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Rebuilding the California Southern Railroad:
Edited by Andrew Griego
In 1884, Ah Quin recorded his own account of the rebuilding of the California Southern in a personal diary, one of seven diaries that he kept during his lifetime which have been preserved.2 Fortunately, he chose to write them in English, and they are easy to read despite his unpolished syntax and grammar. The little books are a singular resource for San Diego history and for the history of the Chinese in California, offering a unique opportunity to observe events from the perspective of a Chinese immigrant. So far as this writer can determine, no other personal accounts of such depth were produced by nineteenth century sojourners.3 Selected entries from the diary of 1884 are edited in this article. It is the only diary that has survived from the years that Ah Quin was a labor contractor for the railroad, and was apparently kept both for his own pleasure and to record business activities. Not only does it document some activities of a Chinese labor contractor, but it also describes one aspect of the development of the railroad in the San Diego region.
For most of the early years that he lived in California Ah Quin found employment as a house servant and cook. Many of his relatives also immigrated to the United States, and they did their best in assisting him to locate work. He traveled widely, and after a period of time in San Francisco spent several years in Santa Barbara learning merchandising from an uncle.6 In 1877, he embarked on an ocean journey to Coal Harbor, a small island off the southern coast of the Alaskan Peninsula, and in that cold and isolated land worked for more than a year as a cook for a small mining company.7 In the summer of 1878 Ah Quin was back from Alaska, and devoted much time to visiting friends and relatives throughout California. In September of that year he made a short trip to San Diego to see relatives, and while there became acquainted with George Marston, the socially prominent owner of a local dry goods store, and G.W. Camp, the minister of the Presbyterian Church of San Diego.8 The two men were much impressed with Ah Quin, who at that time was not only a practicing Chinese Christian who spoke English, but had also forsaken several Chinese customs by severing his long queue and adopting Western dress. Although Ah Quin left San Diego for a few days for San Francisco, he began to exchange correspondence with Camp and Marston. In 1880, with the news of the impending construction of the California Southern, they wrote urging him to come to San Diego to contract labor for the railroad.9 Chinese laborers were to compose a large portion of the labor force, and Ah Quin's bilingual talents and business training made him an ideal selection for a labor con-tractor, despite his relative inexperience. After several days of indecision he left for San Diego to seek the job, and began an extraordinary rise from house servant to merchant and contractor.10 When Ah Quin arrived in San Diego on October 25, 1880, the city hummed with excitement as the building of the railroad approached.11 Frank Kimball, the founder of nearby National City, had been the driving force behind the acquisition of a railroad for San Diego. Inspired by a belief that a railroad terminal would transform National City into a boom town, Kimball had coaxed the directors of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad to route a branch line through San Diego to establish a terminal at National City.12 The first step in making this dream a reality was achieved on October 12, 1880, when the California Southern Railroad was chartered, with Benjamin Kimball named as president, and M.A. Luce vice-president.13 Ah Quin was among those contractors subsequently hired by the railroad. Chinese immigrants became the chief objects of the search for manpower as the contractors hurried to meet completion deadlines. The small Chinese community in San Diego existed in the face of hostility from white residents, but the railroad workers received a grudging welcome.14 In 1866, these Oriental sojourners had proven their courage and physical stamina when they built the Central Pacific Railroad across the Sierra Nevadas and the forbidding wastes of the Great Basin.15 In the early months of 1881, construction of the California Southern began in earnest. The railroad route extended from National City to San Bernardino, running northward along the coast before turning inland through Temecula Valley. An additional adjunct north of San Bernardino was to be built at a later date. Rugged terrain barred the way at several points, most notably at Temecula Canyon, which the San Diego Union described as "seven miles of solid rock."17 Ah Quin was quite successful in recruiting men, and hundreds of Chinese workers he hired were deployed at these and other sites along the track. As construction through the canyon progressed, rockslides made working conditions uncomfortable and dangerous, causing numerous complaints by the Chinese laborers there.18 Throughout the construction, Ah Quin was principally concerned with recruiting men, managing the logistics of sending supplies to his workers, and supervising some of the work. He hired foremen to oversee most of the actual construction, however, because business often called him from end-of-track. In their makeshift camps the Chinese subsisted chiefly on an austere diet of rice, potatoes, and fish, which Ah Quin dispatched by rail from a store he opened in San Diego's Chinatown. Much of his income was generated by selling provisions to his men. Work on the railroad proceeded in rapid fashion, and by 1883 the line was almost completed. With the end in sight Ah Quin and other contractors began to discharge their men, retaining only enough to staff maintenance crews.19 Within only a few months the search for laborers was renewed and intensified when unusually bad weather brought heavy rains that created havoc along the railroad track. Engineers had planned the railroad route without examining the potential for flooding, and as a result the tracks crossed the Santa Margarita River many times. When the rains reached a crescendo in February of 1884, this small stream became a raging torrent that devastated a considerable portion of the railroad. Over thirty miles of track was washed away, and the wreckage of tracks and bridges was seen floating far out at sea.20 One train was stranded on the track for several days, and its passengers forced to hike to San Diego for help.21 Ah Quin was on a recruiting trip to Riverside when the worst of the storms jolted Southern California. San Diego was suddenly isolated by railway and he was compelled to go by train from Riverside to Los Angeles, from where he rode the steamship home.22 After evaluating the damage done to the railroad, J.N. Victor, the superintendent of the railroad, urged the contractors to begin rebuilding the stricken portions of the track. Spurred on by Victor, Ah Quin traveled to Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Francisco, seeking laborers, but had to employ all of his recruiting skills to hire enough men. Many Chinese laborers in San Francisco preferred instead to take advantage of the relatively high wages that were being offered in the agricultural fields of the Central Valley.23 Through one means or another Ah Quin was able to gather the men necessary to fulfill his contracting obligations, but was disappointed that he did not recruit more. Competition among the contractors was keen, and several contractors had more success in attracting men. Conflict between the contractors and their men in the railroad camps was not unusual. In his diary for 1884 Ah Quin revealed that the work crews occasionally complained about the prices that he charged them for provisions, or threatened to walk off the job during quarrels with the foremen. But Ah Quin was a masterful negotiator, and always forestalled disagreements before they erupted into serious trouble. Under his guidance the men rebuilt portions of the track above Oceanside and through Temecula Valley. Along with other labor gangs they succeeded in returning the rail connection to San Diego. Afterwards Ah Quin transported his men north to San Bernardino to construct the railroad extension. San Diego was without a railroad connection until 1885, when the link to the main line was re-established.24But Frank Kimball's visions of developing National City into a major metropolis never materialized, because shortly thereafter the railroad terminal was removed from National City to a more centrally located site in San Bernardino. The railroad proved not to be the key to mushrooming growth and affluence that everyone had expected. Yet that does not diminish the achievement of Kimball and the labor contractors. Together they accomplished an important step in the evolution of transportation in San Diego County. When the rebuilding of the railroad was completed Ah Quin
turned most of his attention to managing his store and the many real estate
interests that he acquired throughout Southern California, although he
continued to contract labor for various purposes. He sank permanent roots in
San Diego, which became even more secure when he and his wife Sue Leong, the
daughter of a Chinese merchant whom he married in 1881, began to raise a large
family.25 In a large two story home on Third Street their twelve children grew
to adulthood, and the family became completely assimilated into the mainstream
of American life.26 The children received religious and academic training at the
Chinese mission in San Diego, where they were bright and industrious students.
Meanwhile, Ah Quin amassed both wealth and influence, and became recognized as a
spokesman for the Chinese community and the unofficial "Mayor of Chinatown."27
He remained a respected resident of San Diego until his tragic death on February
8, 1914, when he was struck by a motorcycle while walking the streets of
Chinatown.28 His two oldest sons, George and Tom, ultimately took over the
family business, and became as influential as their father had been. Thus, the
mantle of leadership in the home and community easily passed to the second
generation in this immigrant family.
A further note on the diary of 1884 should preface these
selections. The entries appear here exactly as they do in the diary, with only
minor corrections in punctuation and capitalization having been made to make
some of the sentences more intelligible. Also, rather than attempt to translate
the Chinese names present in the diary that were written in Chinese, I have
merely indicated in brackets where these personal names occur. My primary
concern has been to retain the original flavor of the diaries.
THE DIARY OF 1884
NOTES
1. San Diego Union, October 15, 1882 2. The diaries were found among family possessions by Dr. Thomas Kong, Ah Quin's great grandson, and it was through his courtesy that they were made available to the author. They are presently housed in the San Diego Historical Society Library and Manuscripts Collection. 3. Historians of the Chinese in America have long lamented the paucity of primary sources generated by the Chinese. See Roger Daniels, "American Histories and East Asian Immigrants," Pacific Historical Review 43 (1974): 449-472; and Thomas Chinn, "New Chapters in Chinese History," California History 57 (Spring 1978): 2-7. 4. Ah Quin was a native of the Toishan district of the Kwangtung province of China, having been born there in 1848. Correspondence from Dr. Thomas Kong, November 28, 1978; and United States Congress, House, "Immigration Investigation," 51st Congress, 2d Session, 1890, p. 554. Hereafter cited as "Immigration Investigation"; and Ah Quin Diary, December 8, 1877. Hereafter cited as Diary. 5. Correspondence form Thomas Kong, November 28, 1978; Charles C. Dobie provides a discussion of the lack of success Christian missionaries encountered when attempting to proselytize Chinese immigrants who had already come to the United States in San Francisco's Chinatown, (New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1936), p. 203. 6. "Immigration Investigation," p. 555. 7. Diary, 1877-1878. 8. Ibid., September 30, 1878. 9. Ibid., October 8, 1880. 10. Ibid., October 21, 1880. 11. San Diego Union, October 26, 1880. 12. The diaries of the Kimball family are on file at the National City Archives, National City Public Library; See also Francis X. King, "Frank Kimball, Pioneer of National City," (Master's thesis, San Diego State College, 1950). 13. Hubert H. Bancroft, History of California, vol. 7, (San Francisco: History Company, 1886), p. 614; and Richard Pourade, The Glory Years, (San Diego: Union Tribune Publishing Company, 1964), p. 158. 14. For excellent secondary studies of the Chinese community in San Diego see Arthur McEvoy, "In Places Men Reject: Chinese Fishermen at San Diego, 1870-1893," Journal of San Diego History 23 (Fall 1977): 12-24; and Elizabeth C. MacPhail, "San Diego's Chinese Mission," Journal of San Diego History 23 (Spring 1977): (Master's thesis, San Diego State University, 1977). 15. Alexander Saxton has provided a thorough examination of the building of the Central Pacific Railroad by Chinese laborers in "The Army of Canton in the High Sierra," Pacific Historical Review 35 (May 1966): 141-152. 16. Bancroft, History of California, 7:614. 17. San Diego Union, August 18, 1881. 18. Ibid., September 13, 1881; October 26, 1881. 19. R.P. Middlebrook, "The Chinese at Sorrento," San Diego Historical Society Quartely 10 (January 1964): 10. 20. Bancroft, History of California, 7:614. 21. Pourade, Glory Years, pp. 162-163. 22. Diary, February 28, 1884. 23. San Diego Union, August 29, 1884. 24. William E. Smythe, History of San Diego, 1542-1907, (San Diego: History Company, 1907), p. 406. 25. Correspondence from Thomas Kong, November 28, 1978; and San Diego Union, November 29, 1881. 26. United States Bureau of the Census, Population Manuscript Schedule, 1900, San Diego Enumeration District, National Archives microfilm copy, San Diego Public Library. 27. Interview with Mrs. Buelah Rynerson, Escondido, Calif., June 23, 1978. 28. San Diego Union, February 12, 1914; and Walter Bellon, "Memoirs", MS Collection, SDHS. 29. It has been impossible for the author to learn anything more of the owners of this laundry, or of all but a few of the Chinese mentioned in the diaries. Because of their high mobility Chinese immigrants often failed to appear in registers that might provide basic information, such as city directories or census manuscript schedules. For those Chinese that are represented in these sources transcription of Chinese names is often unreliable. 30. Once part of the Santa Margarita Rancho and named for Fallbrook, Pennsylvania, this community grew along the railroad tracks when a developer purchased the first 160 acres in 1884. Lou Stein, San Diego County Place Names, (San Diego: Tofua Press, 1975), p. 47. 31. Each of Ah Quin's work gangs was given a name or number, but it is not clear why he referred to this one as the New Year Gang. 32. Chinese often paid their debts during the Chinese New Year, and gave money to their children as presents. Mary E. Coolidge, Chinese Immigration, (New York: Henry E. Holt Company, 1909; reprint ed., New York, Arno Press, 1969), p. 8. 33. Originally founded in 1870 by the Southern California Colony Association, Riverside's population numbered only a few thousand people during the building of the railroad. J.M. Guinn, History of the State of California and Biographical Record of Coast Counties, California, (Chicago: Chapman Publishing Company, 1904), p. 248. 34. Ah Quin commonly abbreviated the names of cities. In this case he is referring to San Diego. 35. Colton began as a railway station near Temecula Valley. It was settled by the Glover Mountain Colony in 1873 and later named for David D. Colton, financial director of the Central Pacific Railroad. Erwin Gudde, California Place Names, (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p. 221. 36. Ah Quin apparently means that Temecula Valley is filled with rushing water. 37. There were several stations in or near Temecula Valley, and the train may have stopped at one of these. Pourade, Glory Years, p. 161. 38. J.N. Victor was the superintendent of the Califonia Southern Railroad. Monteith's City Directory of San Diego. 39. Southern Pacific Railroad. 40. Pomona was a small settlement founded by the Los Angeles Immigration and Land Cooperative Association on August 20, 1875. Gudde. California Place Names, p. 203. 41. Judge Conway was apparently a municipal court judge in Riverside. Ah Quin frequently acted as an interpreter in court cases involving Chinese, especially for Chinese charged with gambling. For an example see San Diego Union, October 3, 1886. 42. This steamship was once part of the fleet of the Pacific Steamship Company that operated between California's coast cities. Don Stewart, Frontier Port, A Chapter in San Diego's History, (Los Angeles: Ward Ritchie Press, 1966), p. 109. 43. San Luis Rey, one of the oldest settlements in the county, was a small community of about 700 people during the building of the railroad. San Diego City Directory, 1886-1887. 44. This railroad station on the Santa Margarita rancho was probably named for Ysidora Forster, the wife of John Forster, who had purchased the rancho in 1864, and the sister of Andrés and Pio Pico. Gudde, California Place Names, p. 371. 45. Cordero, another site of a railroad station, was located east of Del Mar and north of Sorrento, extending over a region that was earlier known as Cordero and Soledad. San Diego Place Name File, SDHS MS Collection. 46. Although they were reliable workers, the Chinese should not be characterized as docile. They often reacted angrily when they believed they were being treated unfairly, as in this case, when they had not yet received their wages. 47. San Francisco. 48. Ah Quin is apparently referring to a group of Chinese girls under the care of the Presbyterian mission in San Francisco's Chinatown. The mission was originally founded in 1854 on the corner of Stockton and Sacramento Streets. During his years of residence in San Francisco Ah Quin made many close friends among the missionaries and Chinese converts, and visited them at every opportunity. Doris Muscatine, Old San Francisco, The Biography of a City From the Early Days to the Earthquake, (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1975), p. 116. 49. The Chinese theater has been described by one writer as "a mixture of melodrama, farce, and circus performance." Their performances lasted many hours and were extremely popular with the Chinese sojourners. Alexander McLeod, Pigtails and Gold Dust, (Caldwell, Id,: Caxton Printers, 1947), p. 307; Lois Rodecape, "Celestial Drama in the Golden Hills, The Chinese Theatre in California, 1849-1869." California Historical Society Quarterly 23 (1944); 97-116. 50. Gambling was a passion with many Chinese and winning the lottery was a cause for celebration. For complete descriptions of Chinese gambling games see Stewart Culin, The Gambling Games of the Chinese in America, (Las Vegas: Gambler's Book Club. 1972). 51. Miss Cubbleston was one of the teachers at the Chinese mission in San Francisco. 52. The origin of the name of this work gang is uncertain, but it may have been designated by the name of a Chinese foreman. 53. Ah Quin hired several white foremen, and they sometimes had difficulty maintaining amicable relations with the Chinese. 54. F.H. Potter was employed as roadmaster of the railroad and was apparently subordinate to J.N. Victor. See also Diary, April 18, 1884. 55. In 1884 Oceanside was a thriving community of about seven hundred persons, and contained three hotels. Glenn S. Dumke, The Boom of the Eighties, (San Marino: Huntington Library, 1944), pp. 148-149. 56. Ah Quin's oldest child, Annie Lee, was also called Ah Ying by the family. She was born in 1884. United States Bureau of the Census, Population Manuscript Schedule, 1900, microfilm copy, San Diego Public Library. 57. Ah Quin is referring to the railroad commission he received for hiring laborers. 58. This may have been a Chinese washhouse, or the residence of one of Ah Quin's friends. 59. Travelers often stopped overnight at this large two story building, erected by Marcos Forster between Mission San Luis Rey and San Juan Capistrano. Mildred B. Hoover, Hero E. Rensch, and Ethel Rensch, Historic Spots in California (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1966), p. 335. 60. Santa Ana was a small community that had been founded by William H. Spurgeon in 1868. It received an extension of the Southern Pacific Railroad in 1877. Thomas B. Talbert ed., The Historical Volume and Reference Works Covering Garden Grove, Santa Ana, Tustin, vol. 1 (Whittier, Calif.; Historical Publishers, 1963), pp. 250-260. 61. Travel by train on a journey of this distance was quite unusual for Ah Quin, who customarily preferred to ride the steamer along the coast. 62. Quong Tuck Yeun was one of Ah Quin's many liaisons in San Francisco, and assisted him in gathering labor. 63. The Santa Rosa was another one of the steamships of the Pacific Coast Steamship Company. Stewart, Frontier Port, p. 109. 64. Charles Huse was a prominent judge in Santa Barbara with whom Ah Quin had become friends. Huse had been one of the founders of a Chinese mission in Santa Barbara, and it was there that he and Ah Quin became acquainted. Charles Huse, The Huse Journal, Santa Barbara in the 1850's, edited by Edith Conkey, (Santa Barbara: Santa Barbara Historical Society, 1977), pp. xvii-xx. 65. Most of the workers that Ah Quin expected decided instead to work on the farms in the Central Valley. San Diego Union, August 29, 1884. 66. Ah Quin was probably referring to William Osburn, one of the contractors for the railroad. San Diego City Directory, 1886-1887, p. 76. 67. This community was named for Henry M. Newhall, a railroad promoter, and was established in 1876 as a station of the Southern Pacific Railroad at the site of present-day Saugus. In 1878 it was moved a few miles further away along the railroad line. Gudde, California Place Names, p. 221. 68. Travel was delayed because of the derailment of one of the trains. 69. The derailment appears to have been caused by a herd of cattle on the track. 70. Workers were being transferred north to begin construction of the railroad extension from San Bernardino to Cajon Pass. 71. Ah Quin's meaning here is unclear, but he may have been alluding to the question of deployment of workers along the railroad extension. |
