#30 - China Wall - Donner Pass, CA - Signs of History on Waymarking.com

History sign #30 of the Hwy 40 Scenic Bypass series.
Text of sign #30 - China Wall
History
“They were a great army laying siege to Nature in her strongest citadel.” Beyond the Mississippi 1869
They worked sunrise to sunset, six days a week, 52 weeks a year. Had it not been for the Chinese workers brought from China, the Central Pacific Railroad would not have been built. More than 8,000 Chinese workers toiled for years to build the railroad from Sacrament to Utah. They endured avalanches, blasting accidents, rock slides, blizzards, icy cold, exhaustion, and prejudice. Ironically, it was first thought Chinese workers would not be acceptable. They were too small of course. Leland Stanford supposedly said though, “They built the Great Wall” didn’t they?
In the American West, they built a great railroad.
There were Chinese camps all along the rail route and artifacts can still be found. Of course the railroad is the biggest monument but here, China Wall is a great example of their work. The Sierra are rugged and to lay a rail route with a maximum 3% grade is difficult. Fifteen tunnels had to be blasted through solid granite at inches of progress a day. High spots had to be cut, trestles and bridges to span rivers had to be built, and low spots had to be filled in. China Wall is one such low spot, filled with rubble from the tunnel nearby. Today it would be easy: a few bulldozers could fill it in hours. The Chinese moved the rock and dirt and the filling was done by hand.
“I wish to call to your minds that the early completion of this railroad we have built has been in large measure due to that poor, despised class of laborers called the Chinese, to the fidelity and industry they have shown.” Judge E.B. Crocker

Group that erected the marker: Donner Summit Historical Society URL of a web site with more information about the history mentioned on the sign: [Web Link] Address of where the marker is located. Approximate if necessary: On Hwy 40 about a half mile east of Donner Pass.

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Date Logged Log   10/09/2016 Volcanoguy visited it