Emigration and Immigration

In the second half of the nineteenth century, lots of people from Ticino emigrated to the Americas, especially California, in search of fortune. Many of them became cowboys. Although the region experienced significant emigration, there was also significant immigration from northern Italy at the same time. Hundreds of workers and labourers moved to the area to work on the construction of the St Gotthard railway tunnel, built between 1872 and 1882. 

Do you dream of the Far West and fancy trying your hand at being Buffalo Bill?

If you’d be happy shooting flies rather than bison, then here are some instructions on how to make a rubber band gun. Take two sticks of different lengths, nail them together and secure them with sticky tape so that they form the gun stock and barrel. Now take a clothes peg and glue it around 20 cm from the end. This will be the trigger. Lastly, stick a nail into the tip of the barrel, leaving part of it protruding, hook the rubber band over it and pull it back, securing it with the peg. When you press it, the band will shoot forward.