Mott Street, Chinatown, New York

Mott Street, Chinatown, Manhattan, ca. 1900. In 1872, a Chinese merchant opened a store on Mott Street near Pell Street. In the following years, Chinese immigrants carved out an enclave around the Mott Street, Doyers Street and Pell Street. Photograph published by Detroit Publishing Co. Source: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

Throughout the 1850s Chinese were recruited as a major source of labor for the mines. Many Chinese also immigrated during this period to escape the Taiping Rebellion, a large-scale civil war that encompassed most of Southern China. In the 1860s, Chinese were recruited in large numbers from both China and the U.S. western mining industry to help build the Central Pacific Railroad's portion of the Transcontinental Railroad.