May 28, 2005
Proud of being Chinese
CPR names Kamloops interchange after Chinese laborer Cheng
by CPR corporate historian Jonathan Hanna
"We are proud to be Canadian and are privileged that our grandfather chose to come to Canada to work for the CPR," Kevan Jangze said in Kamloops, B.C., today.
On May 27, 2005, Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) bestowed an honor that was some 120 years in the making. CPR named the railway interchange in Kamloops after Kevan Jangze's grandfather – CPR Chinese laborer Cheng Ging Butt. The Cheng Interchange honors the many CPR laborers who toiled, some sacrificing their lives, to build the western section of the Canadian Pacific Railway from Port Moody to Craigellachie, B.C.
right: Cheng Ging Butt -- 1858 to 1930: the CPR laborer, Yale store owner, temple president, orchardist and merchant, after whom CPR named an interchange in Kamloops, B.C. circa 1928 Ref. Cheng Family photo supplied by Kevan Jangze.
This section is notorious in CPR history and, indeed, in Canadian history. It's the 600-km (372-mile) section of the transcontinental railway that was contracted for and mostly built under the auspices of the Federal Government. The Feds consolidated five separate contracts under one master railway builder – American Andrew Onderdonk. Onderdonk felt squeezed but had to produce. So, he did the job the American way…the way he and other contractors had built railways in the US. He tapped an inexpensive source of labor.
above: CPR's Cheng Interchange sign. The only "bi-lingual" standard CPR signpost on the system with a Chinese character. 2005 Ref. Canadian Pacific Railway Graphic Services.
This labor came from China and was sourced through Chinese labor agents. Between 1879 and 1882, Andrew Onderdonk contracted with Government of Canada to build five separate sections of railway that would bring the transcontinental rail line from Port Moody to Savona, B.C. His modus operandi for this public purse project was to cut expenses to the bone. Almost two-thirds of his workforce came from China. Mostly from Guangdong Province. Chinese labor agents supplied about 9,000 Chinese from their home country. These laborers worked alongside Onderdonk's other railway laborers but mostly banded together in their own camps, at night, to cook, clean, eat, sleep, socialize and even get paid. Chinese labor agents controlled the Chinese laborers' pay. Often times the laborer owed his ship's passage from China to the Chinese labor agent. On average Chinese railway workers were paid a dollar a day…whereas CPR's own workforce on the Prairies got a $1.50 a day.
By 1885, when Onderdonk had finished his government contracts, it's estimated he saved about $3.5 million building from Port Moody to Savona. An inexpensive workforce wasn't the only way he saved money. He cut corners on rock blasting, using less dynamite and more nitro-glycerin…a rather unstable explosive. He also perched his workers on precarious ledges, dangled them over sharp precipices, and erected flimsy wooden grasshopper trestles. All in all his workers dug 27 tunnels and erected almost 600 bridges. But the human toll was considerable. Add to that the Chinese laborer's diet with little or no Vitamin-C, being subjected to weather extremes and a new set of germs that the body was not yet immune to, and there were casualties…up to three-per-mile on this 372-mile western section of the main line.
above: CPR Chinese laborers put in a siding that cut into an embankment behind the Cheng Family home. Yale, B.C. circa 1885. Ref. Cheng Family photo supplied by Kevan Jangze.
By January 1884, Onderdonk had through service from Port Moody to Yale. But he was still working diligently on the Yale to Savona section. Since he had the men and materials close at hand, CPR contracted with him to build from Savona, through Kamloops, to Eagle Pass…finally running out of rails and material at Craigellachie, B.C., in September 1885. This section, under CPR supervision, was built more sturdily and much more safely. CPR took over the government-contracted sections from Onderdonk in mid-1886. And Van Horne immediately had to invest an additional $1 million to bring this government-built Savona-Port Moody section of the main line up to code.
Regardless, for 120 years, the contribution of the Chinese railway worker on this section of track went largely uncelebrated. Fifteen years ago CPR collaborated with the Chinese community in erecting a monument to the Chinese railway worker in Toronto. And the Royal Canadian Mint launched a two-coin commemorative set marking the 120th anniversary of the completion of the CPR and the important part Chinese laborers played in building the western end of the transcontinental line. But with the a major capital expansion project kicking off this spring in the "Onderdonk" sections of the railway, it was a prime opportunity for CPR to celebrate the importance of the thousands of Chinese railway workers who helped build the CPR from the West Coast to Eagle Pass.
And this is where Kevan Jangze's grandfather comes in. "Cheng Ging Butt is representative of the extraordinary people who withstood hardships to not only help build a railway, but a nation, as well," CPR Vice President, Paul Clark, said today. "The Cheng Interchange also symbolizes the important role Chinese railway workers made in the development of the entire railway industry in Canada. In recognizing all Chinese workers for their sacrifices, CPR is paying our deepest respects and gratitude."
right: CPR laborers under a federal government Onderdonk contract build along the Lower Fraser Valley. 1883. Ref. Canadian Pacific Railway Archives photo. NS.13561-2. An 8x10 print of this is available to employees through archives@cpr.ca for $25 Cdn, plus shipping and taxes, where applicable
Some CPR employees ask: "Is the Cheng Interchange the first place on the CPR system named after a Chinese railway worker?" Afraid so. "But what about China Bar, B.C. and Chin, Alta.? Aren't they named after Chinese railway workers?" Afraid not.
China Bar is named after Chinese miners, not railway workers. The name goes back to the Cariboo gold rush of the 1860s. Chinese in British Columbia numbered 2,000 back then. Most had come from California. After the California gold rush petered out and the Fraser River gold rush was in full swing, Chinese followed Caucasian gold seekers to placer mines and prospect points. When the others moved on to new areas, the Chinese stayed and rewashed supposedly exhausted gold areas. Their diligence in rewashing and re-slewing the earth for more treasures yielded considerable gold. China Bar is one such place. And that's how and when it got its name. This dates back to the mid-1860s… well before there was any thought of building the CPR through China Bar.
And the Taber Subdivision "Chin" gets its name from a nearby butte that resembles a chin.