Spirits of the Railway
Story Stats
Rating: 4
Grade Level: 5
Page count: 5
Appeared in
Tales from Gold Mountain: Stories of the Chinese in the New World.
Story Summary
When a terrible flood ruins their farm, Father Chu decides to immigrate to America. After some months pass and no word comes, his son decides to immigrate also to try and find his father. After a bitter winter in a railroad camp he comes upon his fathers ghost in a half-drilled tunnel. Since the white bosses simply through the bodies of the workers in the river, their souls could find no rest. Young Chu follows the burial ritual his father details so that they may finally rest in peace.