Finding Work
Punjabis found work in lumber mills, railroad construction, factories and foundries. Most gravitated to farm work since the majority came from farms in Punjab where expertise in agriculture dates back thousands of years. Groups of Punjabi workers often banded together as a work crew traveling from farm to farm and began acquiring land of their own. The California legislature passed the Alien Land Law in 1913, preventing non-citizens from owning property. Punjabis, like other Asian immigrants, found creative ways to work around the unjust laws to obtain land and establish their own farms, such as leasing in someone else’s name.
Sikh workers on the Pacific Eastern Railroads, 1909. Photo courtesy of Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon.
Sikh workers on the Pacific Eastern Railroads, 1909. Photo courtesy of Southern Oregon Historical Society, Medford, Oregon.
Puna Singh Chima engaged in agriculture in Yuba City, California, 1922. Courtesy of the Uppal Family. www.libucdavis.edu/punjab/.
East India National Company, Marysville, California, c. 1930.
Wilbur Ranch (from left: Bawa Singh, George (Bud) Johnson, Richard R. Wilbur). Mr. Wilbur was one of the 1st farmers to employ large number of laborers from Punjab. Courtesy of Wilbur Family.