Established
in 1937
|
Early day Illinois Valley shaped
by Chinese immigrantsBy ROGER BRANDT
Special to IVNThe Chinese played a significant role in Illinois Valley’s early mining history, but telling their story is not easy because little was recorded about them.
The following account is a compilation from several sources that help to piece together a picture of these people who added a flavor of cultural diversity to the history we celebrate during Josephine County's sesquicentennial.
The exact number of Chinese living in Josephine County was uncertain because they were not counted in the census. However, all Chinese were required to pay a polling tax if they wanted to look for gold. Using the Josephine County polling tax from 1865, it appears that there were approximately 433 Chinese in the county.
It is likely that most of these individuals lived in Illinois Valley where mining and businesses were located.
The Chinese were not allowed to own a mine, and frequently did most of their gold digging in the areas where white miners had hurried through to find the largest nuggets, usually overlooking the smaller placers (gold dust) in their rush. The Chinese methodically sifted through what had been left behind.
The Chinese were often hired to do difficult and laborious jobs. They constructed many of the early wagon roads, labored at larger mining operations, dug ditches and other similar tasks.
Not all Chinese worked in mining. Around 1856, Lee-Hang was appointed the deputy tax collector under the first sheriff of Josephine County. Gassy Bow was a packer who brought supplies to Illinois Valley from Crescent City. Jim Chow had a blacksmith shop at Waldo.
Chinese children attended the same schools as other children in the valley. Jim Chow had two children, who attended the school at Waldo. Chow would sometimes go to the window of the school to watch his children. The teacher always invited him in, but for some reason, he preferred to stay outside and watch through the window.
If there was a death in the Chinese community, the deceased individual was buried in the Waldo Cemetery on a hill approximately a half-mile west and a little south from the site of Waldo.
The separation of races is clearly shown there. Many pioneers rest in the cemetery at the top of this hill, but the Chinese could not bury their dead there. So, some distance down the hillside, they laid their loved ones to rest.
In the late 1920’s or early ‘30s, Chinese Tongs, or family groups, from San Francisco hired workmen to disinter all the Chinese that could be found. The remains were placed in burial boxes, and taken to San Francisco, where they were placed on ships to Shanghai. It can be assumed that on arrival in their native homeland they were reinterred.
On the hillside of Waldo Cemetery only open pits, now covered by small trees and underbrush, are left to tell of those people and the roles they played in the early history of Illinois Valley.
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