""They were working 24-hour shifts," said Fred Wong with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service, describing the conditions laborers endured. "They didn't have lights, they had candlelight, it was dark, it was cold and it was wet.""
""Over 1,000 Chinese died building the transcontinental railroad," Wong said."
""Our goal is to publicly expand knowledge and understanding of the exclusion laws, its history and its continuing significance today," said Ted Gong, executive director of the 1882 Foundation."
"Through the tours, visitors can walk the same ground where thousands of workers once labored, gaining a deeper appreciation for both the engineering achievement and the human cost behind it."
The Summit Tunnel, a 3,000-foot tunnel in California's Sierra Nevada, was constructed primarily by Chinese immigrants during the late 1860s. These laborers worked under harsh conditions, often in darkness and cold, using basic tools to carve through granite. Over 1,000 Chinese workers lost their lives during the construction. The 1882 Foundation aims to raise awareness of this history through Heritage Tours, emphasizing the significance of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the contributions of these laborers to American history.
Read at ABC7 Los Angeles
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]