1848:On January 24th, 1848, the Great California Gold Rush begins due to the discovery made by James Marshall. While building a sawmill for John Sutter, Marshall came across a gold nugget in the American River. Many Chinese are brought in to begin mining.
1865:Chinese workers are recruited heavily by the Central Pacific Railroad Company. They were considered punctual, and well-behaved which made their Irishmen competitors jealous. Approximately 15,000 Chinese are employed for the job. .
1869: The U.S has finished the first transcontinental railroad.
1870: California now passes a law that stops the importation of Chinese, Japanese and Mongolian women, which has the effect that the state wants. It puts a halt on the Asian women coming into California.
1871:Anti-Chinese violence goes on in California; leaving an evening school in San Francisco for children closed for the night and 18 Chinese killed.
1877:Anti-Chinese violence going on in Chico, California
1878 & 1879:Court rules that Chinese are ineligible for naturalized citizenship; Chinese are not allowed to be employed by corporations; People try to remove them outside of city limits. 1880:California Civil Code is amended prohibiting marriage between a “Negro, Mulatto, or Mongolian.” The passing the anti-miscegenation law happens while there are approximately 106,000 Chinese in America at this time.
1882:Chinese Exclusion Act is put into place which attempts the complete stop of Chinese immigration. In a year, Chinese immigrants drop from 40,000 to 23.
1885: Anti-Chinese violence happens in Rock Springs, Wyoming from the coal miners. President Grover Cleveland now is obliged to restore order in the U.S and pay 147,000 dollars in property damages to Chinese. Federal troops are brought in to stop the mass destruction.
This add is trying to reel people in, and make gold mining look attractive. The faster you get to California the better off you'll be
Chinese railroad workers
Artwork from 1800's showing how the Americans felt about the Chinese in their country