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• 171. [Article] A gold dream in the Blue Mountains : a study of the Chinese immigrants in the John Day area, Oregon, 1870-1910

  More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: A gold dream in the Blue Mountains : a study of the Chinese immigrants in the John Day area, Oregon, 1870-1910 Author: Chen, Chia-lin Year: 1972 More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable if one considers the facts that most of the laborers were illiterate, did not have the ability, and never intended, to speak for themselves. It is true that many scholarly works have been published, but few were written by Chinese historians. As a matter of fact, Chinese scholars are unaware that a small number of their countrymen played a strange, pitiful role in American history. The published works reflect the viewpoint of only American observers. The labor of the Chinese workers was indispensable to the development of the frontier West at a time when resources were abundant and labor hands were few. So much work had to be done building railroads and dams, digging mines, clearing farm lands, canning salmon, etc. And the Chinese were welcomed to every line of manual work. There was a time when nearly every family at Astoria of Oregon and Olympia of Washington hired a Chinese as servant, as some writers claim. When the great number of whites moved in from the east, along with them came the floating laborers and the European immigrants, as well as the labor union. Conditions changed rapidly, the Chinese found themselves not only excluded from all employment, but persecuted everywhere. California was the state which first utilized Chinese labor and first expelled it. This unfavorable circumstance forced the Chinese to flee from California to other states. The purpose of this paper is not to give an account of how the Chinese were maltreated in a country known as a free, equal land opened widely to the whole world, but rather tries to find out how they survived, what were their daily problems, sorrows, and happiness, if any, and what were their inner feelings, their attitudes toward the white hosts. In short, the paper is written in an attempt to reconstruct their life in an alien land. In addition, the paper tries to answer the question why this oriental group appeared so peculiar in their behavior, as some whites commented, that they were both condemned and contemned. One of the crucial problems facing the researcher in the field of early Chinese immigration history is the lack of original materials. This is the common defects in all the published works on this subject. Fortunately for the author, by an unique chance, he was able to study numerous objects left in a Chinese grocery store, the Kam Wah Chung Co. at John Day--a small town once a busy mining area in Eastern Oregon. The pioneer artifacts in this town are disappearing, though the gravels of the old gold placers are still visible along the hillsides and canyons. But the queer old building of the Chinese store is still standing stubbornly as it did one hundred years ago, on a road called Canton Street So many objects were left in the building that the city of John Day is endeavoring to open it as a museum. From a historical point of view, many of these objects are very valuable. Among them are a great number of letters. Some were sent to the laborers from their families, in care of that building. Others were from the laborers to their homes, and for some unknown reason had not been sent to China. They are unique and of special importance to this paper. Perhaps nowhere else in the United States, or in War-torn China, can one find such a number of first hand records about the early Chinese in this country. Although few significant events, romantic affairs, or anything exciting can be expected of them, still, one can reconstruct a plain sketch of their life from these materials. The paper, though it only presents a small picture of the Chinese group in Eastern Oregon, is aimed to serve, hopefully, as a footnote leading to an understanding of how the early Chinese immigrants once lived in the Pacific Northwest. Title: A gold dream in the Blue Mountains : a study of the Chinese immigrants in the John Day area, Oregon, 1870-1910 Author: Chen, Chia-lin Year: 1972 More than one hundred years have passed since the Chinese laborers first landed in this country in the mid-nineteenth century. Yet their history remains cloudy. This phenomenon is quite understandable if one considers the facts that most of the laborers were illiterate, did not have the ability, and never intended, to speak for themselves. It is true that many scholarly works have been published, but few were written by Chinese historians. As a matter of fact, Chinese scholars are unaware that a small number of their countrymen played a strange, pitiful role in American history. The published works reflect the viewpoint of only American observers. The labor of the Chinese workers was indispensable to the development of the frontier West at a time when resources were abundant and labor hands were few. So much work had to be done building railroads and dams, digging mines, clearing farm lands, canning salmon, etc. And the Chinese were welcomed to every line of manual work. There was a time when nearly every family at Astoria of Oregon and Olympia of Washington hired a Chinese as servant, as some writers claim. When the great number of whites moved in from the east, along with them came the floating laborers and the European immigrants, as well as the labor union. Conditions changed rapidly, the Chinese found themselves not only excluded from all employment, but persecuted everywhere. California was the state which first utilized Chinese labor and first expelled it. This unfavorable circumstance forced the Chinese to flee from California to other states. The purpose of this paper is not to give an account of how the Chinese were maltreated in a country known as a free, equal land opened widely to the whole world, but rather tries to find out how they survived, what were their daily problems, sorrows, and happiness, if any, and what were their inner feelings, their attitudes toward the white hosts. In short, the paper is written in an attempt to reconstruct their life in an alien land. In addition, the paper tries to answer the question why this oriental group appeared so peculiar in their behavior, as some whites commented, that they were both condemned and contemned. One of the crucial problems facing the researcher in the field of early Chinese immigration history is the lack of original materials. This is the common defects in all the published works on this subject. Fortunately for the author, by an unique chance, he was able to study numerous objects left in a Chinese grocery store, the Kam Wah Chung Co. at John Day--a small town once a busy mining area in Eastern Oregon. The pioneer artifacts in this town are disappearing, though the gravels of the old gold placers are still visible along the hillsides and canyons. But the queer old building of the Chinese store is still standing stubbornly as it did one hundred years ago, on a road called Canton Street So many objects were left in the building that the city of John Day is endeavoring to open it as a museum. From a historical point of view, many of these objects are very valuable. Among them are a great number of letters. Some were sent to the laborers from their families, in care of that building. Others were from the laborers to their homes, and for some unknown reason had not been sent to China. They are unique and of special importance to this paper. Perhaps nowhere else in the United States, or in War-torn China, can one find such a number of first hand records about the early Chinese in this country. Although few significant events, romantic affairs, or anything exciting can be expected of them, still, one can reconstruct a plain sketch of their life from these materials. The paper, though it only presents a small picture of the Chinese group in Eastern Oregon, is aimed to serve, hopefully, as a footnote leading to an understanding of how the early Chinese immigrants once lived in the Pacific Northwest. Close

• 172. [Article] A Beer Party and Watermelon: The Archaeology of Community and Resistance at CCC Camp Zigzag, Company 928, Zigzag, Oregon, 1933-1942

  In March 1933, the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a national relief program aimed at alleviating the disastrous effects ofthe Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: A Beer Party and Watermelon: The Archaeology of Community and Resistance at CCC Camp Zigzag, Company 928, Zigzag, Oregon, 1933-1942 Author: Tuck, Janna Beth Year: 2010 In March 1933, the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a national relief program aimed at alleviating the disastrous effects ofthe Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) began as one of these programs designed to employ young men from all over the country and put them "back to work". The CCC provided these young men with training, a monthly stipend, and basic supplies such as food, clothing, and accommodations. After 1942, CCC camps were closed and many of these sites were abandoned or destroyed, leaving little historical documentation as to the experiences ofthe people involved. This project revolves around the archaeological investigations and data recovery of a CCC camp that was in operation from 1933-1942 in Zigzag, Oregon. This research analyzes the remains of the camp in order to gain further knowledge about this important period in American history, and more specifically, Oregon history. In assessing the material culture left behind, combined with the historical documents and oral history interviews, the goal of this project was to expand the historical and archaeological narrative of the CCC experience. More specifically, the aim of this research was to reveal the unwritten record of CCC camp life in a pivotal period of American history. The results of the historical archaeological research indicates that Camp Zigzag represents a community that participated in resistance related activities, such as drinking alcohol on camp property, but one that also adhered to the regulations of camp policy. Military-style order and training permeated even the surrounding architectural environment. The rituals of daily life in the structured order of the camp appear to have developed and formulated a strong sense of cohesion among the men. However, resistance-related items, such as alcohol bottles, suggest that Camp Zigzag enrollees resisted the authoritarian dynamic of the camp. Social drinking would have provided the men with a sense of solidarity and commonality that would have been maintained beyond the ideals of camp uniformity. This communal familiarity may have influenced the men's behaviour in daily camp routines, rituals, and work. Overall, the archaeological evidence depicts the Camp Zigzag community as united through the bonds of formality and in its resistance to it. Camp Zigzag offered a unique and unusually expansive window into not only the history of Oregon State, but into the history of our nation as a whole. The camp's archaeological assemblage remains as an important learning tool and its value far exceeds the humble nature of its material contents. It is a collection of untold stories representing the lives of young men and their families at a tumultuous turning point in American history. Title: A Beer Party and Watermelon: The Archaeology of Community and Resistance at CCC Camp Zigzag, Company 928, Zigzag, Oregon, 1933-1942 Author: Tuck, Janna Beth Year: 2010 In March 1933, the administration of United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated a national relief program aimed at alleviating the disastrous effects ofthe Great Depression. The Civilian Conservation Corp (CCC) began as one of these programs designed to employ young men from all over the country and put them "back to work". The CCC provided these young men with training, a monthly stipend, and basic supplies such as food, clothing, and accommodations. After 1942, CCC camps were closed and many of these sites were abandoned or destroyed, leaving little historical documentation as to the experiences ofthe people involved. This project revolves around the archaeological investigations and data recovery of a CCC camp that was in operation from 1933-1942 in Zigzag, Oregon. This research analyzes the remains of the camp in order to gain further knowledge about this important period in American history, and more specifically, Oregon history. In assessing the material culture left behind, combined with the historical documents and oral history interviews, the goal of this project was to expand the historical and archaeological narrative of the CCC experience. More specifically, the aim of this research was to reveal the unwritten record of CCC camp life in a pivotal period of American history. The results of the historical archaeological research indicates that Camp Zigzag represents a community that participated in resistance related activities, such as drinking alcohol on camp property, but one that also adhered to the regulations of camp policy. Military-style order and training permeated even the surrounding architectural environment. The rituals of daily life in the structured order of the camp appear to have developed and formulated a strong sense of cohesion among the men. However, resistance-related items, such as alcohol bottles, suggest that Camp Zigzag enrollees resisted the authoritarian dynamic of the camp. Social drinking would have provided the men with a sense of solidarity and commonality that would have been maintained beyond the ideals of camp uniformity. This communal familiarity may have influenced the men's behaviour in daily camp routines, rituals, and work. Overall, the archaeological evidence depicts the Camp Zigzag community as united through the bonds of formality and in its resistance to it. Camp Zigzag offered a unique and unusually expansive window into not only the history of Oregon State, but into the history of our nation as a whole. The camp's archaeological assemblage remains as an important learning tool and its value far exceeds the humble nature of its material contents. It is a collection of untold stories representing the lives of young men and their families at a tumultuous turning point in American history. Close