Chinese railroad workers carved through the Sierra Nevada’s granite peaks—transforming an unforgiving landscape into a path that connected the nation.
Chinese American history is shaped by place, community, and memory—reflecting the experiences of immigrants who built lives and institutions across generations. From the Transcontinental Railroad to the evolution of Washington, D.C.’s Chinatown, these stories reveal both hardship and resilience.
This section brings that history together through four areas: Heritage Tours, Chinatown Walking Tours, Range 99, and Chinatown Projects—each offering a different way to explore, understand, and engage with the Chinese American experience.
In 1864, the Chinese railroad workers built the most difficult sections of the Transcontinental Railroad through Bloomer Cut. Making up as much as 90 percent of the Central Pacific workforce, they risked their lives blasting tunnels through granite cliffs and working through brutal winters—helping transform the American economy.
A railroad cut through Bloomer’s Cut —where Chinese laborers used precision to carve through solid granite.
The Sierra Nevada presented the most formidable engineering challenges of the entire Transcontinental Railroad project. Chinese laborers carved railroad paths along sheer granite cliffs and through dense mountain terrain. They carved routes through solid granite under some of the harshest weather conditions in American history. Sites such as Bloomer Cut and Cape Horn became symbols of the extraordinary effort required to push the railroad eastward through California.
The National Historic Landmark plaque marks the Summit Tunnel Camp, site of the most challenging sections of the Central Pacific Railroad.
Summit Tunnel was the most difficult tunnel on the line. Chinese workers drilled into solid granite by hand, set blasting powder, and raced to safety before explosions shattered the rock. The brutal winter of 1866–1867 brought relentless snowstorms and avalanches, compounding already dangerous conditions.
Stereoscopic photograph of Chinese railroad workers in the Sierra Nevada, designed to be viewed in 3D through a stereoscope, c. 1860s. Library of Congress.
Summit Tunnel Camp was one of the most significant work camps along the railroad route. Located near the eastern entrance of the Summit Tunnels, it housed Chinese workers throughout the construction years. The structures were built to withstand heavy snowfall, and workers often traveled through snow tunnels between their homes and work sites during the winter. At the end of 2024, Summit Tunnel Camp was designated a National Historic Landmark, recognizing the site’s national significance and honoring the contributions of Chinese railroad workers.
Chinese railroad workers’ camp along the Central Pacific Railroad in the Sierra Nevada, representative of the camps established near Summit Tunnel during construction, c. 1860s. Alfred A. Hart Collection, Stanford University Libraries and the Library of Congress.
More than 150 years later, the stone retaining wall known as China Wall still stands between tunnels #7 and #8 near Donner Summit. Built by Chinese laborers to support sections of the railroad track, the wall remains one of the few visible reminders of their work in the Sierra Nevada.
Stone retaining wall near Summit Tunnel, known as the “China Wall,” built by Chinese laborers to support sections of the Central Pacific Railroad—still standing today.
Known locally as Catfish Pond, this small body of water near Donner Pass is believed to have been stocked with catfish in the 1860s to provide food for Chinese railroad workers. The fish have survived for more than a century in this high-elevation environment, offering a small but remarkable trace of the workers who lived there.
Pond near Donner Pass, associated with Summit Camp, where Chinese railroad workers are believed to have raised catfish to supplement their food supply in the 1860s.