersCharles Crocker, one of the Central Pacifics directors,

was in charge of the railroads construction. He hired James Strobridge as his superintendent. Strobridges main job was to oversee all those who were working on the railway. Where would those workers come from?

Chinese immigrants had been flooding into California by way of San Francisco since the 1850s. They came to escape political problems, poverty, and overcrowding in their homeland. Many hoped to get rich in the California gold rush that had begun in 1849. They all needed jobs.

But life in the United States was vastly different. By the 1860s, prejudice against Chinese people was fierce. The new arrivals faced discrimination in every part of their lives, especially in the job market. Whites often refused to work alongside Chinese workers. So Crocker began employing only white workers, mostly those of Irish descent.

Chinese immigrants fled problems at home, but they faced a new problemracial prejudicein California.

8

The first rails had been laid in Sacramento in October 1863. By June of 1864, the railway stretched to Newcastle, California, some 31 miles from there. Now the real work was about to beginthat of building up and through the Sierra Nevada.

To stay on schedule, Crocker suggested hiring Chinese immigrants because his white workers were not always dependable. Many left to prospect for gold. Others continually threatened to strike and created other problems for the Central Pacific bosses. At best, no more than about 800 willing workers could be found. Typically, after paydays, this number would dip even lower as scores of men took their money and fled the hard work of railroad building.

At first, Strobridge objected to Crockers idea. Racial prejudice wasnt the only problem. The Chinese men were generally small. On average, their height was just 4 feet 10 inches and their weight about 120 pounds. They were smaller than an average woman of today!

Strobridge believed such small men would not be strong enough for the heavy, intense work of railroad-building. Crocker disagreed. In 1864, he managed to convince Strobridge to hire a small number of Chinese immigrants.

eet

Construction boss Charles Crocker (above) persuaded Superintendent James Strobridge (below, left) to hire Chinese laborers on the Central Pacific.

9

Chapter 2 The Chinese Sign OnMost of the Chinese workers were from the Canton

region in South China. At first they were assigned to lighter jobs. Immediately these new workers showed their reliability, strength, and intelligence. As time went on, more Chinese workers were hired, and they were given more responsibility and heavier work. No matter what job they were assigned, the immigrants were willingand they worked hard. They were also punctual and trustworthy.

Crocker observed that his Chinese employees were skillful in using both drills and hammers. They also made faster progress each week than experienced white miners he had hired. Soon, Crocker was scouring all of California and beyond for as many Chinese laborers as he could get.

The Chinese railway workers proved they were strong, brave, and reliable.

10

Wherever we put them, Crocker reported later, we found them good. If we were in a hurryit was better to put Chinese on at once.

Things were not easy for the immigrants, however. The white railway workers resented their presence and did not want to work alongside them. When Crocker threatened to fire them and hire Chinese men in their places, things calmed down. In time, Chinese and white men generally worked side by side with little trouble.

In time, Chinese and white men worked together building the railroad. As shown in this illustration, the Chinese typically wore peaked straw hats. The white men wore western-style hats.

11

Lifestyle DifferencesAway from work, these two groups led separate

livesand not equal in all respects. The white workers were paid thirty-five dollars a month or more, plus free meals. The Chinese men at first received only twenty-five dollars a month for the same work. They also had to pay extra for their food.

The white workers slept in covered railroad cars. The Chinese workers spent their nights in canvas tents alongside the tracks until the crews moved into the high Sierra. Then better shelter was needed, so they slept in drafty wood bunkhouses.

A Chinese tent camp alongside the railway tracks

12

The Chinese workers hired their own cooks to prepare meals. They ate much differently from the white workers, who lived mainly on boiled beef and potatoes. Chinese meals included foods such as poultry, Chinese bacon, dried oysters and abalone, rice, salted cabbage, rice crackers, and cuttlefish with bamboo sprouts. White workers often came down with illnesses such as dysentery from drinking contaminated water. The Chinese laborers had more healthful diets and drank tea, which required boiling the water, so they seldom got sick.

Days off were spent differently too. Sunday was the day of rest, but many of the white workers lurched around aimlessly and spent their money unwisely. It was common for them to be rowdy. While the Chinese also played gambling games and got into quarrels, they tended to keep to themselves, away from prying western eyes. On Sundays, the immigrants caught up on chores such as washing and mending clothing. This was important to them. Their white counterparts did notcare much about keeping clean, but the Chinese workers generally bathed and put on fresh clothes every day.

Chinese workers had their own cooks, who supplied fresh vegetables and other foods.

13

Chapter 3 Building the Central Pacific Railroad

Legend tells that at one point James Strobridge was against letting the Chinese work on the railroads necessary masonry, or stonework. He changed his mind when Charles Crocker made a now-famous reply. Crocker reminded Strobridge that it was Chinese labor that had built one of the greatest masonry structures in the world: The Great Wall of China. So it was here again that these workers proved themselves with their excellent work.

The manual labor all along the Central Pacific route was grueling. This was especially true once the teams started up the foothills into the Sierra. But by that time, thousands of Chinese were at work building the railroad.

The Great Wall of China (left) and retaining walls in the Sierra (right) built by the mostly Chinese Central Pacific railroad crews

14

Men trained to do the surveying of the land led the way. Then came the graders. The job of the graders was to carve out level roadbeds on which the track would be laid. They used picks, hammers, and shovels. Crews bringing up the rear then secured the lengths of metal track and the huge, heavy wooden railroad ties with giant spikes. At that time there was no mechanized or motorized equipment. The drilling and digging was done entirely by hand!

By May 1866, the railway workers had reached Cape Horn, a rocky bluff about 58 miles east of Sacramento. The spot is legendary for its breathtaking views of the mountains and the American River, which lies about 1,300 feet below.

The Central Pacific Railroad line at Cape Horn

15

At this point, well into the mountains, work on the railroad began to grow much more difficult. Tunnels were necessary in order to reach the eastern side of the Sierra. Building tunnels required blasting. However, blasting through the Sierras solid granite was next to impossible.

A Long-Lived MythSo how were the solid granite surfaces penetrated?

The monument at Cape Horn makes an interesting claim. It states that the Chinese laborers were lowered over the face of Cape Horn Promontory in wicker bosuns chairs, or baskets. This was supposedly so they could hack out ledges in the mountainside and bore holes in the cliff in which to place explosives.

Modern-day research has shown this is most likely a myth. Men never dangled in baskets in midair at Cape Horn. Nevertheless, the work in the tall mountains was a huge challenge.

The myth that Chinese railway workers were lowered down the Cape Horn cliffsides in baskets has been kept alive for decades by both writers and artists.

16

Mountain DangersEven without hanging in baskets, the Chinese

laborers had extremely hazardous work to do in the high mountains. The task of blasting was first done with explosive black powder. But the powder did not pack a lot of power. Progress was being made at a rate of only inches per day. By early 1867, Crocker and Strobridge made the decision to try highly dangerous but more effective nitroglycerine charges to blast through the solid rock.

The deafening roar of these explosions was the least of the troubles that blasting involved. Setting the charges was risky, and unplanned explosions could occur without warning. Both took lives. Also, winter came early and stayed long in the rugged mountains. Snowfall was heavy and deep. Explosions under such conditions often set off avalanches. Men, and even whole camps, were sometimes buried alive in the ferocious wave of snow that rushed down a mountainside.

Working with explosives frequently cost the lives of the Central Pacifics railway workers.

17

The Chinese Workers StrikeBy early summer 1867, 10- and 12-foot snowdrifts still

covered some of the high mountain passes. Work on the railway itself was at a standstill while the men put their energies into shoveling snow. Hoping to attract more laborers, Crocker raised the Chinese workers wages to 35 dollars a month.

However, these men had had enough of the inequalities they suffered. On June 25, 1867, 2,000 immigrants working on an eastern slope put down their tools and returned to their camp. They told the bosses they would not go back to work unless they received 40 dollars a month.

The Chinese laborers had other demands, as well. Instead of working dawn to dusk, they called for a maximum 10-hour day. They also wanted shorter shifts in the dark, cold, dangerous tunnels they were building through the mountains. When Crocker refused all of this, the men raised their demand for pay to 45 dollars a month. The Chinese railroad

workers walked off the job, hoping to get the same pay and hours as white workers.

18

Remarkably, throughout this workers strike, order was maintained. Crocker stated, If there had been that number of whites in a strike, there would have been murderand disorderbut with the Chinese it was just like Sunday. No violence was perpetrated along the whole line.

Crocker appreciated the lack of violence, but he was tough. He would not even consider the workers demands. Instead, he cut off all food, including meat, and other supplies. He left them alone in their camp for a week. Then he returned. There would be no pay increases or lessening of hours, he announced. If the men returned to work, they would be fined only for their week away. If they continued striking, however, they would lose their entire pay for the month of June. Hungry and defeated, most of the Chinese workers returned to work at once. Threatened by white men with guns, the remaining strikers came back soon after. The Central Pacific Railroad would be completed.

Charles Crocker left the Chinese strikers without food or other services for a whole week.

19

Over the SummitJust as in the previous winter, unusually massive

amounts of snow fell in the Sierra during the winter of 18671868. At the summit, drifts piled up 18 feetnearly the height of a two-story building. This slowed the work even further. Heavy snowfall in the Sierra was an ongoing problem, so snow sheds also had to be built. These were structures built to shield the trains on tracks that ran unprotected outside the tunnels.

Chinese workers greet a Central Pacific train as it heads through a snow shed.

20

Trestle bridges through the Sierra, such as this one, were often long and elaborately constructed.

Donner Summit Tunnel

21

By this time, with about 13,500 men hired for the railway, there was enough manpower to continue work year-round. Working under the most difficult conditions, the laborers determinedly dug mile after mile of steep, winding grades. They built towering trestles, or bridges. And they blasted a total of 6,213 feet of tunnels through the solid granite peaks. During the winters, they lived and worked like moles, moving around almost entirely underground by lantern light.

The Donner Summit tunnel, also known as Tunnel Number Six, was the highest in elevation at 7,000 feet above sea level. It was also the most difficult of all tunnels to construct. Two years after it was begun, it was finally completed on August 28, 1867. By then, all the Sierra tunnels were passable.

After two extreme winters, the very first Central Pacific train steamed into Truckee, California, on the eastern slope of the Sierra, in April 1868. This was much sooner than anyone had expected.

22

Conclusion A Remarkable Achievement

A month later, in May 1868, the Central Pacific crews crossed the state line and were hustling their way across the barren Nevada flatlands. The CaliforniaNevada border had originally been chosen as the place where the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads would meet. This was because everyone had expected the Union Pacific rail lines to reach Nevada first. They had not counted on the energy of the Chinese workers to be industrious enough to labor across the high Sierra ahead of schedule.

These men had accomplished the impossible. They had literally moved mountainsand in record time. Once the work reached Wadsworth, Nevada, 189 miles from Sacramento, the hardest part was over.

It took another year before the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific met. On the way, the two companies competed numerous times to see which could lay the most track at the quickest speed. The Central Pacific crew, made up of at least 8090 percent Chinese laborers, won decisively. On April 28, 1869, they laid 10 miles and 56 feet of track in 12 hours, a record that has never been broken.

Less than two weeks later, the two train lines merged into one at Promontory Summit, Utah. The workers on the Central Pacific had laid a total of 742 miles of track from Sacramento.

On that celebratory day in Promontory, May 10, 1849, the whole country was listening in by telegraph. When

23

A cartoonists vision of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads meeting up to form a transcontinental railway system

a specially made gold spike bearing the words The Last Spike was driven into the last railroad tie, the news shot out across the wire. From San Francisco to Washington, D.C., wild celebrations erupted.

The Golden Spike ceremony was a symbolic affair commemorating an incredible accomplishment. The Chinese workers had done more than any other group to bring about the greatest engineering feat of the 1800s. With train passage through the Sierra Nevada now possible, the United States first transcontinental railroad was ready to roll.

24

Glossarybarren adj. level land where few trees are found and only sparse vegetation grows

deafening adj. extremely loud

lurched v. swayed, jerked, or staggered around

previous adj. occurring earlier in time

prying adj. overly curious

surveying v. accurately measuring Earths surface using mathematics and special tools

Reader Response 1. According to the text, what circumstances led to

Chinese immigrants building the Transcontinental Railroad? What effect did that have on the railroad?

2. How do the headings for each section prepare you for what is coming next in the selection? Using a chart like the one below, give two examples.

Headings How It Prepared You

3. Find the word prying in the text. Based on the words around it, what do you think it means? Explain what it means to a classmate.

4. Why do you think the Chinese workers decided to strike? Do you agree or disagree with their decision? And how do you feel about the outcome of their strike? Explain why you think it was fair or unfair.

Button2: Button3: Button5: