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Traveling from China
Due to extreme poverty in my hometown,Tainan, I, Pheng Ho left to America in search of wealth. I earned my money to pay for ship fare by borrowing money from my in laws. Saying goodbye to my family and friends, I departed from British Colony of Hong Kong on Pacific Mill Steamship. Though the trip was hard, and I was stuck, seasick in first class, I anticipated my arrival to the country of freedom. -
Arrived in America.
I arrived in San Francisco and went through the immigration station. It was quick and uncomplicated. As I walked out the door with only my small luggage of 2 pairs of clothing, my excitement grew when I touched American Soil. -
Life in San Francisco
There was so many people, so many languages I didn't understand as I walked through San Francisco. I searched for the "Chinatown" that I heard so much of back home. When I finally found it, I asked around of a place to stay, and got sent to a board house. Only a $1 a week, but I needed to find a job. For a while I worked small tasks around the city, such as housework and little farming. Though I knew I need a more stable job. -
Gold Rush in Sierra Nevada
After 3 years in San Francisco, I have come to realize life in America is very difficult. However, I heard word on gold in the Sierra Nevada's mountains. The whites call it, "the Mountain of Gold". I am in desperate need of money so I went on my way. While digging for gold, I had to deal with a lot of discrimination from the Europeans. There was even a couple times I was assaulted in the streets for no good reason. It was starting to dawn on me that America wasn't as free as I thought. -
The First Transcontinental Railroad
After finding practically no gold during the Gold Rush, I decided to join the Central Pacific Railroad for $30 an hour, clearly a nice salary. However the work was highly dangerous, and I knew I was putting my life at risk. Though I needed to make money somewhere. We started to build the First Transcontinental Railroad which started in Sacramento, California. The purpose of the Pacific Railroad Act was to connect the railroad network of Eastern US with California on the pacific coast. -
Golden Spike
After 6 hard years working on a dangerous route to build the First Transcontinental Railroad, both Central Pacific Railroad Company and Union Pacific Railroad Company converged at Promontory Point Summit, Utah on May 10th. There was big ceremony involving the Golden Spike plunged into the ground as the last track was laid. After an extravagant ceremony, I decided to stay working with the railroad company.
