The courageous work done on the San Fernando Tunnel culminated in the Southern Pacific Railroad's extension to Southern California in 1876. Thousands of immigrants from China were recruited to work on this connection between San Francisco and Los Angeles. In that year, one mile northeast of this location, the last tracks were laid out. A Golden Spike ceremony took place and thousands of these skilled laborers were in attendance. Chinese laborers who worked on the Transcontinental Railroad and its feeder routes battled solid rock, blistering heat, and desiccating winds, and cave-ins, boiler explosions, and breaking cables claimed lives and limbs.
