At first, it came to mind that this was a ski jump, but it is not so. See if you can figure out what today’s Mystery Photo is all about. Send your thoughts to ebrack2@gmail.com, and be sure to list your hometown.
Sara Rawlins of Lawrenceville succinctly told us about the last Mystery Photo: “This statue is at the entrance to the San Luis Obispo Historic Railroad District, California. It is of two Chinese men working on the railroad by laying down tracks, as Gandy Dancers. It was sculpted by Elizabeth MacQueen. This statue is to honor all the Chinese men and women who worked hard on the railroad to bring the West to the East, across this country.” The photo came from Rick Krause of Lilburn.
Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas gave more detail: “The larger-than-life bronze statue honors the often overlooked and forgotten role of the “Silent Spikes,” a reference to the Chinese immigrants who played a significant role in the construction of America’s railway system in California and across the country.
“The sculpture depicts two Chinese railroad workers, positioned opposite each other, levering tracks into place with rivets and ties located nearby. They use 5 to 6-foot-long ‘lining bars’ in a coordinated rhythm to nudge and align the steel rails and ties into perfect position before they are spiked down. The rhythmic, synchronized motion of crews using these steel bars looked almost like a dance as they moved the rails in time with chants or songs. For this reason, the statue is sometimes referred to in local publications as the “Gandy Dancers”.
“The statue was created by Elizabeth MacQueen (1948–present), who grew up in Mountain Brook, Ala., in a family with ties to the steel and iron industry. She studied sculpture, painting, and design, first at Los Angeles City College and then at UCLA. The project grew out of decades of local advocacy, including by the Louis family and the Central Coast Chinese community, who wanted to counter historical erasure of Chinese labor on the Southern Pacific lines in the region. It was unveiled to the public on January 18, 2003.”
Also pinpointing the photo were Jay Altman of Columbia, S.C.; Stew Ogilvie, Rehobeth, Ala.; George Graf, Palmyra, Va.; Susan McBrayer, Sugar Hill.
- SHARE A MYSTERY PHOTO: If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Click here to send an email and please mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
