Friday, Sep 11, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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Chinese CPR workers earned about $1 daily and often did hazardous blasting work.

The Claim

Chinese workers building the Canadian Pacific Railway were paid about one dollar per day and were assigned dangerous work such as explosives and demolition.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

Historical evidence clearly supports the core claim. Chinese CPR workers were commonly paid about $1 a day in nominal wages, and many were assigned the most dangerous tasks, especially blasting and tunnelling with explosives. The main caveat is that actual take-home pay was often lower after deductions, and sources usually describe blasting rather than "demolition."

Caveats

  • The $1 figure generally refers to nominal daily pay, not net earnings after deductions for food, lodging, or equipment.
  • Sources most commonly describe hazardous blasting, tunnelling, and rock-clearing work; "demolition" is a looser paraphrase than the usual historical wording.
  • Conditions varied by contractor and location, but the overall pattern of low pay and dangerous assignments is well documented.

The Receipts

  1. Chinese Construction Workers on the Canadian Pacific Railway

    Parks Canada

  2. Parliamentary Secretary's statement on Chinese Railroad Workers Memorial Day

    Government of British Columbia

  3. Chinese Railway Workers

    British Columbia: An Untold History (Knowledge Network)

  4. Chinese Labour on the Canadian Pacific Railway

    Atlantic Highlands Society of New Brunswick (AHSNB)

  5. “You must have this labour, or you can't have the railway”: Chinese labourers and the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway

    NiCHE (Network in Canadian History & Environment)

  6. Chinese Labor Contractors and Laborers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, 1880–1885

    JSTOR / Labour / Le Travail

  7. Remembering the Chinese Railway Workers

    Toronto Railway Museum

  8. Chinese Head Tax in Canada

    The Canadian Encyclopedia

  9. The Legacy of Chinese Railroad Workers

    Coquitlam Heritage Society

  10. Canadian Pacific Railway

    The Canadian Encyclopedia

+ 8 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Canadian Pacific RailwayChinese Workers In Canada