The "golden spike" was hammered in 149 years ago today. Thanks, China

Although I mostly write about commercial aviation, today I pause to commemorate the amazing feat that linked the United States from coast to coast: the Transcontinental Railroad, part of which was built by the sweat and blood of poorly paid Chinese immigrants. Indeed, the National Park Service, which maintains the Golden Spike National Historic Site in Utah, calls the completed line "a legacy from the Far East."

When the Gold Rush lured native workers away from working on the railroad, immigrant Chinese laborers took their place. Working 12-hour shifts, six days a week, the Chinese proved to be better workers than the Americans they replaced, even though they were paid less than native workers. "In fact," an historian relates, "a crew consisting mainly of Chinese workers was eventually able to complete the task of laying ten miles of track in one day, which is a record that still stands to this day." It helped that the Chinese workers drank tea made from boiled water, which protected them from water-borne illness, while the white workers preferred alcohol and drank untreated water.

The work was dangerous, and over a hundred immigrants died during the construction, which involved blasting tunnels through the Sierra Nevada range on the Central Pacific Railroad, a fact fictionalized by "Gold Mountain," a musical about the plight of Chinese workers. And in Salt Lake City today, The Golden Spike Society, whose members are descendants of the these Chinese laborers, begin their annual convention, this year, appropriately, sponsored by Union Pacific, and will be visiting the site.

Today, China has more high-speed rail lines than any other country, allowing travel over vast distances at speeds up to 300 m.p.h., while Amtrak's long-distance trains ride the Transcontinental at a much slower pace. Perhaps railroad infrastructure is something the Chinese just do better.