“Living Machines”
During the 19th century, Chinese people from Guangdong played a crucial role in building the Pacific sections of the transcontinental railroads that traversed the United States and Canada.
Chinese merchants acted as labour brokers for these railways, ferrying thousands of labourers across the Pacific Ocean on their chartered ships.
The CPR recruited approximately 15,000 Chinese labourers to complete the most challenging sections of the railroad in Western Canada. In British Columbia, they formed the majority of the CPR labour force, which also included Europeans and Indigenous Peoples from North America, the Pacific Islands, and Africa. The Chinese labourers, described as “living machines” by Canadian authorities, were paid half the wages of the white workers and assigned dangerous tasks such as tunnelling with dynamite. The exact number of lives lost will never be known, as the CPR omitted Chinese workers from their official accident reports.
The “Last Spike”
In early 1885, after successfully transporting travellers, goods, and military personnel in record time, the CPR secured one final government loan and began work on the final kilometres of its transcontinental line.
On November 7, 1885, the CPR held a modest ceremony to mark the near completion of the railway. CPR director Donald Smith hammered the final iron spike into a railway tie in the mountain village of Craigellachie, British Columbia. Facing bankruptcy, the company invited only one photographer, Alexander Ross, to document the short and simple affair. There were no celebratory champagne bottles or public officials to give speeches. Not a single Chinese worker was present, despite the central role of the Chinese in the railway’s construction.
See This World Before The Next
The CPR integrated its transcontinental railway with the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company and was poised to make history by launching the first “around the world” tour in 1891. For years to come, the CPR led the way in global tourism with its luxurious Empress fleet of steamships. The ships carried wealthy tourists to Asia, Africa, and South America on their upper decks. Meanwhile, the lower steerage levels carried large numbers of non-white labourers who travelled from these locations to work in European colonies.
To sell its tours, the CPR manufactured images of the key stops along its itineraries, ultimately transforming numerous sites into tourist destinations, a legacy still felt today. Hiring notable artists such as Norman Fraser, Tom Hall, and Peter Ewart, the CPR deployed a bold and modern aesthetic in its lavish posters and pamphlets, along with catchy slogans such as “See This World Before the Next.”
Steamship Labour
The CPR steamships required an army of skilled workers to run them smoothly and on time, providing seamless service to their first-class passengers. The CPR’s trans-Pacific lines connecting British Columbia and Asia were particularly lucrative, and the company hired many Asian labourers to serve as cooks, stewards, and “cabin boys,” who carried out errands for the officers. The steamships also required large amounts of coal as fuel, which was provided by coaling crews who refilled the vessels at critical stops along the journey.
In Nagasaki, Japan, a central coaling station flourished during the early 20th century. The coaling crews, which included men, women, and children, worked in dangerous conditions, passing baskets of coal up a series of hanging platforms strung up by ropes. Steamship officers and wealthy passengers documented these activities in personal photo albums.
The Princesses
Spurred by the Klondike Gold Rush, the Canadian Pacific Railway purchased a fleet of 14 steamers to launch the British Columbia Coast Steamships (BCCS) in 1901. The fleet included the Princess Louise, a side-wheel steamboat that in 1881 had carried Chinese labourers from San Francisco to British Columbia to build the railroad. The Princess Louise also inspired the naming of the Princesses, the CPR’s luxury “pocket liners” that complemented its transoceanic Empress fleet.
Providing access to more than 70 ports in British Columbia and Alaska, the Princesses played a significant role in advancing the CPR’s mission to bring settlers and tourists to the region. Offering sunset cruises around Vancouver Island and Alaskan cruises, the CPR marketed the Princesseswith idealized images of British Columbia. Early 20th century pamphlets advertised “points of interest” as a mix of Indigenous villages, natural scenery, and industrial sites, propagating a romantic myth. Diverse workers, including numerous Chinese cooks and stewards, were hired to serve the ships’ wealthy clientele.
The Spiral Tunnels
The CPR decided to build the railway through the Rocky Mountains via Kicking Horse Pass in Alberta, a daunting challenge given the high altitudes. Convincing the government to relax safety regulations, the CPR built an extremely steep track, known as the Big Hill, between the summit at Hector and the lower river valley at Field, British Columbia.
The dangerous task of laying the track led to fatal worker accidents, and the track itself resulted in several derailments. In 1909, it was replaced by the Spiral Tunnels, two curving tunnels arduously built using dynamite, steam engines, and shovels.
The Spiral Tunnels typify the treacherous conditions for those who built the western sections of the CPR. Workers frequently went on strike to protest the low pay and poor conditions. Hundreds of workers, primarily Chinese, died from exposure to freezing temperatures, illness, and violent accidents. With the permission of Indigenous communities, Chinese workers created burial sites for those killed while working throughout the region. Despite this tragic and grisly legacy, the CPR promoted the tunnels and the Rocky Mountains as tourist attractions.
Next: 25 Million Acres