Founded in 1865 by four powerful businessmen, the Southern Pacific Railroad was created as a rail line from San Francisco to San Diego. The town of Los Gatos had its own rail station across from the Hotel Lyndon, at N. Santa Cruz Avenue and Main Street. The railroad served not only travelers, tourists and workers, but provided transport for the local canneries and fruit packing industries to ship their goods.

The construction of the railway involved difficult living conditions, hazardous excavations and frequent accidents. Immigrant workers were an integral part of the completion of the railway, particularly men from the Chinese community. While their white counterparts were provided room and board along with their weekly pay, the Chinese laborers had to create their own lodging, often make-shift shelter communities near the railroad. The building of the rail between Los Gatos and Santa Cruz is recognized as some of the most dangerous due to hazardous gas explosions that occurred during the excavation of the tunnels.
Are there present day situations that have similar dangers or disparities in the ways people are treated? What would Los Gatos look like if we still had a railroad in town?

For Further Reading:
Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University
https://web.stanford.edu/group/chineserailroad/cgi-bin/website/researchmaterials/

uncovering untold stories