Starting in the late 1850’s, thousands of Chinese immigrants started arriving in British Columbia, by ship from Hong Kong, or San Francisco. They were seeking their fortune in the Fraser Canyon and Cariboo gold fields, looking for the new “Gam Saan”, or Gold Mountain. A few laid productive claims, the vast majority did not. Many started businesses in places like Barkerville and Stanley. Those that were in need of income were soon recruited as cheap labour to work in saw mills, or more likely on the new CPR railroad. The Chinese men who worked on the railroad were most often assigned the most backbreaking and dangerous jobs. They were viewed as lesser men who were expendable.
Despite this exploitation, paranoia soon started to grow amongst the population that too many of these foreigners were being let in. This resulted in a series of head taxes being implement, the most extreme of which was the Exclusion Act of 1923 which more or less banned new Chinese altogether. This left many of these men with no chance for a normal family life. There is much more to the story and I encourage you to research it. Those of us who live a comfortable life in BC should never forget this sacrifice.
Gold Mountain
©2019-2021 Steve Smith
A tired old man walked in to town
With tales of Gold Mountain
A place he said prosperity flowed
Straight from a rocky fountain
Head past the land of the rising sun
Far across an eastern ocean
Two weeks voyage, paid in advance
And find your way… to Gold Mountain
They pulled into the harbour
Most were hungry, sick or dying
Worked their way up from the coast
Some stayed, but most kept trying
Pushed through the raging rivers
And up unforgiving passes
Fortunes proved elusive
For those cold… and huddled masses
Finding their way, Finding their way
Finding their way……to Gold Mountain
Finding their way, Finding their way
Finding their way……to Gold Mountain
But there was plenty of work
For those who were young and strong and willing
Track to lay and rock to clear
Huge trees that needed milling
Paid pennies for every dollar that
The company men were countin
They scraped to save a little more
Biding time….until Gold Mountain
They say there’s a dead Chinese man
For every mile of track in this land
They did the jobs no one else would do
It didn’t turn out like they planned
They used em up, they used em up
Paranoia was no illusion
Then in ‘23 they passed a law
And they called it ….the “exclusion”
Finding their way, Finding their way
Finding their way……to Gold Mountain
They were finding their way, Finding their way
Finding their way……to Gold Mountain
Image above believe to be in the public domain