Andrew Onderdonk
884995
218316266
2008-06-10T02:25:08Z
Skookum1
534835
/* Legacy */ tweak
[[Image:Andrew Onderdonk.jpg|thumb|250px|right|'''Andrew Onderdonk''' circa [[1880]]]]
'''Andrew Onderdonk''' ([[30 August]] [[1848]] – [[21 June]],[[1905]]) was a [[construction]] contractor who worked on several major projects including the [[San Francisco]] [[seawall]] in [[California]] and the [[Canadian Pacific Railway]] in [[British Columbia]].He was born in [[New York]] to an established [[Netherlands|Dutch]] family. He received his education at the [[Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute]]. He married Sarah Delia Hilman of [[Plainfield, New Jersey|Plainfield]], [[New Jersey]]. After starting his career [[surveying]] townsites and roads in New Jersey, he headed west to work as a general manager for [[financier]] Darius Ogden Mills on several [[engineering]] contracts.
Onderdonk was born August 30, 1848 in [[New York City]], died at [[Oscawana-on-the Hudson, New York]], June 21, 1905.
==San Francisco==
His first major project was the San Francisco seawall. This project took three years and involved constructing [[ferry slip]]s and seawalls for the San Francisco [[Harbour]].
==Canadian Pacific Railway==
In [[1879]], he won a series of [[contract]]s to build the western section of what is now the Canadian Pacific Railway. Working directly for the [[Government of Canada|Canadian government]], he built the 127 mile section from [[Vancouver, British Columbia|Vancouver]] to [[Savona, British Columbia|Savona]] (near [[Kamloops, British Columbia|Kamloops]]). When those sections were complete he continued building eastward under contract with the Canadian Pacific Railway until he ran out of rail in [[Eagle Pass, British Columbia|Eagle Pass]] in [[1885]].
Onderdonk and his wife, moved to [[Yale, British Columbia|Yale]], British Columbia to supervise the construction. Yale was the head of navigation for steamships on the [[Fraser River]] and very near the starting point for his first contract at Emory's Bar. It was not until [[1882]] that the contract was let for the section between Yale and Port Moody.
===Chinese workers===
One of the more controversial aspects of Onderdonk's work in British Columbia was his use of [[Overseas Chinese|Chinese]] [[navvies]]. From Emory's Bar to Savona, the railway had to be built through the [[Fraser Canyon]] with immense cliffs requiring extensive and expensive [[tunnel]]ling. Against the wishes of much of the white British Columbia population, he got permission to import Chinese workers from both California and [[China]]. Along with widespread [[racism]], the white population feared wage decreases and job loss because of the Chinese workers. Onderdonk told the government that if he could not use Chinese workers, the railway could not be built.
Historians estimate he brought in several thousand Chinese from China and many more thousand from California. The Chinese workers were always kept on crews separate from the white workers and often given the most dangerous jobs including the tunnel blasting using the highly unstable [[nitroglycerin]] [[Explosive material|explosive]]. Many Chinese were killed in accidents or died of [[scurvy]] during the winter, though part of the blame for the scurvy lies with the workers' dietary reliance on [[rice]]. Unlike the white workers, injured Chinese workers were not provided access to the company hospital and were abandoned to the rest of the workers to help. [[Discrimination]] and [[racism]] led to fights between the Chinese workers and the white workers, including white foreman of the Chinese crews. Generally the Chinese were seen by management as efficient, hard working and well behaved workers.
===Canadian Pacific contracts===
When Onderdonk finished the five government contracts, he undertook contracts directly with the Canadian Pacific Railway to build eastward to meet the track being built from the east. Unlike the section in the Fraser Canyon, the section east of Savona was much easier to build. The route followed the south shore of Kamloops Lake, through the city of Kamloops, then along the [[Thompson River|South Thompson River]], [[Little Shuswap Lake]], the [[Little River (Shuswap)|Little River]] to [[Shuswap Lake]]. The line generally follows the shore of Shuswap Lake except for a short cut through Notch Hill. Leaving the lake at [[Sicamous, British Columbia|Sicamous]] (in Onderdonk's day called [[Eagle Pass Landing]])<!--actually slightly different location from Sicamous; more on a later edit-->, the line goes up the [[Eagle River]] towards [[Eagle Pass]]. Navigable waters along this entire section of the route enabled supply of construction materials by [[Steamboats of the Thomspon and Shuswap|steamboats]]. In the summer of 1885, Onderdonk's workers ran out of rail at a location that was later called [[Craigellachie, British Columbia|Craigellachie]]. The railway construction from the east reached that point in November and the last spike was hammered home on [[November 7]], [[1885]].
==Other Work==
After his work for the Canadian Pacific Railway, he continued doing railway and canal contracts, mostly in eastern Canada and the United States. In 1895, Onderdonk obtained a contract from the Canadian government to build the [[Trent Valley Canal]] in [[Ontario]].
==Legacy==
*[[Onderdonk Mountain]] in the northern [[Selkirk Mountains]], lopcated near the head of the [[Goldstream River]], roughly between lower [[Revelstoke Lake]] and the [[Wood River (British Columbia)|Wood Arm]] of [[Kinbasket Lake]], is named in honour of Andrew Onderdonk.<ref>[http://ilmbwww.gov.bc.ca/bcgn-bin/bcg10?name=18697 BCGNIS entry "Mount Onderdonk"]</ref>
==See also==
*[[Canadian Pacific Railway]]
*[[Canadian Pacific Survey]]
*[[History of British Columbia]]
*[[History of Chinese immigration to Canada]]
==References==
*Gibbon, John Murray (1935). ''Steel of Empire: The Romantic History of the Canadian Pacific, the Northwest Passage of Today'', pp. 185. [[McClelland and Stewart]], Toronto.
*Innis, Harold A. (1923). ''A History of the Canadian Pacific Railway'', pp. 88. McClelland & Stewart, Toronto.
*[http://www.kag.bc.ca/Exhibitions/AllAboard/allaboard.html Onderdonk's Way] at The Kamloops Art Gallery
*[http://www.biographi.ca/EN/ShowBio.asp?BioId=41095 Biography at the ''Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online'']
[[Category:1848 births|Onderdonk, Andrew]]
[[Category:1905 deaths|Onderdonk, Andrew]]
[[Category:History of British Columbia|Onderdonk, Andrew]]
[[Category:History of California|Onderdonk, Andrew]]
[[Category:People from New York City|Onderdonk, Andrew]]
[[Category:Canadian Pacific Railway|Onderdonk, Andrew]]