Andrew Onderdonk



Andrew Onderdonk

Andrew Onderdonk helped supervise many railroad productions down in the USA and a few in Canada. Beginning in 1897 he won or took over Canadian government contracts for the building of the line between Port Moody and Savona`s ferry ( Savona ) on Kamloops Lake. He was the manager of this immense project which covered 212 miles, although when the project was completed he ended up supervising 338 miles. Faced with chronic labour shortages and enormous construction difficulties, Onderdonk did what he had done on railways built in the USA. He subcontracted through Chinese labour suppliers to bring in men from China, many Chinese also came from the USA to help. His workforce included 2 500 whites and 6 500 Chinese, although over the term of the contracts many more Chinese men were employed.