Chinese Laborers at the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

The 1939 Paramount Picture, Union Pacific, included at least two Chinese railroad workers photographed at the ceremony. They can be seen at the mark 2:13:30 at the Internet Archive. 

Publicity still of Cecil B. DeMille, Barbara Stanwyck, and Joel McCrea. 

Advertisement in Sunset, May 1977

Further Viewing

Forest Service, Legacy

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Chinese at the 1869 Golden Spike Ceremony

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(Next post on Wednesday: On the Road with C.Y. Lee)

Golden Spike Ceremony: “… Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and negro workman …”

Scribner's, May 1916
“Spanning the Continent by Rail”
Illustration by Walter H. Everett

On May 10, 1869, Ogden, Utah, railroad communication from the Atlantic to the Pacific was established by the joining of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroads. The event was witnessed by American engineers, officials, and soldiers, as well as Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and negro workmen, suggesting the cosmopolitanism of the United States.

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Chinese at the 1869 Golden Spike Ceremony
Chinese Working on the Railroad
David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and the Railroad
Chinese Laborers at the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

(Next post on Friday: San Francisco Movie Theater Handbills)

Chinese at the 1869 Golden Spike Ceremony

The 150th Anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad Completion was celebrated earlier this year. The photograph of that historic 1869 event, the driving of the Golden Spike, excluded Chinese workers.

WikiMedia Commons

The 1924 film, “The Iron Horse”, rewrote history by including some Chinese workers and Native Americans at the Golden Spike ceremony. The John Ford-directed film can be seen on YouTube. During the Golden Spike sequence, some Chinese workers can be seen at the two-hour and twenty-fifth minute mark. Below is a screen-shot of the Chinese workers cheering two minutes later.

Further Reading
TCM
John Ford: The Searcher, 1894–1973
John Ford: Hollywood's Old Master
Voices from the Railroad: Stories by Descendants of Chinese Railroad Workers
Spike 150
Central Pacific Railroad Photographic History Museum: Chinese-American Contribution to Transcontinental Railroad

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Chinese Working on the Railroad
Golden Spike Ceremony: "… Chinese, Indian, Mexican, and negro workman …"
David Henry Hwang’s The Dance and the Railroad
Chinese Laborers at the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad

(Next post on Friday: Charles Fang, Actor)