PDF: 2962 pages, 5.2 MB - Bay Area Council Economic Institute

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A Distant Dream:
Indian Immigrants Arrive in California
T
he first report of a solitary Indian national in California was in the gold fields in 1857, but Indian
immigrants did not begin arriving in significant numbers until the end of the 19th century.
Most of the first immigrants were Sikhs from the Punjab region in northeastern India, part of
which is now Pakistan. The Punjab was annexed by Britain in 1849 and prospered from heavy
British investment in roads, bridges, canals and railroads. Good rail connections to port cities on
the coasts encouraged trade and travel. Punjabis found work and developed skills in engineering
and construction. Many Sikhs joined the army and police forces, taking up posts throughout the
British Empire, including Canada.
Word spread through returning soldiers of job opportunities working in mills or on railroad construction
in Canada. The pay was $2 a day, nearly 10 times Indian wages. Sikhs emigrating to
Canada to earn more money, and to escape discrimination in the predominantly Muslim and
Hindu Punjab, found harsh weather and prejudice on the part of locals. They began drifting
south, typically riding the rails into the Pacific Northwest and, eventually, California. A sizable
community of Punjabi farmers developed in the Sacramento Valley, and remains there today.
An April 1899 report in the San Francisco Chronicle noted the arrival of four Sikhs on a Japanese
ship, the Nippon Maru, at the Pacific Mail dock. All were from Lahore, all had the last name
Singh, all had served in the police force in Hong Kong, and all were looking to earn money and
return home. The story was similar for most of the Indian immigrants that followed, nearly all of
them men. Most traveled by steamship 12 days from Kolkata to Hong Kong, and then another
18–19 days to Canada or the U.S. Most hoped to earn money quickly, with which they could
repay debts or buy property back in India.
By 1910, Indian immigration to the United States had risen to nearly 6,000. With it came discrimination
from local laborers afraid of losing their jobs. A 1908 New York Times article reported
that some 70 Indians laid off by the Southern Pacific Railroad were chased out of the town of
Marysville and their money was stolen. They filed a formal complaint with the British Consulate.
Beyond jobs with the lumber mills and the Western Pacific Railroad in the Northwest, the opportunity
to lease or buy farmland in California lured large numbers of Punjabis, many of whom had
farmed back home. By 1920, Indian immigrants owned 2,100 acres and leased another 86,000 in
California, mainly in the Sacramento and Imperial Valleys. Many of those families continue to run
highly successful farming operations today: Sikh farmers account for 95% of the Sacramento Valley
peach crop, 60% of its prune crop and 20% of almond and walnut production.
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