Chinese workers built the railroad that united America. Utah must remember them.

PROVO — Under the blazing summer sun, the sounds of work fill the air. Pounding hammers make deafening clangs as long nails are sent deep into sturdy rails laid across the land. Gravel crunches underfoot as men scurry about like ants, hoisting large wooden planks. At first, these monotonous echoes of labor are the only noises heard. Suddenly, however, the smooth sound of a lone tenor rings out through the air.

“Come on, boys! Hey! We are the sons of the Great Wall builders, we’ll build our beacon towers across America!” The noise is a shock, but no one stops working. Instead, more and more voices slowly join the chant, creating a symphony out of the clanging hammers and crunching gravel. “We are the men who move the mountains.”

The crooning workers do not look or sound like the blond-haired men who oversee their work. Their hair is jet black, and they speak in a foreign tongue. All day long they sing and they work, and their melody is carried by the wind across the hilly plains and vast oceans to the far off home they left behind.

The singing voices belonged to 12,000 tenacious Chinese men. Their valiant efforts show that they are true American heroes.

This scene is a creative retelling of accurate historical research. In 2013, Jindong Cai, artistic director of the China Now Music Festival, and Gordon H. Chang, founder of Stanford University’s Chinese Railroad Worker Project, sought to “amplify the long-silent voices of the railroad Chinese.” The two compiled a record of traditional Pearl River Delta work chants — called Haozi — which inspired the symphonic oratorio, Men of Iron and the Golden Spike. While the exact words used in this oratorio are a creative adaptation inspired by traditional delta work, they reflect the history of how these men used rhythm and song to endure hard labor.

Historically, by 1869, Chinese labourers made up 90 percent of all workers who labored on the Transcontinental Railroad, and these men plowed through the formidable mountains of Utah towards the Promontory Summit.

In the scorching landscape of summer, their blood, sweat, and tears dripped onto the tracks they laid. In the winter, they carried hazardous piles of dynamite through frigid caves. Through the long hours of labor, these men never stopped singing of their struggles, bemoaning the deep sorrow they felt in leaving behind loved ones in China, but also singing to fuel their determination. “Let’s show’ em boys! We trample hardships underfoot!”

While constructing the railroad, these men gave it their all, often sacrificing their families, homes, and even their lives. By the time the golden spike was driven, nearly 1,000 Chinese workers had died in dust and rock, their bones boxed and shipped back to families who waited for a return that never came, according to a 2017 art exhibit about the journey of the boxes of bones.

Despite their significant contributions to the western railroad system, these Chinese workers were overlooked in Utah State history for years. On May 10, 2019, more than 10,000 people gathered at Promontory Summit, Utah, to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad as well as formally honor the contributions of Chinese workers. It was a long overdue celebration.

Through the 690 miles of track they laid, these men had created the backbone of America; a spine that linked Nebraska’s Great Plains to the snow-packed cliffs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, uniting a series of diverse regions and states into one whole nation. However, as the champagne flowed and celebratory photos were taken of the railroad’s completion, these workers were nowhere to be seen. Instead of being included in the celebration of their momentous effort, they were handed a pitiful paycheck and told to leave.

For the Chinese, the hardships did not end there. Those who were not kicked out of the country by the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act were scattered across the state into various segregated communities. If any Chinese left these enclaves, they often faced extreme prejudice and hate crimes. In 1893, 60 year-old Wong Kwong Ken was killed by random individuals who threw rocks at him on the street.

But hate could not silence the melodies born on the mountaintops. “Let’s show ‘em boys! Our veins of steel will span the new world.” The Chinese created blossoming communities for incoming families — such as Salt Lake City’s Plum Alley — by merging their cuisine, religion, and culture with their surroundings.

One of the families that resided in Plum Alley was my very own. My great-great-grandfather was a doctor who worked at the community’s local clinic in the early 1910s, providing care for the steady stream of Asian immigrants coming into Utah. Despite the many hardships they faced, my ancestors stood strong, laying a foundation that sheltered their future generations.

The history of Asian Americans in Utah is a story of tenacity and fortitude that I feel a deep responsibility to share with the world. Because of the railroads they built and the communities they created, the other 118,000 Asian Americans living in Utah and I have a place to call home. Through learning about my ancestors’ struggles, I have discovered that our identity is not defined by the hardships we faced, but by our resilience.

Though their efforts are often overlooked, we carry on their legacy of persistence, constructing railroads, buildings, and monuments for America. Most importantly, we continue to sing, in hope that our stories may never be forgotten. “We are the men who move the mountains.”

Note to readers • This contest was produced by The Salt Lake Tribune, Spy Hop and Amplify Utah. It was supported through a grant from the American Journalism Project.