“Iron Horse Road,” an immersive, aural exploration of Chinese railroad builders debuts July 19
by Hao Huang. Posted July 17, 2023.
Introduction: East Wind ezine was proud to support Hao and Micah Huang’s podcast “Blood on Gold Mountain,” which is a radio history/drama about the Los Angeles Chinatown massacre of 1871. It premiered in June 2021. (see link below). They return with another innovative work “Iron Horse Road” with Micah Huang as executive producer and narrator, and Hao Huang as historical consultant.
About 156 years ago, 3000 Chinese transcontinental railroad workers from Cisco to Truckee, California, a 30 miles section of track, stopped work due to a fatal accident caused by unsafe workplace conditions. At the time it was the largest organized labor strike in the United States. Their demands included higher wages, reduced workdays from 11 to 10 hours, safe work conditions, and shorter work shifts in the tunnels. The strike lasted a week during which the CPRR cut off all food and supplies to their camps.
Promotional photo for “Iron Horse Road,” courtesy of Hao Huang.
Iron Horse Road recounts one of the great neglected epics of American history: 20,000 Chinese laborers tunneled through granite mountains, dangled over cliffs, and dragged entire trains over alpine summits where other Americans feared to tread. The prosperity of the oncoming gilded age was founded on their blood, sweat and grit, but their story has long been minimized and forgotten.
Equal parts history and travelogue, Iron Horse Road uses binaural 3D audio to transport the listener to deep canyons, echoing caverns and windswept peaks–a world where adventure is always around the corner, and the past is carved in blood and stone.
Stay tuned for the Wednesday July 19th, 2023 release on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Overcast, RSS Feed. You can also listen here at Iron Horse Road