Tunnels, Trestles and Tracks!

Silver Reef Museum traveling exhibit reveals hard life, the contribution of Chinese rail laborers

A new traveling exhibit at the Silver Reef Museum, a ghost town in Washington County, about 14 miles north of St. George, focuses on the tens of thousands of Chinese immigrants — the laborers who hacked, pounded, hefted and dynamited to bring the transcontinental race to a finish line at lonesome Promontory Point in Box Elder County.

“Tunnels, Trestles, Track,” open April 27 through June 15th, features large explanatory panels of the harsh conditions and relentless grind endured by the laborers. There are also artifacts of the material culture — gaming pieces, for example, and engraved rice bowls — they carried with them.