The transcontinental railroad was the greatest engineering feat of its time. Nothing like it had been attempted before. The project required massive amounts of material and money, and it required the labor of thousands of men working six days a week. Finding enough workers was initially difficult for both companies.
Although California’s population grew considerably after the 1840s, it didn’t have enough laborers to fill the needs of the Central Pacific in 1863. Many of the workers who started with the railroad left to seek their fortunes in gold and silver mines. Desperate to find a solution, the Central Pacific’s construction head, Charles Crocker, suggested Chinese workers.
The first Chinese immigrants had arrived in California in the early 1850s, but discrimination and anti-Chinese laws had made it difficult for them to find employment. It seemed like a good fit: The Central Pacific needed workers, and the Chinese needed jobs. But the Central Pacific’s supervisor, James H. Strobridge, was skeptical. He doubted that the Chinese could handle the physical work of building a railroad. He thought that Irishmen would refuse to work with Chinese workers. But Crocker insisted, and a group of Chinese men were hired in March 1865. At the Central Pacific’s peak of employing a 12,000-man workforce, about 10,000 laborers were Chinese.
This story is from the February 2017 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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This story is from the February 2017 edition of Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
