Ethnicity and the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad in Nevada

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

On January 30, 1905 in an inauspicious, unmarked location in the Nevada desert, a momentous event occurred: the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad crews completed the “Salt Lake Route” between Salt Lake City, Utah, and Los Angeles, California. The railroad’s construction, controversial largely because of competition between two rival companies, occurred on two fronts: one “northern” group built south from Salt Lake and the other “southern” group built north and northeast from Los Angeles. As the “northern” and “southern” parts of what would eventually become the line raced toward each other, they faced labor shortages, which they filled in unique ways. The “northern” railroad workers were predominately Greek, while the “southern” side employed mostly Mexican laborers. Therefore, the meeting of the two lines represented a confluence of ethnic groups. This paper traces historical and archaeological expressions of ethnic identity associated with the San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad in Nevada.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51864