Assignment number 10
February 16, 1881 The new year, 1882.
Dear Diary,
I am excited to lead the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway. I am William Cornelius Van Horne, and I will be payed much money for this. That George Stephen, that man was fired for building only about 200 km of track in 1881. That is the weakest thing I ever heard of! I, as an American, I claim that I'll build 800 km of track in my first year! And I wonder how long I will be president f
or... Hopefully a long time, and surely a longer time than that George Stephen! He is the one who got the building of the railway behind schedule! Argh!
November 7, 1885.
Dear Diary,
Yes, it is I again, William Cornelius Van Horne! What an honorable long name! I have been leading the building of the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1882 until now, November 7, 1885! Even though this is lower than what I claimed, I built about 670 km of track by 1883! Although, I think I should let someone else finish up the railway. Currently, we are in Craigelachie, British Columbia. The Chinese have been a big help, though, but I don't want to show my gratitude to them. Even though they had the toughest jobs in the most dangerous areas, most of them left us for the gold mines, and from what started as 5,000 Chinese, turned into 1,500 by year 1881, so why should I thank them for leaving us?!
November 8, 1885
Dear Diary,
I am Donald A. Smith. The railway will be built up to Port Moody, British Columbia. I am currently leading the building of the railway from Craigelachie to said Port Moody. I heard that William Cornelius Van Horne discovered Natural Gas in Alderson, Alberta, while they were digging a well. That adds into the Canadian Pacific Railway Company's fame. I will be done building this railway by the end of 1885. I tell you though, it is really a challenge to build through the Rockies in British Columbia. I can almost feel the pain of all those Chinese workers who died and their families. They are given the most dangerous and risky areas to work in. They blast tunnels through the mountains, where either the tunnel will collapse on them or they don't make it out in time for the dynamite to explode. They build bridges over very steep gorges, where they could fall off and die. They also blow up boulders, and for this, they either don't make it away in time for the explosion, or they don't keep their distance from the rocks flying off from the explosion. But, that's life. But I do feel terribly sorry for the grieving families...
The new year, 1890.
Dear Diary,
It is tough being Chinese these days. I am still grieving the death of my uncle and brother. My brother was the best friend I could ever have, and especially, he always knew how to cheer up the 11 year old me. He has been sending us letters about what is going on in Canada and how things are going about. He always told us that it was terrible there for Chinese people. He said that something like 1 in 10 died of exhaustion, murder, accident or malnutrition. He said they lived in tents while everyone else lived in safer housing. The tents were dangerous because of various weather and falling rocks if the tent was beside a steep hill or mountain. My uncle told us that he was helping to build a Chinatown. Apparently, Chinatowns were built and are being built so that they could live beside fellow Chinese neighbours instead of being so confused in the mainly English speaking society. My brother and uncle were only paid a dollar a day, plus they even have to buy their own supplies for building the railway while non-Chinese people got them for free. I have a question though. Were my brother and uncle, as Chinese, given heavy blankets to sleep in during the harsh winter weather? If they weren't and others were, then that truly angers me. I hate how so many people are against us even when the Chinese workers were doing their best to help with the railway. And another thing is that the Canadian Government gave everyone who helped with the railway 25 acres of free land, while the Chinese got absolutely nothing, not even a thank-you! I heard that around 600 Chinese died during the building of the railway, and they were even forced to work long hours! This truly angers me! Currently, my family and I are living in a Chinatown in Canada, and when we go outside of our town, we get harassed and called racist names. I just hope things will get better. I chose to write about the conditions in Canada during the railway being built so that I will remind myself in the future that things were alot worse for them back then than for me. I am so sorry for my uncle and brother. I loved them so much.
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