Happy Golden Spike Day! Today is the 155th anniversary of the ceremonial connection of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. The golden spike was driven into the ties at Promontory,
Utah, on May 10th, 1869, making transcontinental rail travel an affordable option for average Americans. Most of us learned about how the railroads helped to build the United States throughout our school years. The influence of the railroad industry had a significant impact on our country, so history teachers tend to get pretty excited about it. If you recall these lessons, you might remember that the railroad was dangerous work, and these massive projects were completed at the cost of countless, mostly immigrant, lives.
Protecting Worker Families to Preserve the Industry
The Central Pacific company employed mostly Chinese men who had settled in California during the Gold Rush years. The Union Pacific was bringing mostly Irish immigrants from the east. Both companies had to work their way around, through, and over all the terrain that makes our country such an interesting and beautiful place. Railroad work required blasting through mountains to make tunnels, building bridges over ravines and rivers, and battling through all kinds of extreme weather. Health conditions were no better than working conditions, and many lives were lost to infected wounds, malnutrition, and contagious disease. As much as poor immigrants needed the work, families began to resist sending their men and boys off to die for the industry. Charles
Crocker, the contractor who recognized the value of Chinese workers for the Central Pacific, was also an early investor in one of the first life insurance companies to be established in the West. In order to protect his interests in both the railroad and the insurance company, he purchased life insurance policies for his employees. This gave families a death benefit if their husbands and sons didn’t make it back home from the dangers of their work. These policies were highly innovative for the time. The launch of insurance companies in the West made policies far more affordable and accessible to the people who lived in that part of the country. Providing insurance to cover workplace death was a fairly novel concept as well. Ultimately, Crocker led those immigrant workers of the Central Pacific company to create 15 tunnels through the Sierra Nevada mountains.
Life Insurance for Everyday Dangers of Life
Our modern perspective on history can be complicated. We view those days from a different lens, one which may cause us to question the prudence of 19th Century employment practices. But history is full of average people doing dangerous things in the name of progress or legacy. Life, in and of itself, is dangerous. We still have very dangerous jobs in America, and around the world. Employment benefits, like the life insurance offered to the Central Pacific railroad worker families, have been evolving for more than a century to offer worthwhile protections for the people who sign on for that danger. But those benefits don’t just apply to them. Life insurance is for everyone, adrenaline junkies and homebodies alike. If the worst were to happen today, what
else would your loved ones lose? Smyrl Insurance offers life insurance policies to help beneficiaries deal with the financial costs of losing a loved one. Life insurance can cover the cost of a funeral and burial, but it also covers lost wages or the cost of caregivers when needed. We know this is not a comfortable conversation, but it is a necessary one. Our team can help you navigate it with sensitivity and honesty. We educate, nurture, and empower individuals through insurance so that they can make wise decisions for their current and future circumstances. Contact us to discuss your life insurance or other insurance needs today. We serve clients for personal and business insurance in Hatfield, Lansdale, Souderton, Harleysville and throughout the region in Montgomery County and Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
