Quiz questions for The biggest challenge for the Central Pacific was finding workers. In 1863, when the Central Pacific started on the transcontinental railroad, California was still a new state. There were few available laborers. As a result, the Central Pacific did not get very far in its first year. Though the Union Pacific did not start construction until late 1863, it was soon laying more track than the Central Pacific. The Central Pacific needed to find a new source of workers. One of the Central Pacific’s owners suggested hiring Chinese immigrants. Thousands of Chinese immigrants were already living and working in California. Most had made the dangerous journey to California during the gold rush of the 1850s. In the years that followed, they became known as hard workers and skilled miners. However, many left the mines because of the discrimination they faced there. By 1864, the Central Pacific began recruiting workers from the Chinese community. Within a year, the Central Pacific had hired several thousand Chinese immigrants. Thousands more Chinese immigrants joined each year. Soon they made up the largest part of this work force. By the time the transcontinental railroad was complete, about 90 percent of the Central Pacific’s workers were Chinese immigrants.