Chinese Immigrants lived in really poor conditions. Small rooms were packed full of 20 to 30 immigrants. Rats and mice were everywhere, and catching diseases were often and deadly. Since there were no good vaccinations, many died from diseases caught from their workers. Sometimes the dirt would be inches high. Living in these conditions would be very harsh, yet still more and more immigrants from China came to mine and work on the railroad. The Chinese played a very important, yet dangerous job building the railroads. They would be lowered in small buckets down cliff faces to stick explosives in the si