Archaeology, History, and the Myth of the Mining Camp Kanaka Flat, Oregon

Chelsea E. Rose

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“A SOUND OF REVELRY BY NIGHT” ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY, AND THE MYTH OF THE MINING CAMP KANAKA FLAT, OREGON

Thesis by Chelsea E. Rose

ABSTRACT Purpose: The Western gold rushes are often portrayed through sweeping statements and generalizations, many focusing largely on what has become the American institution of The Mining Camp: a bachelor society ripe with all the vice and violence of the frontier. The goal of this thesis was to use the site of Kanaka Flat, Oregon to test the myth of The Mining Camp. And in doing so, identify any biases or assumptions that may interfere with the interpretation and understanding in the history of the mining frontier.

Methods: This thesis used a multi-disciplinary approach to accumulate data on Kanaka Flat. Informal archaeological survey was used to locate the settlement of Kanaka Flat and identify the types of archaeological resources represented within the study area. Local and state archives were used to compile documents such as mining claims and deeds, census and court records, and personal writings involving the settlement of Kanaka Flat. In addition, oral history interviews conducted with residents of Kanaka Flats Road and Jacksonville were compiled as a means to support, enhance, or contradict the documentary and archaeological record. Data was then used to create a profile of Kanaka Flat with which to test the myth of The Mining Camp. Analysis was based on five characteristics seen as stereotypical of the mythical Mining Camp: 1. Urban Wilderness: the ‘germ of the city’ 2. Lonely Men, Loose Women: demographics of a mining camp 3. Glory Days: mining camps as epicenters of vice and sin 4. ‘Loaded to the Muzzle with Vagabonds’: violence and power on the ‘lawless’ frontier 5. Boom and Bust: ‘go in, get rich, get out’

Findings: v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Dedicated to Helen E. Hight 1923-2007.

On my first day of graduate school I left early to attend the funeral of my grandmother Helen. At the service I delivered a speech highlighting the meaningful life of my grandmother and her influence on those who knew and loved her. As archaeologists we are often faced with the responsibility of interpreting people’s lives. I dedicate this thesis to my grandmother as a reminder to myself that the artifacts I will uncover are the remnants of the meaningful experiences of real people. People, like my grandmother, who had significant impacts on those around them, and who deserve my respect and compassion as I strive to tell their story.

I would like to extend a heartfelt thanks to my thesis committee, who all took time out of their already overloaded schedules to help me. Thanks to Adrian Praetzellis for his patience, insight, and thoughtful advice in response to my many questions. Thanks to Michelle Jolly for introducing me to the wonderful world of oral history, and to Mark Tveskov for sharing resources and his vast knowledge of Southern Oregon.

I would also like to thank Tyler, for his unflinching support and years of late- night editing. Thanks to Tom Connolly, Julie Schablitsky, Chris Ruiz, Elizabeth Kallenbach, and the rest of the University of Oregon gang- I couldn’t have done it without you! Thanks to John Craig who is always up for a tedious search in the archives. And a big thank you to all of the friends and family who have helped me get where I am today.

Thanks to Jim and Carol Wingo, Wes and Julie Mather, and all of the other residents of Kanaka Flat who generously shared information and access to their property. Thanks to Louis Applebaker, Dorland Offenbacher, June and Wanda Mather, Russell and Melba McIntyre, Karl Slack, and Marsha Govnor who were willing to share their knowledge and stories on tape. Thanks to my mom, Margi Jorgensen for her cheerful willingness to tackling hours and hours of transcript typing.

And finally, thanks to Kathy Enright and Ben Truwe of the Southern Oregon Historical Society for their love of history and sharp eyes, and all of the other people who helped me navigate the maze of archives in search of the elusive clues on Kanaka Flat.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 Introduction ...... 1 The Oregon Gold Rush ...... 3 The Case Study: Kanaka Flat ...... 3 Research Goals ...... 5

Chapter 2 Theoretical Perspectives ...... 7 The Frontier: ‘The Outer Edge of the Wave’ ...... 7 The Frontier Process...... 8 The ‘F-Word’: The Turner Thesis and the New Western Historians ...... 11 The Frontier in Anthropology ...... 13 ‘Get In, Get Rich, Get Out’: The Western Mining Frontier ...... 16 Community in the Camps ...... 19 The Myth of the Mining Camp ...... 22 ‘The Wildest Hell-Raising Town in Southern Oregon’ ...... 23

Chapter 3 Historical Context ...... 26 The Oregon Territory: ‘Land of Journeys Ending’ ...... 26 ‘Gold is Where You Find It’: The Southwestern Oregon Gold Rush ...... 29 “Oregon’s Rise on the Indians:” The Rogue River Indian Wars (1851-1856) ...... 33

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A Mile Upstream: The Settlement of Kanaka Flat ...... 37

The ‘Copper Colored Argonauts’: Native Hawaiians in the Gold Rush ...... 39 Decline ...... 41

Chapter 4 Research Design ...... 46 Research Strategy ...... 47 Pathway to the Past ...... 47

Research Method One: Archaeology ...... 48 Environmental Setting ...... 48 Site Description ...... 48 Preliminary Archaeological Survey ...... 51

Research Method Two: Oral History ...... 53 Interviews ...... 53 Transcription and Curation ...... 54

Research Method Three: Archival Research ...... 55 Primary Records...... 56 Census Population Schedules ...... 56 Jackson County Mining Records ...... 57 Newspaper Articles ...... 58 Diaries, Journals, and Personal Correspondence ...... 59 Other Public Records ...... 59 Maps ...... 59

Analysis ...... 60

Chapter 5 Data Presentation ...... 62

Archaeological Context: Mining Technology ...... 62 Resource Type 1: Water Management and Placer-Related ...... 62 Resource Type 2: Lode Excavation and Production-Related ...... 65 Resource Type 3: Habitation and Support Structures ...... 66

Archaeological Survey Findings ...... 67 One Horse Town ...... 68 Resource Type 1: Evidence on Kanaka Flat ...... 69

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Resource Type 2: Evidence on Kanaka Flat ...... 74 Resource Type 3: Evidence on Kanaka Flat ...... 76

Oral History: Historical Memory and Life on the Flat ...... 84

Chapter 6 Comparative Analysis ...... 88 1. Urban Wilderness: The ‘Germ of the City’ ...... 88 2. Lonely Men, Loose Women: Mining Camp Demographics ...... 91 3 Glory Days: Mining Camps as Epicenters of Vice and Sin ...... 99 ‘The Terpsichorean Tumult’: Nightlife in the Camp ...... 100 ‘The Saving Grace of the Righteous Redeemer’: Religion in the Camp ...... 103 4. Armed to the Gills With Vagabonds: Violence and Power on the ‘Lawless’ Frontier ...... 104 The Long Arm of the Law ...... 109 5. Boom and Bust: Go In, Get Rich, Get Out ...... 111 The Boom...... 112 The Bust ...... 113

Chapter 7 Summary and Conclusions ...... 116 Local Lore and the Positive Feedback Loop ...... 118 Depression-Era Mining ...... 119 Recommendations ...... 121

Works Cited ...... 123

Appendix A ...... 143

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1: Kanaka Flat site map ...... 49

Figure 2: Kanaka Flat study area ...... 68

Figure 3: One Horse Town ...... 69

Figure 4: Kanaka Flat survey results: Water Management and Placer-Related ...... 72

Figure 5: Feature 6 and 7: drift mining adit and ditch ...... 73

Figure 6: Feature 8: grass covered tailings pile ...... 73

Figure 7: The Opp Quartz Mine. Photograph taken by Peter Britt Circa 1900 ...... 74

Figure 8: The Occidental Quartz Mill on Jackson Creek ...... 75

Figure 9: Kanaka Flat Survey Results: Lode Excavation and Resource-Extraction ...... 76

Figure 10: Kanaka Flat Survey Result: Habitation and Support Structures ...... 79

Figure 11: Cabin Site A ...... 80

Figure 12: Cabin Site A: amber glass alcohol bottle ...... 80

Figure 13: Cabin Site A: brick and stone ...... 81

Figure 14: Can dump near Cabin Site B ...... 82

Figure 15: Kanaka Flat survey results: resource overview ...... 83

Figure 16: 1860 Census household ethnicity chart ...... 95

Figure 17: 1860 Census household structure ...... 96

Figure 18: 1869 Applegate Indian Census household structure ...... 97

Figure 19: Peter Britt photograph of ‘unknown Kanaka’ ...... 98

Figure 20: Burt Conger constructing the white elephant statues in 1949...... 102

Chapter 1: Introduction

The story of the American West is closely tied to the frontier gold rushes,

and the waves of population and infrastructure that closely followed. This cultural

phenomenon not only dictated the flavor of the historic sections of our modern

towns and cities, but also was intimately tied to their geographical placement,

access to environmental resources, and culture. While much of Western history

has been disseminated through pop culture motifs of the Wild West (the lonely

miner, the sultry prostitute, etc.), a more realistic glimpse of Western settlement

promises to illustrate more than a romantic frontier fantasy. This historical period

stands to teach us about why much of Oregon and California look the way they

do, as well as to highlight the historical antecedents to modern labor issues,

environmental impacts and their legacies, and to underscore the West’s role in the

larger history of American Imperialism.

The Western gold rushes are often portrayed through sweeping statements and generalizations, many focusing largely on what has become the American

institution of The Mining Camp, a bachelor society ripe with all the vice and

violence of the frontier. Recent scholarship has worked hard to counter the

traditional gold rush tale and bring to light the various other experiences in the

gold fields, as seen through the oft-overlooked female, ethnic, or minority

participants. Academics have investigated gender (Blackburn and Ricards 1993;

Hurtado 1999; Johnson 2000), ethnicity (Zhu 1997), technology (Hardesty 1988,

1998, 2005; Rohe 1985), government (Shinn 1884), ecology (Isenberg 2005), and

even foodways (Conlin 1986) on the mining frontier. Many studies have also

2 addressed the more traditional ‘highlights’ of the gold rushes, namely prostitution

(Butler 1987; Seagraves 1994; Simmons 1989), ghost towns (Delyser 2003), and saloons (Dixon 2005).

While recent popular and scholarly literature has certainly updated the variety and types of participants on the mining frontier, most accounts are still placed within traditional frontier paradigms. Therefore, it is the goal of this thesis to ‘test’ such a paradigm, the myth of The Mining Camp, with the aim of identifying any biases or assumption that lie therein that may interfere with the interpretation and understanding of mining camp history.

Scholars have long recognized patterns on the mining frontier throughout space and time, arguing that “the gold rush experience remained essentially the same from year to year and from place to place” with California’s 49’ers or the

Klondike gold-seekers sharing “basically the same tribulations and pleasures in traveling to and working and living the gold regions” (Marks 1994:15; see also

Greever 1963; Hardesty 1998, 2004; Turner 1893). Given similar circumstances of the various gold rushes, it would make sense that parallels would exist where a large population surged into a remote location in search of a highly commodified resource. It is not the goal of this thesis to attempt to discredit this hypothesis.

Rather, the aim is to probe the relationship between popular culture, American historiography, and the truly dynamic and decisive gold rush events, to see how this relationship has influenced the interpretation of historical gold mining sites on the American frontier.

The Oregon Gold Rush While Oregon’s mining past has not achieved the fame of its southern counterpart, the discovery of gold in California (1848), and later, Oregon (1851-

1852) would provide both the economic and population booms needed to establish permanent EuroAmerican settlement in the Oregon Territory. The

“immediate demand for foodstuff, lumber, and other materials” created by the

California gold rush stimulated the tentative agricultural industry in Oregon’s

Willamette Valley (Robbins 1997:86). Oregon’s golden discovery a few years later lured thousands, creating impetus for developing transportation infrastructure, growing agricultural and lumber markets, and establishing communities throughout the territory. Home to the earliest Oregon gold strikes,

Jackson County was a region particularly transformed by the discovery and pursuit of gold.

The Case Study: Kanaka Flat The site of Kanaka Flat, in Southern Oregon’s Jackson County, has been chosen as a case study with which to test The Mining Camp myth. Kanaka Flat lies approximately one mile southwest of the town of Jacksonville and was occupied during the height of the Oregon gold rush. Kanaka Flat represents a type of underemphasized settlement that was both plentiful and important to the gold rushes of the American West. Although Kanaka Flat is the primary site of interest in this study, one cannot understand its history without understanding that of nearby Jacksonville. These two communities, albeit both spatially and socially distinct, were nonetheless fundamentally linked.

The town of Jacksonville has long been recognized as both historically

significant and a good candidate for scholarly research (Kramer 1993; Simmons

1989). Shortly after the gold rush boom that populated in the area, “geography,

technology, and circumstance all combined to halt the forces of change” which

commonly destroyed the historic integrity of other mid-nineteenth century towns

(Kramer 1993:1). Lack of twentieth century development left Jacksonville frozen

in time long enough for community leaders to realize the value of the historical

preservation in the town. The community began to actively promote its history

with museum displays and an annual “gold rush jubilee,” all of which ultimately

led to its National Historic Landmark status in 1966 (Kramer 1993:1). These

activities also cemented Jacksonville’s modern identity with its legacy as a ‘Wild

West’ frontier town.

While the gold rush in Southern Oregon seems relatively inconsequential

when compared to the larger rushes elsewhere, historian A.C. Walling found early

placer mining in Jackson County “a subject of intense interest” as “in every

respect it resembles and is identical with the history of the mining counties of

California” (1884:321, emphasis added). Jackson County clearly participated in

the American sociocultural phenomena of the gold rush, and Kanaka Flat has

subsequently found itself firmly rooted within Southern Oregon’s gold rush

identity. Heralded as “the wildest hell-raising town in southern Oregon” full of

“rough and tough miners” where frequently was heard “a sound of revelry by night,” at first glance, Kanaka Flat seems a quintessential example of a frontier mining camp (Fidler 1909:72; Hegne 2002:76; RVGS 2005:12).

Research Goals The goal of this thesis is to use the site of Kanaka Flat, Oregon to test the myth of The Mining Camp. More specifically, this project hopes to address the following objectives:

• Identify how Kanaka Flat compares to stereotypes of The Mining Camp.

• Evaluate how The Mining Camp myth has been applied retroactively

to interpret the history of Kanaka Flat.

• Appraise the archaeological potential of Kanaka Flat.

• Improve understanding of the region’s history.

In order to achieve these goals, Chapter 2 provides a comprehensive literature review exploring Western frontier historiography and the institution of

The Mining Camp. Chapter 3 supplies a brief history of Southern Oregon and the

Oregon gold rush. This will help to embed our discussion within the regional context of Jackson County.

Chapter 4 outlines methods used to recover the archaeological, oral history, and archival data used in this thesis. Informal archaeological survey was used to locate the settlement of Kanaka Flat and identify the types of archaeological resources represented within the study area. Local and state archives were used to compile documents such as mining claims and deeds, census and court records, and personal writings like letters and diaries involving the settlement of Kanaka Flat. In addition, oral history interviews conducted with residents of Kanaka Flats Road and Jacksonville were compiled as a means to support, enhance, or contradict the documentary and archaeological record.

Archaeological and oral history data are presented in Chapter 5. Chapter 6

uses data compiled on Kanaka Flat to test the validity of The Mining Camp myth.

Chapter 7 revisits the goals outline in this chapter, discusses the data findings and provides recommendations for future work on Kanaka Flat.

Chapter 2: Theoretical Perspective In order to test the myth of The Mining Camp, it is first necessary to address the larger debate in which this hypothesis is situated. The concept of

‘frontier’ has been debated in history, geography, and anthropology for decades.

Therefore, it is critical that we outline the historical antecedents to our query, and carefully explain the way in which this thesis intends to use potentially ambiguous terminology.

The Frontier: ‘The Outer Edge of the Wave’ Frontier, the dominating word in the American nationhood epic, has compound meanings- a geographic situation, an expansion entity, a state of mind- and is inextricably associated with the so-called westward movement (Gibson 1993:3).

At Chicago’s 1893 Columbian Exposition, set to honor the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ discovery of the New World, Frederick Jackson Turner delivered his landmark paper, “The Significance of the Frontier in American

History” (White 1994:7). Turner’s thesis would become the dominant paradigm of frontier historiography for nearly a century and irreversibly leave its imprint on the history of the American West. By using the frontier as an “organizing idea,”

Turner succeeded in building a “monumental narrative whose framework would guide the study of American history in succeeding generations” (White 1994:26).

Even today, the study of the frontier is still inextricably linked with the nineteenth century American West, and by default Turner, leaving the frontier concept to be considered by many to be “hackneyed and ethnocentric, bound up with Victorian notions of manifest destiny and rugged individualism” (Parker and Rodseth

2005:3). Despite bitter criticism, some scholars are willing to argue, albeit with a

8 list of preemptive disclaimers, that frontier studies can be useful as an organizational, and more importantly, a comparative tool (Aron 2005, 2008;

Gibson 1993; Parker and Rodseth 2005; Thompson 1990).

The frontier has been used by Turner and other scholars to reference a population statistic, an undomesticated environment, a state of mind, and an analytical tool for measuring culture change. Popular conceptions of the frontier perceive it to be a “territory situated beyond the line of settlement, awaiting the altering application of pioneer initiative and ingenuity to exploit its resources”

(Gibson 1993:3). Historical associations with the frontier often connote

“opportunity, the promise of a fresh start, or the prospect of ones fortune” (Gibson

1993:3). Frontiers can be viewed as the intersection between two distinct cultures, or conversely, as the edge of civilization—the intersection between culture and nature. Under the umbrella of frontier study, scholars have investigated frontiers as political or cultural boundaries, contact zones, as well as pursued geographical, demographical, economical and ideological frontier themes (Parker and Rodseth

2005:11-15). While many of these contexts will be touched on to some extent, the aspect of the frontier of greatest interest to this thesis is the idea of the frontier as a transformative process.

The Frontier Process Turner recognized a pattern of dynamic frontier interactions that he viewed as transformative and key to American identity. Turner viewed the western frontier as the “outer edge of the wave—the meeting point between savagery and civilization” (1893:2). Turner saw American culture as

“progressive,” a lineal evolution in which the “buffalo trail became the Indian trail” which then led to the trapper’s networks, wagon roads, turnpikes, and ultimately, the railroad (1893:6). Paradoxically, “the progress he envisioned was achieved… by retreating to the primitive along successive frontiers,” and it was these interactions with the ‘simple’ or ‘primitive’ societies that forged and reinforced ‘Americanness’ (White 1994:25). Turner and the frontier school that became his legacy argued that western movement furnished Americans with their very “democratic values” and their “special character as a people” (Cronon et al.

1992:3).

While Turner’s views of cultural change seem questionably antiquated today, he nonetheless observed that, “invasion, settlement, and community formation followed certain broad, repeating patterns in most, if not all, parts of

North America” (Cronon et al. 1992:6). In viewing Western history as a series of sequential frontiers, Turner successfully argued for the integration of the history of ‘the West’ with that of the larger history of America. While Turner made this powerful insight, he used it to conclude that the frontier process represented, on a grand scale, the social evolution from savagery to civilization, as seen through the shift from “hunter to fur trader to cattle raiser to farmer to merchant and manufacturer” (Cronon et al. 1992:7). Turner’s observation was couched in over a century of scholarly belief in unilineal cultural evolution. Originally touted by eighteenth century Enlightenment philosophers, socio-cultural evolutionary theory was commonly used by nineteenth century anthropologists who placed

human cultures on a progressive scale from simple to complex (Trigger

2006:166).

In an effort to update Turner’s thesis, historians have argued that if we

view the frontier process as the shift from frontier-to-region, this would allow scholars to use frontier processes to explain regional variety, and subsequently draw useful parallels while simultaneously freeing them from the rubric of unidirectional stages of ‘progress’ (Cronon et al. 1992:7; Limerick 1989). This transition serves to act as a homogenizing agent whilst at the same time highlighting regional differences.

Identifying how regional differences materialize from larger frontier processes could transfer the focus from the isolation of the frontier to the common parallels between regions (Cronon et al. 1992:8-9). Similarly, across the disciplines scholars have argued that “local communities must be studied in their specific social and historical concepts as a step towards the understanding of regional and world historical phenomena… to illuminate large-scale dynamics through the study of local processes” (Parker and Rodseth 2005:8).

However, other scholars would argue that the frontier is not a transformation towards region, but rather it is a region under transformation

(Limerick 1987:26). By looking at the west as a place and not a frontier, historians have argued that it then becomes obvious that frontier processes are merely a romanticized version of colonization, and that “history of the West is a study of a place undergoing conquest” (Limerick 1987:26; Robbins 1994). In an effort to reevaluate the history of the West without the haze of frontier rhetoric,

Limerick (1987), and a movement of New Western Historians argued for a

replacement of the term frontier by scholars, arguing that it was an “unsubtle

concept for a subtle world” (Aron 2005:23). Limerick argued that using the term

‘frontier’ as an analytical concept imparts historians with bias, leaving them to

adopt “the view of only one of the contesting groups” (1994:73). It was further

argued that the frontier was a “historical artifact,” not a valid analytical tool, and

therefore, should be studied as such (Limerick 1987:25).

The ‘F-word’: The Turner Thesis and The New Western Historians The historian is obliged to understand how people saw their own times, but not obliged to adopt their terminology or point of view (Limerick 1987:25).

In the 1980s a group of self-proclaimed New Western Historians challenged traditional Turnerian historiography, in an attempt to highlight previously overlooked social, political, and ecological aspects of the “conquest, colonization, and consolidation of the American West” (Aron 2005:23). At the heart of New Western History revisionism, was the frontier, or the “f-word,”

itself. In a highly charged debate, New Western Historians sought to divorce the

‘frontier’ concept from the ‘West’ and rebuild American history without the bias

and inaccuracies seen as inherent to the frontier paradigm.

While it has been widely recognized that frontier processes are akin to

colonization, scholars argued that that was not enough. Contending that, “trying to

grasp the enormous human complexity of the American West is not easy under

any circumstances, and the effort to reduce a tangle of many-sided encounters to a

world defined by a frontier line only makes a tough task even tougher” (Limerick

1994:72).

Limerick outlined five objections to the use of ‘frontier:’ firstly, it requires a Euro-centric “inflexible point of view;” it biases an east-to-west track, ignoring migrations of Spanish people moving north, and Asian people moving east; its start or finish cannot be easily identified and therefore it is difficult to recognize when such a condition existed; it permits the presumption of “innocence and exceptionalism” by distracting from the realities of ‘conquest’ in America’s westward expansion; and finally, it nearly ‘ruined’ Western history by obscuring the full breadth of possibilities in research by frontier historians (1994:72-74).

While Limerick’s objections were well received by many scholars, most were unwilling to dispose of the term entirely, as it conveniently serves as a “vital shorthand for understanding and comparing the meetings of peoples and the intersections of cultures” (Aron 2005:175).

Despite the problems and unavoidable associations, without the concept of the frontier, the “West as a region lacks an overreaching single historical or cultural experience that crystallizes its identity” (Thompson 1990:71). Scholars have argued that merely replacing ‘frontier’ with ‘region’ is problematic, as, when scrutinized, “the concept of region turns out to be as troublesome as frontier”

(Aron 2005:23, emphasis added). When looking at the West as a place or a region, one encounters the inevitable disagreement about where exactly the West is—as boundaries are political, not natural, and therefore subject to shift over time

(Aron 2005:23).

Semantics aside, the West, and frontier history, “like the region itself, represent a big place with plenty of room for divergent opinions and multiple

13 approaches to the subject” (Thompson 1990:71). As a result of the critical reevaluation of Western history, frontier scholarship has been distanced from the

Turnerian tradition, and “frontier phenomena are increasingly studied across space, time, and academic disciplines” (Parker and Rodseth 2005:3). In spite of or, perhaps, due to the controversy surrounding his thesis, “Turner’s argument continues to serve as a heuristic for fruitful research” (Parker and Rodseth

2005:6). The events that transpired as America moved west created a distinct and dynamic sociocultural region perhaps most easily identified as the American frontier, but undeniably of which there is much left to learn.

The Frontier in Anthropology Since the 1970s, archaeology, like history, has undergone a critical self- examination of the infrastructure, methodology, and theoretical framework throughout which the discipline functions. This ‘postcolonial’ critique has questioned the endurance and legacy of the colonial institutions that have created a fabricated world history, polarized through integrated concepts of the ‘self’ and the ‘other’ (Gosden 2001). Unlike historians’ hesitation to apply frontier terminology outside of the framework of the American West, archaeology readily appropriated the term and applied it to any number of colonial interactions.

Therefore, the ‘frontier,’ has been central in the theoretical reevaluation of colonial encounters.

The breadth of ‘frontier’ applications in archaeology served to make it nearly synonymous with colonization. This therefore removed the debate from the emotional process of separating the frontier from America’s beloved Western

fantasy past. Instead, archaeologists have strived to disentangle the epistemological inferences about populations that would serve to bias interpretation, arguing that it was critical for archaeologists to understand the way frontiers and boundaries are perceived, as it directly relates to research

methodology (Lightfoot and Martinez 1995:471).

Postcolonial self-reflection challenged the oversimplified and culturally

biased grand narratives of colonial interactions, as they were built on ideas of

cultural ‘essentialism’ (Gosden 2001). This was seen as a key fault in frontier

studies as they were “undertaken within an overarching framework of dominance

hierarchies that establish dichotomous structural relationships between core and

periphery” (Lightfoot and Martinez 1995:483). Frontiers are essentially the front

lines of culture contact interactions, and rather than assuming the traditional

polarized cultural identities of ‘colonizer’ and ‘colonized,’ scholars instead have

promoted concepts involving creolization and cultural hybridity as a result of

colonial encounters (Gosden 2001:241; Lightfoot and Martinez 1995:472; Voss

2005). By engaging in the “reconceptualization of frontiers as socially charged

places where innovative cultural constructs are created and transformed,” it

becomes clear that all participants in the colonial process contribute to the

outcome through means of power, domination, and resistance (Lightfoot and

Martinez 1995:472; Voss 205:461) This culminates into the resultant hybridized

colonial cultures that are “complex mixtures of their original parts” (Gosden

2001:243).

Scholars in both history and archaeology have clearly succeeded in problematizing traditional colonial models and have greatly increased our understanding of the inherent complexities in the early frontier contacts.

However, some would argue that “the task is not to figure out who was colonizer and who was colonized…rather, it is to ask what political rationalities have made those distinctions and categories viable, enduring, and relevant” (Stoler

2001:865). It is the endurance of these dichotomies that has unconsciously dictated the analysis of frontier colonization, whereby levels of conquest were gauged through unidirectional acculturation models (Silliman 2005:62). Inherent to these early analyses, was the assumption that all of the power lies with the conquering party (Silliman 2005:62).

Like historians, many archaeologists propose that nuanced local histories are key to the understanding of frontier interactions as they highlight the unique ways in which indigenous communities resisted, rejected, or adapted to colonization (Gosden 2006:166). It is important to recognize that “local differences arise due to the agency of local people, who resist colonials with a variety of instruments from armed resistance to subtle cultural subversions”

(Gosden 2006:166). Furthermore, it has been argued that in addition to focusing on local particularities, “we must be vigilant to prevent a needed focus on colonialism-as-context from turning into an unwanted focus on colonialism-as- defining moment” (Silliman 2005:67). When this is applied to the frontier of the

American West, we are able to think of the West “as a place—as many complicated environments occupied by natives who considered their homelands

to be the center, not the edge” (Limerick 1987:26). In situating the frontier as a

context for early interactions, researchers can move away from the event-based narratives that mask individual participants and omit, or underemphasize, the larger colonial processes and their legacies.

It would seem that both archaeologists and historians agree that “societies have been formed and transformed in relation to their frontiers,” therefore, only an “adventurous, comparative approach, no longer tethered to a specific context or tradition, is likely to reveal the full range of variation…in frontier history”

(Parker and Rodseth 2005:4). As a result, frontier studies have been incorporated into the growing scholarship of borders, diasporas, and culture contacts both globally and over a long range of time (Parker and Rodseth 2005:4). Additionally, scholars have begun to investigate colonial frontier interactions between humans and nature, and have argued that the process of ‘landscape learning,’ had a profound effect on culture as frontier populations not only adapted to and negotiated with each other, but also with the mysterious and often inhospitable forces of nature (Rockman and Steele 2003).

‘Get In, Get Rich, Get Out’: The Western Mining Frontier I can only say that all mining ventures are risky, that we will all probably make a big killing, or lose all we put in (Samuel T. Hauser [1889] in Robbins 1994:108).

As previously established, frontiers are created through ‘social expansion’

into unoccupied or underexploited regions, essentially by “the spread of people,

goods, or cultural forms into new or ‘marginal’ settings” (Parker and Rodseth

2005:23). Therefore it is no great leap to transition our discussion from a more

general frontier concept to that of the ‘mining frontier.’ The mining frontier is

typical in its creation of new cultural interfaces and unabashed colonization, yet is

distinct in its expediency as “mining took a comparatively gradual process and

accelerated it” (Limerick 1987:99). It has been argued that, “no industry had a

greater impact on Western history than mining,” not only due to its speed, but

“mining set a mood that has never disappeared from the West: the attitude of

extractive industry—get in, get rich, get out” (Limerick 1987:99-100).

The subject of mining has largely been in the realm of historians and, until

the last few decades has been under-explored by anthropologists in general

(Douglass 1998:97). Historical archaeologists are said to have only ‘discovered’

Western mining as a viable research topic in the 1980s (Douglass 1998:97;

Hardesty 1988:x). More recently, scholars have argued that mining and miners are important topics for scholarly research, as the mining industry has historically provided much of the capitol and impetus for the development of the modern

world (Hardesty 1988, 1998; Killick 1998; Knapp 1998). This argument can be

applied to the impact of the mining frontier on the American West.

Benedict has argued that while the New Western Historians have

“tempered ‘glory days’ with environmental disasters, the ugliness of violence and racial hostilities, the displacement of native peoples, and the desperation that often drove the Westerner to transience,” they have nonetheless overlooked many of the mundane, yet integral, aspects of daily life and community on the frontier

(1996:6). Archaeological investigations focusing on the mining rushes of the

American West have the opportunity to tell the story of all participants in the

economic and cultural phenomena that were the western gold rushes.

Scholars have looked at industrialized mining communities (Benedict

1996; Hardesty 1988, 1998, 2004; Murphy 1997), but there has been little synthesis on the fleeting and ephemeral communities of the placer mining camp.

In both history and anthropology, much of the research on mining has traditionally focused on aspects of economy and technology, leaving the social aspects of mining under explored (Knapp 1998; Pfaffenberger 1998:291). These aspects also merit study in conjunction, as “a fixation on technology and machines obscures the human and social dimensions of mining communities” just as the “sharp distinction between technology and society obscure some of the factors that give mining communities their distinctive dynamics” (Pfaffenberger

1998:291). In effect, the recursive relationship between humans and technology is an integral part of understanding the mining frontier.

Gold extraction, like most technologies, can be achieved through several means. Therefore, it has been argued, “the path actually chosen (the chaine operatoire) often reflects ideological and social choices as much as (or more than) the search for ‘efficiency’” (Killick 1998:287). Hardesty similarly proposed that

“the landscape of the mining rushes provide images of and information about the cognitive world of miners” (Hardesty 2003:92). As a result, “mining landscapes contain symbolic representations of knowledge about mining and, among other things, cultural concepts of settlement” (Hardesty 2003:92). Perhaps nowhere was mining technology and society more intertwined than in the placer mining camps that sprouted up in and amongst the ‘diggings.’

Community in the Camps In his landmark text The Archaeology of Mining and Miners, Hardesty stated, “settlement is a focal point of social information about the mining frontier”

(1988:13). Mining settlement types shifted throughout the western gold rushes, from tent city, to company town, to large industrial center. However, it is the small nineteenth century camps that have become the archetype of the mining settlement, and of which are of primary interest to this thesis. Small placer camps, unlike the established industrial centers or company towns associated with later mining ventures, largely operated within the context of the American ‘frontier.’

As the placer camps often functioned on the periphery of Western settlement, they were also a meeting point between cultures, ‘civilization,’ and nature. In this familiar frontier context, Western lands, their inhabitants, and natural resources were confronted and appropriated by foreign interest. The fact that those doing the appropriating initially lacked any sort of unified front beyond the goal of finding gold did not detract from the reality that regions where gold was discovered soon became regions under conquest. In keeping with the larger tradition of frontier historiography, until recently the purview of the mining camp has been stunted by assumptions regarding the roles of gender, power, and class played within the camps.

The concept of community on the mining frontier has been debated by scholars. It has been argued that these iconic mining camps existed more as a conglomeration of restless strangers than a community of neighbors and families

(Douglass 1998; White 1991). The hordes of men descending on the gold fields were faced with the need for “some sort of collective modus vivendi” in a

20 situation where “human greed” was the “prime motivating force” (Douglass

1998:100). As a result, the restless nature of the mining camp is thought to have prohibited the establishment of permanent community. The transitory nature of placer mining and the eternal quest for the ‘mother lode’ precluded long-term commitment to a regions social or environmental health (Benedict 1996; White

1991). Scholars have argued that this restive search for gold inevitably led to a mobile society of “incredible rootlessness, diversity, and fragility” (White

1991:303).

While mining camps may not have functioned as cohesive communities in the traditional sense, some scholars have pointed out that they were communities nonetheless. Marks stated that these same factors of greed and rootlessness that hindered community development fostered a bizarrely altruistic “gold rush code” in which honesty, privacy, and reciprocity allowed miners to create tentative social bonds (Marks 1994:227; Shinn 1884). In the dire situations one was often presented with on the mining frontier, miners needed to work together in order to survive. Those who found themselves ‘down on their luck’ were often sustained by their fellow miners (Marks 1994:230; Shinn 1884).

Simmons similarly argued that mining communities differentiated themselves from other frontier communities through their penchant for individualism, risk, privatization, and secrecy (1998:61). The culmination of these traits led to a “tacit social bond that underlined the formation of a collective identity and organizational structure that became the mining community”

(Simmons 1998:61). These social bonds were dynamic and shifted along with the

roaming miners, creating what Douglass described as “community without a

locus” (1998:106).

In short, if frontier mining camps functioned within a general community,

rather than as a series of individual ones, how do they fit into the historiography

of the The Mining Camp? Scholars have simultaneously picked apart and

substantiated the stereotypes of The Mining Camp. While they have updated

interpretations of power, class and gender, scholars have nonetheless largely

operated within the familiar framework of the ubiquitous frontier mining camp.

Scholars have consistently cited the presence of patterns and similarities in

the mining rushes throughout space and time (Greever 1963; Hardesty 2003,

Marks 1994; Paul 1963; Smith 1967) The gold rush ‘experience’ was thought to

be “essentially the same” across the Western frontier (Marks 1994:15; Greever

1963). Similarly, Hardesty stated that the process of acquiring geological,

technological, social, and cultural knowledge, created parallels that can be seen

throughout the 1849 California rush, the various gold rushes in the South Pacific, all the way to the Canadian cobalt rush of 1906 (2003:83, 85-92).

The fact that ‘you know one when you see one,’ whether you are in the

Sierra Nevada Range or the Canadian tundra, makes it hard to dispose entirely of

the mining camp as a static settlement form. However, as Bell stated, “The fact

that mining settlements were distinctive does not mean they were uniform”

(1998:29). In order to understand how and why mining camps varied over space

and time, one must first address the tenacious myth of The Mining Camp.

The Myth of the Mining Camp The gold rushes have been widely hailed as some of the most “dramatic

episodes of American Western history” (Cronon 2003:xi). The mining camp is

central in this drama, as it has proved to be a reliable and romantic backdrop for

the vice and violence of what historian Richard White described as the “imagined

West” (1991:613-632). White’s ‘imagined West’ is a ‘mythic West,’ built on

collective falsehoods that serve to form a larger story, highlighting “who

westerners--and who Americans—are and how they should act” (1991:615).

Johnson has argued that since the nineteenth century, the Gold Rush itself has been morphed in to the “historical property” of American men in particular, and

has become “associated in everyday language with the facile notions of fast

fortune” (Johnson 2000:11). Real or imagined, the beloved gold rush story has

served to both inspire and misinform the public about American history.

Like many aspects of the Wild West, the gun-slinging cowboys, the

befeathered Indian warriors, and the hearty pioneers, the gold rush evokes a set of

specific visual and anecdotal triggers that have become the popular historiography

of the mining frontier. Revisionists have added new and important perspectives to

the story, namely women, the abused, and the disenfranchised. Even so, the

overarching myth of the gold rush, and more specifically, the mining camp, has

remained the same, albeit a bit more problematized.

While historians have acknowledged these pervasive stereotypes and

attempted to diversify the monolithic gold rush tale, they are often circumscribed

by the range and availability of documentary sources. Johnson (2000) has tried to

overcome this roadblock by integrating historical memory into gold rush

historiography. By incorporating what she described as a “pastiche of tales” into

her analysis, Johnson attempted to shed light onto the personal experiences of

those in the gold fields, and highlight how regionally specific tales have affected

the way modern communities understand the gold rush (Johnson 2000:25). While

Johnson expanded the parameters of the gold rush experience, her ‘tales’ were

nonetheless rooted in the romance of the mythic West. However, Johnson’s aim

was not to dispel or disprove gold rush stereotypes, but rather investigate how they function and why they exist.

“The Wildest, Hell-Raising Town in Southern Oregon” The camp of Kanaka Flat has been long described in history books and articles with colorful phrases like: “the wildest, hell-raising town in Southern

Oregon,” an “outcast-community” of “disreputable saloons and shanties which

[were] the center of the wilder aspects of Jacksonville life,” and where “bowling

saloons, gambling, and drinking and opium dens became the past time” (Hegne

2002:76; Haines 1967:79 RVGS 2005:12).

Much of the secondary information published on Kanaka Flat relied on a

short article written by local historian W. W. Fidler who wrote for various

newspapers about the region’s early history (Fidler 1909). Although Fidler wrote

nearly 50 years after the height of the Kanaka Flat occupation, most have treated

his article as an eye-witness account (see Barman and Watson 2006; Hegne 1995,

2002; Simmons 1989). Fidler’s colorful prose, which has been oft-quoted in this

thesis, is a perfect example of the biased and paternalistic interpretation of a

24 mining camp that, when read uncritically, fits Kanaka Flat neatly into the established frontier stereotype.

Johnson (2000) argued that those settlements that did not fit neatly into the larger paradigm of the mining camp are often overlooked, as they are uncomfortably incompatible with our understanding of the gold rush. As a result, the individual histories of the hundreds of small camps have been inadvertently co-opted into what has become the institution of The Mining Camp.

The intense urgency, fleeting opportunity, competition, and relative anonymity often associated with the mining frontier has allowed for colorful aspects of history to be associated with it. Furthermore, the boom and bust nature of many of the camps resulted in ghost towns that presented ideal historical tableaus which allowed “the romanticized past to be relevant in the present”

(Delyser 2003:276). While the Western mining fantasy past is not intrinsically problematic, the danger is that inaccurate assumptions and paradigms conveyed in the frontier mythos could potentially bias scholarly interpretation of tangible historical sites and circumstances. To avoid or at least acknowledge these biases, they must first be identified.

Below are the five ‘Myths of The Mining Camp’ chosen for analysis.

These ‘myths’ were selected due to their pervasiveness in both popular and scholarly literature on the mining frontier. They are as follows:

1. Urban Wilderness: the ‘germ of the city’

2. Lonely Men, Loose Women: demographics of a mining camp

3. Glory Days: mining camps as epicenters of vice and sin

4. Loaded to the Muzzle with Vagabonds: violence and power on the

‘lawless’ frontier

5. Boom and Bust: ‘go in, get rich, get out’

A brief literature review and discussion of each of the five myths will be presented in Chapter 6 along with data collected in this study.

Chapter 3: Historical Context

The Oregon Territory: Land of Journey’s Ending Although explorers had long been traveling the Pacific coastline in search of the Northwest Passage, permanent EuroAmerican presence in Oregon was primarily linked with the fur trade of the early nineteenth century. In 1810 the

Pacific Fur Company established the first American settlement in the Oregon

Territory in modern day Astoria (Dodds 1977:43). This small, but ambitious venture was quickly taken over by the Montreal-based North West Company, only later to be absorbed by the British fur giant, the Hudson’s Bay Company

(Dodds 1977:47). This merger allowed for a near British monopoly on the fur trade in the Pacific Northwest for decades.

In 1824 Fort Vancouver was established as the new Hudson’s Bay

Company headquarters at the junction of the Columbia and Willamette rivers

(Robbins 1997). In a strategic attempt to bolster Great Britain’s tentative hold on the Pacific Northwest, Hudson’s Bay Company officials instigated a series of

‘Snake Country’ expeditions that were intended to “trap out the streams” surrounding the newly established Fort Vancouver (LaLande 1987:xxii). The creation of a “fur desert” around the rich Columbia River was meant to keep would-be rival American trappers out of the Pacific Northwest (LaLande

1987:xxiv). Peter Skene Ogden led six of the expeditions, including the 1826-

1827 journey that brought the first white men south into the Rogue River Valley

(LaLande 1987).

This southern route would continue to be used by the Hudson’s Bay

Company and would later evolve into part of the Oregon-California Trail

(LaLande 1987; Tveskov and Cohen 2008:14). Fort Vancouver was an important multi-cultural fur-trade era settlement, drawing hundreds of English, Scottish,

French Canadian, Native Hawaiian, and Native American employees to the region. Fort Vancouver, although originally a British enterprise, would eventually prove to be a useful American foothold in the Oregon Territory, after the fort’s takeover by the U.S. Army in the 1840s (Barman and Watson 2006:62; NPS

2006).

The Oregon Territory was formed under the Organic Act of 1848 (Dodds

1977). The territory encompassed modern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, along with parts of Wyoming and Montana (Potter 1982). The Organic Act extended the

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 to the west coast, prohibiting slavery, providing land grants for schools, and promising ‘utmost good faith’ in dealing with Native

Americans (Johansen 1949:49; Robbins 1997:82-84). By the time the territorial government was put in place, EuroAmericans had already begun to settle in and around what would become the Oregon Territory.

Contrary to popular belief, the first wagon trains full of hopeful and determined settlers heading west were not headed to the California gold fields— but to the lush valleys of Oregon (Cronon 1997:xi; Robbins 1997). Known as “the land of journeys ending” since Lewis and Clark’s visit in 1805, “the Oregon country seemed a kind of lush oasis on the far side of the Rocky Mountains for nineteenth-century Americans thinking of pulling up stakes and heading west”

(Cronon 1997:xi). Rumor of the Willamette Valley and its “ample rainfall and temperate climate, its waterways…and its groves of trees dotted throughout the

28 level prairies” reached the ears of Midwestern farmers by the early 1840s. To many of these families, “Oregon represented not a totally new life, but a better one; if not a garden of Eden, at least a mightily improved Missouri” (Dodds

1977:62).

In September 1850 the Donation Land Claim Act was passed, further encouraging the settlement of the ‘free’ farming land in the Oregon Territory.

This was in clear violation of the Organic Act, essentially sanctioning the blatant appropriation of Native lands without prerequisite treaties or compensation

(Beckham1971; Tveskov and Cohen 2008; Whaley 2007). The Donation Land

Claim Act allowed the existing settlers to make legitimate claims on lands they were already occupying, and it served to further spur settlement of the Willamette and later, the Rogue River valleys (Robbins 1994:7).

American settlement would soon venture down to the forested mountains, rolling hills and lush valleys of southwestern Oregon. Indigenous Southern

Oregonians had been left in relative peace until the second half of the nineteenth century. Prior to permanent settlement, the Rogue Valley bore witness to several parties of EuroAmericans. Beginning with Ogden’s 1827 fur brigade, the 1830s cattle drives of Ewing Young and company, a military expedition led by George

Emmons in 1841, and fur trading venture led by James Clyman in 1845 (Atwood

1993:17-18). The increased EuroAmerican presence in southern Oregon contributed to growing disease outbreaks and increasing tensions with the local

Indian populations (Tveskov et al. 2001; Tveskov and Cohen 2008).

‘Gold is Where You Find It’: The Southwestern Oregon Gold Rush By the late 1840s the Willamette Valley was beginning to establish itself as a prosperous agricultural center. Growth was further fueled by the discovery of gold in California and the immediate need for fresh fruit and produce to feed the ballooning population. Virtually overnight, thousands arrived in California, and a

“brisk demand at once sprung up for the grain, flour, vegetables, and food products of all kinds, which Oregon could produce in abundance but for which no market had previously existed” (Walling 1884:169). Not only did California’s gold strike spur food production in Oregon, it also lured thousands of would be miners out of Oregon’s agricultural fields and into the gold fields of California.

This mass exodus from the Oregon Territory marched straight through the Rogue

River Valley along the Applegate (or Southern Emigrant) Trail. (Kramer 1999;

Tveskov et al. 2001).

Soon the California diggings were completely saturated with miners, and eager prospectors began to seek gold elsewhere. It was not long before gold was encountered in Oregon. The first large discovery in the Oregon Territory was at

“Sailor’s Diggings” in 1851 (Brooks and Ramp 1967:167). Presumably named after a bunch of sailors who jumped ship to find their fortune, this strike would lure hundreds of miners to the Illinois Valley in what is now Josephine County

(Brooks and Ramp 1967:167).

The discovery of Oregon ‘color’ left no stream or creek safe from the prospector’s pick, and soon new strikes were found. Considerable confusion and debate surround the original gold discovery in Jackson County. The current version accepted by most scholars begins with the initial discovery in late 1851 by

Mr. Sykes, nephew of local Indian Agent Alonzo Skinner (Kramer 1999, 1993).

Sykes found gold in Jackson Creek, in the vicinity of modern day Jacksonville.

Packers James Cluggage and James R. Poole got word of the find and in February

1852 found gold in nearby Daisy Creek, in what would come to be known as the

‘Rich Gulch’ strike (Kramer 1999:19). Cluggage and Poole may not have been

the first to strike gold in Southern Oregon, but they certainly were the ones to

popularize its discovery, and the rush ensued.

Packers-turned-miners-turned-city-founders, Cluggage and Poole each took a Donation Land Claim in the vicinity of their discovery and were subsequently instrumental in the establishment and expansion of Jacksonville.

The little camp “composed of tents, sheds, shanties and frail houses of split lumber” that sprung up around the Cluggage and Poole Rich Gulch discovery was originally dubbed ‘Table Rock City.’ It was soon renamed Jacksonville after the newly formed Jackson County (Haines 1967:17; Kramer 1993:12).

By March of 1852 it was estimated that 100-150 men were mining in the

vicinity of Jacksonville. By mid-summer, the “whisper of a marvelously rich gold

discovery was heard,” and over 1000 miners descended upon the Rogue River

Valley, prospecting “every spot where gold was likely to be found” (Walling

1884:337-338, 359). Heartened by the old adage, ‘gold is where you find it,’ the

influx of eager miners rapidly transformed the region, leaving the “silent hills and

gulches…touched as if by the wand of an enchanter, and whitened with the tents

of thousands of eager hunters” (Walling 1884:359). The rush was rumored to be

so widespread that, “to the casual observer, Jackson County was a vast mining

31 camp—crude, boisterous, violent—in which the restless and reckless from everywhere were rushing from diggings to diggings and leading a life ‘not far removed from barbarism’” (James Croke [1854] in Farnham 1956:29). Whether or not the gold rush hit Southern Oregon with the abandon recorded by early historians, the fact that 5,438 mining claims were filed in Jackson County alone by 1880, shows the importance and impetus of mining in the region (Potter

1995:17).

The initial mining wave consisted largely of placer miners (Kramer 1999;

LaLande 1981; Potter 1995). These autonomous individuals were armed with pick, pan, or other simple and portable implements, and would work the creek diggings by hand looking for gold that had been eroding out of the earth for millennia. Once “freed from its associated rock and left in the form of nuggets, flakes, grains, or dust” placer gold found its way in the creeks and streams and collected along terraces (Costello et al. 2007:8). Initially, placer deposits were rich enough to merit the small-scale mining operations that dotted the streams of

Jackson County.

In the relatively dry Rogue River Valley, peak mining time was in the winter, when water was plentiful. Even with larger water sources like the

Applegate or Illinois rivers, conditions were unsuitable for year round mining.

The smaller creeks and tributaries like the forks of the Jackson Creek were dry and unable to be mined at all during the summer months. In order to stretch out the mining season and to capitalize on otherwise dry ground, miners built

32 reservoirs and fashioned increasingly intricate ways to control and manipulate water.

The inevitable diminishing returns called for progressively complex technologies in order to access trapped gold. Small time operations were replaced with more organized efforts. Hydraulic mining was a way to save labor, or rather, make an otherwise unreasonable amount of it feasible, in order to access trapped placer gold. Hydraulic mining operations required capitol investment and were often “massive engineering efforts with elaborate systems of flumes, trestles, and ditches stretching for miles through the rugged countryside as water sources were re-directed to areas of gold bearing soils” (Kramer 1999:38).

Although placer diggings in and around Jacksonville quickly tapped out, mining claims continued to be worked throughout the hills and canyons of southwestern Oregon. In most cases the golden abundance was short lived and the hundreds of placer claims were replaced by a few large mining operations. In a desperate attempt to slow the waning mining industry, in 1866 a rumor was spread about a rich silver mine found near Jacksonville. The Oregon Reporter announced firmly that the new mines would prove richer than Nevada’s fabled

Comstock Lode. Overnight “256 claims were staked out, but in a few weeks it was clear that the “bonanza” would yield nothing but excitement” (Farnham

1956:38). The extent of Southern Oregon’s gold production is unknown. Statistics suggest “at least three-fourths the gold produced…since 1850 was derived from placer deposits” (Brooks and Ramp 1968:165). There is little evidence of the total value of Southern Oregon gold as numbers were often lumped in with

California’s, and much of the gold recovered never reached the US mint (Brooks

and Ramp 1967:169; Kramer 1999:19). Regardless, the impacts of nineteenth

century gold mining on the region and the communities involved are still apparent

to this day.

“Oregon’s Rise on the Indians”1: The Rogue River Indian Wars (1851-1856) I had heard one company of men declare that they had adopted as a maxim, that if they saw a Buck (Indian) and a deer at the same time, they should shoot the Buck, and leave the deer to run (Beeson 1857:28-29).

Prior to the discovery of gold, only a handful of pioneers were living in

southwestern Oregon. A decade of fur trappers, cattle wranglers, and wagon trains

had left the Indians suspicious of newcomers to the valley. The rush of miners heading to the California gold fields in 1849 only added to the tensions. The governor of the Oregon Territory lamented that if left unchecked, the Indians would “cut off our trade with the mines, kill the whites traveling in that direction, and seriously injure the prospects and interests of the people of this Territory”

(Jon P. Gaines [1851] quoted in Beckham 1971:51). Others more sensibly suggested that the miners simply avoid “molesting the Indians on the Rogues river

[sic] or elsewhere,” claiming that “most of the difficulties with these Indians might have been avoided, had a more conciliatory course been pursued on the part of the whites” (SOULA 1851). Unfortunately, the interactions between the

Native Americans and the incoming settlers did not follow a ‘conciliatory course,’ and the settlement of the Rogue Valley was ultimately a violent process.

1 Oregon Statesman August 14, 1852. Excerpt from song written and sung by Mr. Appler, “Rise, rise ye Oregons rise” (Beckham 1971:79).

Increasing EuroAmerican encroachment alienated Indian populations from their traditional lands and lifeways. As the “settlers not only brought seeds and technology but a fierce desire to replace what they had left behind—homes, families, and familiar landscapes…they transformed the wilderness they saw into the civilization they remembered” (Atwood 1993:16). Within just five years of settlement in the Rogue River Valley, nearly all evidence of Native American presence was gone (Atwood 1993:16). The landscape had been thoroughly transformed, and “stream bank villages became farmsteads; camas fields yielded to pastures enclosed with split-rail fences; grasses converted to wheat and oats; and trails widened into roads” (Atwood 1993:16). Mining had further transformative effects on the fragile waterways of the valley as soil was moved and water polluted in the relentless search for gold.

Southern Oregon Indians were anything but complacent in the trespass and loss of their lands. Long rumored to be “impudent and troublesome” by early travelers, conflict between settlers and the Indians was frequent and eventually led to a set of skirmishes and guerilla type warfare known as the Rogue River, or the

Rogue River Indian, Wars (John McLoughlin [1830] quoted in Douthit 2002:37).

The Rogue River Wars have been perhaps most effectively summarized as “six years of violence punctuated by attempts at negotiation and brief periods of peace” (Tveskov and Cohen 2008:2).

Tensions over the settlement of the Rogue River Valley were heightened by the mining industry. Not only did the discovery of gold spur exponential population growth, but the often out-of-work and bored miners brought the

35 hostility towards the Indians to new and unfortunate levels. As it was often too dry to support widespread mining in Jackson County, there were scores of unemployed men in the summer months who “had plenty of time to listen to, and repeat, exciting stories of Indian outrage, which were often manufactured from trifling occurrences” (Beeson 1857:47). As a result, hundreds of miners were recruited to fight the Indians during the dry months.

The drought of 1853 further slowed mining well into the fall, leaving

“scores of miners who, being deprived of work, for want of water, found an offer of employ, at such a time, acceptable; and many, from every point, were flocking to enroll” (Beeson 1857:61). As a result, several volunteer and vigilante armies were raised in Southern Oregon and Northern California (Colvig 1903:232-233).

At one point during the winter, “the Volunteers were more dreaded by the settlers than the Indians. Property was wantonly destroyed, cattle killed, and Jacksonville fired; and while the stores were burning the merchants were robbed” (Beeson

1857:73). Although many felt they were justly protecting the interests and rights of the valley’s settlers, the scores of men in the volunteer and vigilante companies were often out of control and exceedingly violent towards the Indian people.

With fighting going on all around them, isolated homesteaders became increasingly uneasy. One participant noted that “the county was unsafe both for the miner and farmer” and as a result, they organized into “indipendent companys

[sic] and went for the Indian. In less than three months thare [sic] was two thirds of these Indians were ded [sic] and the other third was in the forts for protection”

(Ezra M. Hamilton [1855] quoted in Whitesitt and Moore 1987:18).

Anti-Indian sentiment was bolstered throughout the county through songs, newspapers, and social functions (Beckham 1971:77-79). In 1852 a public dinner was set to honor one Captain Lamerick and his volunteer ‘army’ whom Indian

Agent A.A. Skinner praised for having “so speedily and successfully terminated the hostilities in which we were recently engaged with the warlike and wily savages of this valley” (NPHC 1889:403). Along with a song entitled “Rise, Rise,

Ye Oregons Rise,” a speech was delivered that wished upon those present “may you live to see the time when the Indians of Rogue River are extinct” (J.W.

Davenport [1852] quoted in Beckham 1971:79).

The continued influx of white settlers and the escalating violence led to the establishment of the Table Rock Indian Reservation (1853-1856), one of the first reservations in the American West (Tveskov and Cohen 2008:2). The Table

Rock Treaty negotiations began between Territorial Governor Joseph Lane and

Rogue River Indians in the late summer of 1853 (Tveskov and Cohen 2008).

Despite accounts that the Indians were “well satisfied with the sale of their lands,” in exchange the Table Rock Reservation, supposedly home to their “best hunting grounds” and “all their old fisheries,” trading the entire Rogue Valley for a small chunk was ultimately unsatisfactory to the Rogue River Indian people (Drew

1860:15).

The Table Rock Reservation was inadequate and the promised government supplies sparse; therefore the Indians were forced to look elsewhere for food. Indian Agent Ambrose stated that the Indians “cannot be induced to stay on the Reserve without being furnished food and in fact I believe at this season of

37 the year if they were compelled to stay on the Reserve they would most certainly starve to death” (SOULA 1855). In the end, the Reservation was an entirely short lived and unsuccessful venture.

Removal of Native Americans from Southern Oregon began on February

22, 1856. Around 400 ‘friendly Indians’ peacefully left the Table Rock

Reservation under military escort and headed for the Grand Ronde Reservation in the Willamette Valley (Douthit 2002:147). The coastal and ‘hostile’ Rogue River

Indians were rounded up and moved to the Siletz Reservation on the northern coast (Douthit 2002:147).

While many settlers kept hostile relations with the Indians, others chose cooperation over conflict. There are many instances where the local Indians welcomed and helped the newly arrived settle into the region (Beeson 1857;

Douthit 2002; Tveskov and Cohen 2008). Outspoken Native American sympathizer John Beeson would be exiled from Oregon for his unorthodox views on the Indians. Sickened by the brutality of the Rogue River Wars, Beeson wrote

“when those claiming a Christian civilization and calling themselves American citizens can thus designate MEN as ‘bucks’ and treat them worse than brutes, it is time to stop speaking of Indians as ‘the savages” (Beeson 1857:5, original emphasis).

A Mile Upstream: The Settlement of Kanaka Flat While it has been said, “there never was a mining camp where personal liberty was less restrained, better enjoyed or less abused than in Jacksonville,” nearby Kanaka Flat is usually credited with being Jackson County’s epicenter of

38 sin (Walling 1884:337). Kanaka Flat lies approximately one mile southwest of

Jacksonville, and was situated at the forks of Jackson Creek. Kanaka Flat was settled within a decade after Jacksonville was established.

Kanaka Flat is thought to have been a small squatter community, comprised of Hawaiians, Native American women and children, Portuguese, whites, and blacks, living adjacent to placer mines along Jackson Creek. Kanaka

Flat was not Jacksonville’s only nearby multi-ethnic mining community.

Sterlingville, “a tented hodgepodge of six hundred miners and traders, crowded in upon one of the richest strikes” also boasted a diverse population including Native

Hawaiians (Farnham 1956:30; see also Haines 1966). Other small bands of foreign miners were scattered throughout the region. Although it is unclear if they were in anyway associated with Kanaka Flat, Chinese operated contemporary mining claims along both forks of the Jackson Creek. Jackson County was home to thousands of Chinese miners, many living in the several blocks of ‘China shanties’ that comprised Jacksonville’s Chinatown (see LaLande 1981;

Schablitsky et al. 2009; Ruiz and O’Grady 2008).

Kanaka Flat was named after the Native Hawaiian residents who lived on the flat. The term Kanaka derives from the Hawaiian word for ‘person’ or ‘human being,’ and was used in Hawaii to distinguish the common man (Kanaka) from the royal class (Alii) and the native priests and healers (Kahuna) (Koppel 1995;

Po 1990; Silva 2004). It was the Kanakas, not the Alii or Kahuna, who took to the seas and ended up in Oregon and throughout the Pacific Northwest.

The “Copper Colored Argonauts”2: Native Hawaiians in the Gold Rush Shortly after ‘discovery’ in 1778 by Captain James Cook, Hawaiˋi began a slow “process of disease, dispossession, and disenfranchisement” that would ultimately lead to American annexation (Marshall 2006:185). Hawaiˋi ’s strategic location in the Pacific made it an ideal stopover for trans-Pacific industries, such as the fur, whaling, and Sandalwood trades (Marshall 2006:185).

Native Hawaiians first arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 1787 (Barman and

Watson 2006:vii).

During the nineteenth century Hawaiˋi ’s indigenous population declined dramatically due to vulnerability to Western diseases, while its foreign population grew exponentially (Marshall 2006:185). Land tenure reform between 1845-1855 privatized Hawaiˋi ’s once feudal land holdings in what was known as “the

Māhele” (Banner 2005:274). The Māhele was similar to the American Dawes Act of 1887 and had similarly detrimental impacts on the Native populations most affected by it (Banner 2005:275). Today viewed as a “thinly veiled colonial land grab,” the Hawaiian Māhele left many people landless (Banner 2005:274). This stimulated emigration and prohibited many overseas Hawaiians from returning home.

The full extent of Hawaiian emigration during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries is unknown. Written records were not common in Hawaiˋi until the arrival of missionaries in the 1820s, leaving the earliest emigrants largely undocumented (Barman and Watson 2006:viii). Those who were documented have been difficult to trace, as traditional naming practices differ from

2 Fidler 1909:71

EuroAmerican customs and are not necessarily indicative of gender or lineage

(Barman and Watson 2006:ix). Many traditional Hawaiian names were misspelled or changed in official records, and some emigrants were given, or took on

Americanized names.

John Sutter, founder of Sutter’s Mill where the California gold rush began, came to Alta California in 1839 with “Ten Kanakas and a bulldog from Oahu”

(Dillon 1955:17). A second wave of Hawaiians came in 1849-1850, like those from around the globe, in response to the California gold rush (Dillon 1955:21).

While largely absent from gold rush historiography, Hawaiian presence was such that they were subject to much of the same racist legislation that affected the

Chinese miners. The Oregon and California Foreign Miners Tax charged mining

Hawaiians a monthly fee (Atwood 1976), and Hawaiians were barred from participating in the Oregon Donation Land Claim Act of 1850, as “Canakers [sic], or Sandwich Islanders…are a race of men as black as your negroes of the South, and a race, too, that we do not desire to settle in Oregon" (Samuel Thurston

[1850] quoted in Whaley 2007:4).

Across California and the Pacific Northwest, the words Kanaka and

Owyhee can still be seen as a testament to the wide participation of the Native

Hawaiians in the gold rush and early industry of the West. In addition to the fur trade and gold mining, nineteenth century overseas Hawaiians were also active in the sawmill and agricultural industries of the Pacific Northwest (Barman and

Watson 2006; Duncan 1972; Koppel 1995).

Decline It should be kept in mind that every pound of ore taken from a mine leaves just that much less in it, and that the end must inevitably come at some time (Streach 1899:2).

While most blossoming settlements in the Oregon Territory were strategically located near natural resources that would provide power or easy transportation, Jacksonville mushroomed up conveniently adjacent to the gold diggings, and in an altogether inconvenient location for transportation, water powered mills, or agriculture. This would return to haunt Jacksonville. As the gold waned, other corners of the Rogue River Valley flourished.

By the 1860s, production at many of the profitable mines had slowed and

Jacksonville began to go into steady decline. Mining activities were spreading further and further away from Jacksonville in search of new strikes. Other areas in the valley were slowly growing as the orchards were planted and the rich and arable acres began to be farmed. The town of Jacksonville quickly reinvented itself, changing from mining boomtown to regional financial center (Simmons

1989). Jacksonville had been the county seat since 1852 and worked hard to remain viable without the mines, briefly becoming the epicenter of Southern

Oregon business and government.

A smallpox epidemic hit the city of Jacksonville in the winter of 1868-

1869 (Haines 1967:78). A ‘half-breed’ Indian was blamed with bringing the disease to Jacksonville, and town-wide quarantine was put into effect (Webber and Webber 1982:39). Jacksonville quickly mobilized and established a Board of

Health which, in turn, hired two marshals to enforce quarantine compliance

(Haines 1967:78). One of the Board of Health’s first actions was to establish a pest house on Kanaka Flat, as it was rumored to be an “area of disreputable

42 saloons and shanties which had long been the center of the wilder aspects of

Jacksonville life” (Haines 1967:79). The sick and dying were transported to the pest house, and all residents of Kanaka Flat were barred from entering

Jacksonville until the danger was thought to have passed (UOSC 1869). All told, the death count was just over twenty, but the epidemic had thoroughly unsettled the community (Haines 1967).

While the mining population had initially motivated agriculture in southwestern Oregon “the farmers had prospered more that anyone realized”

(Farnham 1956:35). As the gold mines continued to wane, agriculture in neighboring districts continued to thrive. Jacksonville’s fate was finally sealed when the long anticipated railroad bypassed the town for the newly established municipality of Medford. Despite Jacksonville’s prominence as the ‘Queen City’ of southern Oregon, its location in the far corner of the valley left it a good five miles west of the railroad’s path (Kramer 1993:18). Numerous attempts at both financial and political enticements failed, and the railroad bypassed Jacksonville.

The construction of the Jackson County Courthouse allowed Jacksonville to remain the county seat for a few years, but the hold on regional prominence was tentative at best. Without access to timber, water, or arable land, decline was unavoidable; yet, “Jacksonville folks began to blame the railroad for everything from the very first, and continued to do it on a rising level of vociferousness as time went on” (Haines 1967:98). A spur rail line was later run to connect

Jacksonville to Medford and eventually ran out past Kanaka Flat to the Opp

Quartz Mine and Jacksonville Brick Company a mile south of town (Kramer

1993:22). Despite valiant efforts, neither the mine nor the brick company

generated enough capital to maintain the expensive venture and the rail lines were

eventually abandoned (Kramer 1993).

In 1927 the county seat was moved, and the ‘Queen City’ of southern

Oregon was forced to cede her crown to the nearby ‘Pear City’ of Medford

(Haines 1967:134). When the Depression hit the nation, Jacksonville turned to its

roots, and “backyard mining” became a “feature of Jacksonville life throughout

the 1930s” (Haines 1967:137). It was not a highly profitable venture, but gave

residents a small and consistent income. T.A. Spray, who worked a mining claim

on Kanaka Flat, was just one of the many Depression-era miners who would come

would come into Jacksonville and trade gold for supplies at Goward’s Mercantile

Company (Applebaker 2008a; Offenbaker 2008a).

In 1933 Jacksonville received funding from the New Deal and used this

money to create a ‘mining school’ (Kramer 1999). City officials hoped that if

residents could achieve a basic level of self-sufficiency, city funds could be spent

on other pressing issues (Haines 1967:137). Mining was extensive in and around

Jacksonville, and Oregon was said to have had “more small placer participation at

this time than any state except California” (Miller 1998:28). Nineteenth century

laws still dictated that “private parties could still remove all valuable materials

from public lands without any fees or royalties to the government,” which

allowed for extensive reworking of the abandoned claims along the Daisy and

Jackson creeks as, “the marginal placer miners did not need a mining

44 claim…since the mining laws designated much of public domain as ‘free and open’ to mining” (Miller 1998:28).

Despite the backyard subsistence mining, Jacksonville, not unlike Kanaka

Flat years before, found itself on the margins of the social and economic prosperity of the region. In what can only be seen as an ironic twist of fate, during the worst of the Depression, indigent families from around Jackson County were relocated by court order to the abandoned homes and buildings of Jacksonville

(Haines 1967:138). While this gave Jacksonville the first population boost it had in decades, crime went up, and the run-down conditions of the rental houses resulted in the creation of “something worse than a ghost town, a rural slum”

(Haines 1967:138).

Bitterness about Jacksonville’s decline can be easily seen through a comment by early historian A.G. Walling who lamented that “in the transformation of Jackson County from a mining locality into a region of farms and farmers only, we feel the gradual extinction of interest in our story”

(1884:350). Walling wrote just over 30 years after the first nugget was pulled from Jackson Creek, and sentiment of Jacksonville’s decline only worsened over the following decades. Hope would begin to return to this struggling community after it recognized the benefit of its historic character as the “offspring of the mines” (Farnham 1956:34). A series of ‘Gold Rush Jubilees,’ the development of local museums, and its placement on the National Register of Historic Places began to return Jacksonville to regional relevance—not as a thriving economic or

45 political center, but as, an “antique town in a modern age” (Webber and Webber

1994).

Chapter 4: Research Design

Research Objectives This thesis aims to gain insight into an often mis- or under-represented settlement: The Mining Camp. Kanaka Flat, like many other small multi-ethnic mining camps, has been largely relegated in the history books to a blurb highlighting the debauchery of the gold rush era. This research employed a tri- pronged approach using archaeology, oral history, and historical documents, in order to provide a much-needed fresh look at Kanaka Flat and the Jacksonville gold rush era.

While the myth of the mining camp might be an inaccurate stereotype used to describe an otherwise dynamic type of settlement, it has become an institution of Western history. Along with the more colorful attributes of the mining camp comes the idea that one could enter into any mining camp across the

Western gold rushes and find a familiar scene. In keeping with others who have challenged or questioned long held assumptions about the history and settlement, this thesis sets out to test the accuracy of widely held stereotypes of The Mining

Camp.

This research consisted of two phases: phase one created a basic profile of

Kanaka Flat using data recovered from the archival, archaeological, and oral history investigations. Research questions used to direct the historical and archaeological inquiry included:

• Who was living on Kanaka Flat? • What type of mining were they doing? • What was the historical and regional context of the Kanaka Flat settlement?

Phase two created a historical vignette of Kanaka Flat as case study with

which to test the hypothesis outlined in previous chapters. Five ‘myths’ of The

Mining Camp have been compiled as a set of characteristics that will be used to

investigate how Kanaka Flat fits into the mining camp stereotype.

Research Strategy The use of only the archaeological data from an excavated site, aside from being a farce, would be analogous to studying human anatomy by looking only at the skeleton. In historical archaeology, the written records and documents flesh out the skeletal archaeological data into a viable cultural reconstruction (Hamilton 1992:39).

Pathways to the Past The site of Kanaka Flat has been abandoned for nearly 150 years, and its

modern legacy rests more in fantasy than fact. A multi-disciplinary approach was

used to shed light on long-hidden aspects of this short-lived settlement. In using a

variety of what Hardesty and Little call “pathways to the past,” evidence derived by combining documents, archaeological data, and oral testimony allowed for the integration of multiple lines of evidence (Hardesty and Little 2009:196). When used in tandem, archaeological and text-based data can make “more complex and subtle comparisons…to create a more detailed understanding” of the past (Trigger

2006:504).

While historical archaeologists often work closely with documents, incorporating the “techniques, methods of analysis, theoretical perspectives” from a variety of disciplines can be a useful way to enhance a research project (Little

2007:22). The act of contrasting anthropological, historical, and archaeological data sets “fits squarely within current trends to develop a socially oriented, human-science approach to the study of the past” (Knapp 1998:2). Hardesty and

Little further suggest that the use ‘redundancy,’ or multiple sources of data on the same topic, can lead to “synergies of interpretation” allowing for “great leaps in understanding that would not be possible using either source of information about the past alone” (Hardesty and Little 2009:86-87).

Research Method One: Archaeology Most mining sites in southwestern Oregon manifest no architectural integrity at all and, therefore, should be evaluated in terms of their contribution to understanding the cultural landscape and according to their archaeological potential (Kramer 1999:108).

Environmental Setting Kanaka Flat lies within the Siskiyou Mountains, a segment of the Klamath

Mountain Range that divides the Rogue and Klamath River watersheds. The site of Kanaka Flat sits within the Jackson Creek watershed, which drains into Bear

Creek, a major tributary of the Rogue River. The flat is a large terrace that rises above the forks of the seasonal Jackson Creek with an elevation ranging from roughly 1,760 feet above sea level in the low riparian zone up to 1,840-1,900 feet above sea level up on the flat. Vegetation on Kanaka Flat today consists of open dryland meadows bordered by scrub oak, manzanita, pine, and fir trees. Maple and willow trees are incorporated into the forest mix in the lower riparian zone surrounding the forks of the Jackson Creek. Notes from the 1854 Ives and Hyde survey describe the area as having second rate gravelly and sandy soil, and

“timber, open fir, pine and oak” (US-GLO 1854).

Site Description The site of Kanaka Flat is approximately one mile southwest of the city of

Jacksonville. The site is encompassed in what is now a rural residential neighborhood known as Kanaka Flats. This neighborhood sits just west of Oregon

Highway 238 and is accessed by Kanaka Flats Road. The Kanaka Flats

neighborhood extends throughout much of the northwest ¼, of the northwest ¼,

and the northwest ¼ of the southwest ¼ of section 31 of Township 37 south and

Range 2 west of the Willamette Meridian.

Figure 1. Kanaka Flat study area. Kanaka Flats Road accesses the large terrace or ‘flat’ that is roughly bounded

by Reservoir Road and Wagon Trail Road to the north and south, respectively.

The eastern boundary slopes down towards the left fork of Jackson Creek, and

Highway 238. The western boundary is a large privately owned parcel containing the remains of the late nineteenth to early twentieth century Opp Quartz Mine.

The historic Opp Mine has been home to a few recent mining ventures but was primarily operated between the 1880s and the 1930s as a lode mine. The working mine included several drifts and a large 20-stamp mill along the right fork of the

Jackson Creek (Brooks and Ramp 1967:169).

Kanaka Flats is divided into several tax lots, most with a single dwelling on five acres of lightly landscaped land. Many of the houses in the project area are mobile or modular homes, which may have minimized ground disturbance during construction. Due to shallow soils, exposed bedrock, and a general lack of water, very little in the way of ranching or agriculture is, or has been, done in the study area. Kanaka Flats Road and several driveways cross the large open meadow in the center of the neighborhood. All roadways in the project area consist of graveled dirt roads. Much of the original dirt wagon road can still be seen and is now used as a driveway access to properties on the northeast side of the neighborhood. Modern ‘fire breaks’ trails and an electrical line corridor have been excavated along the densely wooded properties on the north slope of the study area.

Most primary and secondary sources consulted describe Kanaka Flat as sitting between the forks of the Jackson Creek. This suggests the historic community was located on the north side of the large flat. While topography in the area would preclude much movement of the Jackson Creek beds, the exact

location of the confluence of the right and left forks may have shifted due to early

mining and more recent development of roads in the area. During the twentieth

century, Highway 238 was built, re-routing traffic alongside the Left Fork

Jackson Creek, and presumably altering the eastern slope of the Kanaka Flat study

area. Similarly, a railroad spur line was run along the Right Fork of Jackson Creek

during the early twentieth century to access a brickyard and the Opp Mine.

Reservoir Road was also built up at that time as Jacksonville shifted from private

wells to a city water reservoir established west of the study area (Webber and

Webber 1982).

Preliminary Archaeological Survey In order to gauge the archaeological structure and condition of the site of

Kanaka Flat, a preliminary survey was conducted with the goal of identifying:

• A rough site boundary • Types of resources • Levels of disturbance • High/low sensitivity areas for future research and resource protection

The site of the historic settlement of Kanaka Flat is located on or around

the rural residential neighborhood accessed by the modern Kanaka Flats Road.

Residents of Kanaka Flats Road were contacted prior to any archaeological work

and told about the project. Interested residents gave verbal permission to access

the areas surveyed. Of the twenty-seven tax lots within the Kanaka Flat study area, eight properties were surveyed either partially or in full. These properties

were dispersed over the flat, and provided an adequate sample of the types of

resources in the study area.

George Kramer’s (1999) Mining in Southwest Oregon guided the

identification and description of the mining resources in the study area. Features

found on Kanaka Flat were placed into three of the four functional groups

outlined by Kramer (1999:80):

1. Water Management and Placer-Related 2. Lode Excavation and Production-Related 3. Habitations and Support Structures 4. Mining Landscapes Each of Kramer’s functional categories contains several feature subcategories.

For example, features such as ditches, flumes and sluices would fall under Water

Management and Placer-Related (group 1). Adits, shafts and smelters would fall

under Lode Excavation and Production-Related (group 2); cabins, artifact

deposits, and cemeteries would fall under Habitat and Support Structures (group

3); and tailings piles, ponds, and hydraulic cuts would fall under Mining

Landscapes (group 4).

Kramer uses category 4, Mining Landscapes, to illustrate the visual results of

long-term mining. However, for the purpose of this thesis category 4 has been

merged into categories 1 and 2. The mining landscape is a direct result of placer

or lode mining and is a useful tool for recognizing these mining technologies.

Therefore, it will be discussed with those resource types.

Each resource identified during the survey was photographed, and a Global

Positioning System (GPS) reading taken. These data were used to create a map of

the site, with the resources divided into the three functional groups outlined

above. Areas of possible disturbance, or areas with a high probability for

archaeological features or resources, were also noted on the map.

Research Method Two: Oral History In recent years, oral histories have begun to be taken more seriously by academics and heritage practitioners alike in their explorations of the past, particularly with respect to uncovering the lived experiences of a world that was produced and consumed in complex and multiple ways (Riley and Harvey 2005:270).

Oral history was used to gather several types of information. Informants

were asked about the historical occupation of Kanaka Flat, the mining industry,

land use, major landscape alteration, development and or construction, as well as

for any information that would contribute to the understanding of the people who

lived on Kanaka Flat, and the way community is remembered today. Oral history

is becoming an increasingly recognized way to “augment, destabilize and even

challenge existing scientific narratives, as well offering alternative narratives”

(Riley and Harvey 2005:270). Oral history can be used both as an historical data

source and a ‘bridge’ between historical archaeology and complimentary

disciplines (Purser 1992:25). In this study, oral history was used to add

environmental and cultural information about the site, as well as to add the

perspective of the ‘local voice’ where possible.

The Interviews Prior to undertaking any oral history interviews, an application for

research involving human subjects was drafted and submitted for approval to the

Sonoma State University Institutional Review Board (IRB) in compliance with

the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 45, Part 46 (Appendix A). All interviews

were conducted following the Principles and Standards of the Oral History

Association (see Appendix A). Participants were made aware of their rights and

asked to sign a voluntary consent form informing them about their participation in

the project.

Participants were selected based on their affiliation with Kanaka Flat,

Jacksonville, or knowledge of local or regional history. A total of eight interviews

were conducted with seven participants. Preliminary interviews lasted 30-90 minutes, and in two cases additional 60-minute interviews were conducted. All interviews were conducted at the participant’s home. In some cases participants used visual aids or reference material such as photographs, newspapers, or legal documents for reference. Informants were briefed prior to the interview on the scope and objectives of the project. The interview included open ended and direct questions in order to elicit stories of the participant’s past experience or knowledge regarding the history of Kanaka Flat and its surrounding area.

Transcription and Curation Digital copies of all of the interviews will be archived at the Southern

Oregon Historical Society in Medford, Oregon. All of the interviews were transcribed to a basic outline with a temporal subject reference. Two of the interviews (McIntyre 2008; Slack 2008) were partially transcribed or paraphrased as informants heavily relied on the aid of scrapbooks and visual aids, making straight transcription confusing and unnecessary. Four of the eight interviews

(Applebaker 2008a, 2008b; Offenbacher 2008a, 2008b) were fully transcribed,

with the exception of a few small segments that were paraphrased due to sound

quality or content.

The transcription process is tedious, yet integral to the data potential of the

interview. Spoken conversation is different than the written word, and much can

be lost in the translation from speech to text. For the purpose of this project,

55 interview transcripts were edited slightly in order facilitate readability. However, the ‘ums’ and ‘ahs’ and awkward sentences were left in place where it was thought they contributed to the context or the emotion of the material that would otherwise be absent without hearing or seeing the person talking. Verbatim transcriptions were chosen in certain instances in order to preserve emotion (see

Offenbacher 2008b) or in situations where it helped to express the character of the speaker’s dialogue (see Applebaker 2008a, 2008b).

Research Method Three: Archival Research Archival resources used for this thesis were found at several locations.

Both the Southern Oregon and the Oregon Historical Society research libraries were used to locate and consult a variety of county, federal government, public and private records. The Jackson County Courthouse provided mining claim records and property deeds from 1866 onwards, as well as General Land Office

(GLO) plat maps and survey notes. Circuit court records were viewed in the

Medford Justice building archives and at the Oregon State Archives. The

American Lawyers Title Company provided records of quick claim deeds and mortgages from 1870 onwards, as well as an assortment of maps. Materials consulted at the University of Oregon Knight Library consisted of Jackson

County Records, including mining records, court records, and chattel mortgages, as well as the Lindsay Applegate Collection. The Applegate collection houses the letters, telegrams and paperwork dating to his time as the Indian Agent in

Southern Oregon. Online resources such as the Southern Oregon Digital Archives,

Oregon State Archives, and the Jackson County Genealogy Library were also

consulted.

As the main period of interest is the settlement of Kanaka Flat, research on

archival materials will be focused on the years between 1850-1880. However,

research into general historical context encompassed a larger temporal window.

Individual sources will be discussed in more detail below.

Primary Records When consulting primary records, it is important to identify and

understand the bias of these early documents. In addition to basic human error,

typographical errors, or legibility issues that can confuse archival research, it is

important that information given on primary documents be viewed in the

appropriate context. Primary records are, in themselves, artifacts. Documents often reflect the “cultural and idiosyncratic views of their creator,” and therefore must be critically examined (Hardesty and Little 2009:196). Below is an outline of the types of materials consulted, the range of information they contain, and, where possible, any identifiable biases.

Census Population Schedules Years 1860, 1870, 1880, and 1900 of the United States Population

Schedule for Jackson County were consulted. The Oregon Territorial Census of

1854 and 1856 were also examined. Census records can provide basic demographic information ranging from sex, age, ancestry and marital status, to occupation and residency. It is unclear how accurate early records are, since women or minorities were commonly under-enumerated or altogether ignored. In

57 the early Oregon Territorial census population schedules, only those eligible to vote were added, and marginalized populations such as the Native Hawaiians were omitted (Duncan 1972). In some cases, minorities such as Chinese or Native

Hawaiian were recorded as “Kanaker,” or “Chinaman,” rather than by name, which makes tracing individuals over the years difficult. Although some records grouped minority populations, census data can sometimes provide addresses or neighborhood information. In rural areas like Kanaka Flat, households were listed numerically, house 1, house 2, and so forth, rather than by address or legal location. Kanaka Flat was located within the Jacksonville precinct, and therefore, it is unclear exactly where the Kanaka Flat households begin, and where the

Jacksonville households end.

Jackson County Mining Records Early mining claims were recorded by Jackson County Clerk in ledgers, often accompanied by other water and mineral claims and in some cases court or property records. Early mining claims did not provide legal location, but were instead recorded in metes and bounds. Hack marks on trees, dead oaks, or other natural landmarks were often used to reference a claim’s boundaries. Many claims were also described in relation to neighboring claims. As most early placer claims were short lived and had rapidly changing monikers, the exact location of these mining claims are difficult, if not impossible, to ascertain. Wherever possible, the original mining ledgers were consulted. Over the years these documents have been moved from repository to repository, and many of the originals are now housed at the University of Oregon’s Special Collections facility in the Knight

Library. The University of Oregon houses mining ledgers covering the years of

1860-1866, and Records of Mining Claims and Mineral Rights covering the years of 1872-1876. Jackson County’s earliest mining ledger was found at the Oregon

Historical Society research library, tucked into an unrelated family collection

(OHS 1853-1856). Microfilm of Jackson County Records of Conveyances of

Mineral Claims and Water Ditches for the years of 1866-1893 can be found at the

Jackson County Courthouse. The American Lawyers Title Company houses the

Rogue Valley Abstract-Title Company Ledger (1870-1950) and associated maps at their offices in Medford.

Newspaper Articles As with newspaper articles today, newspaper accounts are to be considered general, and not scholarly, contemporary accounts. Bias on the part of the writer is assumed and is usually quite obvious. Newspaper articles can be useful in providing contemporary ‘news’ in the form of events, crimes, or social announcements, but they can also leave the scholar with a general sense of the

‘voice’ of the community. What was reported on, how it was reported, and perhaps even what topics were avoided, can all give insight into the historical context of the era. Various Southern Oregon newspapers are available on microfilm at the Medford branch of the Jackson County Library. The Democratic

Times (1870-1877), The Oregon Sentinel (1860-1869), and the Jacksonville

Sentinel (1870) were consulted for this thesis.

Diaries, Journals, and Personal Correspondence Personal writings can convey emotional insight on subjects or

contemporary events and can often contain valuable information in the ‘mundane’

aspects they describe that would otherwise go undocumented. Details on dress,

transportation, and food can commonly be found, while general information may

be absent. Although biased, the personal nature of these accounts can provide

useful details for the researcher.

Other Records Church, court and various county records were consulted and in some

cases used for analysis. While these records can provide useful data ranging from

marriage, births, deaths, or arrests, there is no way to test the comprehensiveness

of the recording process. Jacksonville store ledgers dating between the 1850s-

1870s were also used to locate evidence of foreign miners living and purchasing

supplies in the area. The lack of documentation on ethnic or indigent residents

makes it unclear if this population was avoided, unrecorded, or truly absent. This

highlights the importance of using multiple sources in conjunction as each source

may contribute a small piece of the puzzle.

Maps A variety of maps was consulted, including the General Land Office survey plats from 1854-1880; Oregon Department of Geology and Mineral

Industries maps ranging from 1942-1994; US Geological Survey map of Medford

West, Oregon Quadrangle (1983); and the Frank E. Alley survey map (1905) for

Township 37 south Range 3 west. In addition to geographical information, historic maps can provide information on land improvements, ownership, mineral

related resources and activities, and early roads and settlements. A plat map

accompanying the Rogue Valley Abstract-Title Company Ledger showed land subdivision and improvements in the Kanaka Flat study area dating back to the

1870s ( ALTC 1870-1950). A map of Opp Mine (1937) on file at the Southern

Oregon Historical Society also provided information about the location and extent of the Mines adjacent to Kanaka Flat.

Analysis The mythic West imagined by Americans has helped shaped the West of history just as the West of history has helped create the West Americans imagined. The two cannot be neatly severed (White 1991:616).

As outlined in previous chapters, this thesis will use the data compiled on

Kanaka Flat to create a historical profile that can then be used to test the myth of

The Mining Camp. Five common characteristics were chosen and will be used to

see how Kanaka Flat fit into the frontier mining camp stereotype. Characteristics

were chosen in regards to their prevalence in both scholarly and popular literature.

Archaeological, oral history, and archival data will be used to support, or

contradict each of the five stereotypes of The Mining Camp. The five ‘myths’

used for the analysis are as follows:

1. Urban Wilderness: the ‘germ of the city’

2. Lonely Men, Loose Women: demographics of a mining camp

3. Glory Days: mining camps as epicenters of vice and sin

4. ‘Loaded to the Muzzle with Vagabonds:’ violence and power on the

‘lawless’ frontier

5. Boom and Bust: ‘go in, get rich, get out’

The next chapter will present general archaeological survey and oral history findings. Chapter 6 will contain a more detailed discussion where all compiled data discussed above is integrated into the analysis comparing Kanaka Flat with The

Mining Camp.

Chapter 5: Data Presentation

Archaeological Context: Mining Technology

Resource Type 1: Water Management and Placer-Related Placer mining relies on the simple fact that gold is heavier than most of its surrounding matrix. Methods of gold extraction range in level of skill and complexity from a simple shallow bowl to intricately engineered water manipulation systems. With few exceptions, water plays a large role in the extraction placer gold.

The simplest form of placer mining was panning: separating gold from gravel by swirling small amounts of creek sediment in a shallow pan or basket of water. The Hawaiians, Mexicans, and Spanish working on Kanaka Flat were reported by one historian to be using “big wooden bowls” rather than metal pans to work the placer gravel (Fidler 1909:71). Regardless of the panning instrument used, the relatively small amount of material worked would leave little visible impact in an active creek or waterway. Therefore archaeological evidence of small-scale placer mining with pans or baskets is difficult, if not impossible, to recognize (Costello et al. 2007:29).

However, the use of long toms or sluices in placer mining did leave a recognizable signature. These technologies enabled large amounts of sediment, rock, and gravel to be processed and then redeposited into waste piles known as

‘tailings.’ The ‘rocker’ or ‘cradle’ was a simple wooden box mounted on rockers, studded with ‘cleats’ or ‘riffles’ that would catch passing gold (Paul 1963:19). A rocker could be operated by a single man, who would separate gold from

sediment through a constant gentle rocking motion. A small operation with a

rocker could result in an “undulating ground surface formed of uniform-sized gravel and cobbles” (Costello et al. 2007:29). The same action that gathered placer gold sorted the auriferous gravel by size, and as a result, distinctive tailings pile grew where the waste was deposited (Costello et al. 2007). Where water was scarce, a dry washer could be used. This was similar to a rocker, but instead of water, a cloth or burlap ‘apron’ was used to catch the gold (Costello et al. 2007).

The use of a dry washer would have resulted in a similar tailings pile as a rocker.

A long tom also functioned like a rocker but used water instead of motion to sort gravel and sediment. A continuous stream of water was run through a long trough over a series of riffles that sorted and collected gold. The long tom could process larger amounts of material than a rocker, but the cumbersome troughs required frequent clean out. As a result of these cleanouts, the use of a long tom can be recognized through distinct oblong tailings piles, which could extend for fifteen to twenty feet in length (Costello et al. 2007:30).

A sluice box was a series of wooden troughs lined with riffles much like a long tom, but interconnected to form much longer spans. Sluices may have been introduced to the Jacksonville placer mines by John M. Mickey, who is thought to have mined on what became Kanaka Flat3 (Mickey 1855:15). Mickey observed

miners using sluice boxes while passing through the California gold fields and

replicated them in Oregon, claiming “we could make sluices pay when we would

have been starving with long toms” (Mickey 1855:15). Like the long tom, the use

3 Mickey worked on ‘Jackson Flat’ one mile outside of Jacksonville, see Chapter 6 for further discussion (Mickey 1854:14).

of sluice boxes is visible through long linear tailings, but sluice tailings often extend much further than twenty feet in length (Costello et al. 2007:31; Kramer

1999:24).

Where there was a sloped grade and plenty of water, ground sluicing could

be done by using earthen ditches instead of wooden boxes. Ground sluices require

a steady stream of water, which erodes out a channel and traps gold bearing soil

behind riffles or natural obstacles. Surrounding soil would be collapsed or eroded

into the sluice channel, and a pan or rocker then processed the trapped sediments.

Hydraulic mining, at a basic level, simply consisted of “bringing in water

under high pressure and aiming it, as if through a hose, at a hill…believed to be

underlain by the auriferous channel of an ancient river” (Paul 1963:29). Water

was herded through a series of descending wooden flumes, pressurized, and then

channeled into iron pipes or hoses and focused on an exposed hillside. The result

was a blast that would literally wash away mountains. The purpose of liquefying

mountainsides was to achieve in mere hours what nature would take years to do.

The resulting sediment was then processed through sluices to retrieve the gold.

Both hydraulic mining and ground sluicing created archaeological

landscapes “characterized by substantial water conveyance features, and the

presence of steep cut faces” where the earth was scoured and processed (Costello

et al. 2007:32). While industrial hydraulic operations are distinct, it can be

difficult to differentiate small-scale hydraulicking from ground sluicing (Costello

et al. 2007:32).

Prospect holes were often dug in order to locate buried auriferous gravels

suitable for mining. Prospect holes are easily seen archaeologically since they

survive as shallow depressions or pits. In some cases, prospect holes were

enlarged by ‘coyoting,’ in which a small pit would be mined for placer gold

(Spreen 1939:11). Coyoting may be recognized archaeologically by the presence

of “abundant pits with large adjacent rock piles” (Costello et al. 2007:31).

A series of promising prospect holes could be developed beyond coyoting

into a drift mining operation. Drift mining could also be used to access buried

placer terraces where it was too dry or the deposits too deep. Drift mining was

done by tunneling into the hillside with adits or shafts. The material removed

would then be processed through a sluice. Adits were the horizontal tunnels into

the hillside, and shafts the vertical excavations into the earth. Evidence of drift

mining can be distinguished from lode mining, as the tailings have been washed,

not crushed, to retrieve the ore (Costello et al. 2007:35).

In addition to the above-mentioned technologies, placer mining required basic conveyance systems for the careful control and management of water.

Ditches, flumes, reservoirs, and metal pipe were all used to convey water to a desired area. Dams were also used in order to slow or change the flow of water. In addition to landscape alteration used to trap water, metal pipes are common artifacts indicating mining activities (Kramer 1999:84).

Resource Type 2: Lode Excavation and Production-Related Lode or quartz mining was done in order to capture the gold trapped in buried quartz veins. Lode mining required tunneling deep into the earth, and the

removed material was then crushed using a stamp mill or an arrastra. An arrastra

was a simple technology popular during times of economic depression, as it

provided the “means to eke out an existence by mining marginal ore deposits not

claimed by lager concerns or by reworking tailings produced by less-efficient

milling methods” (Van Buren 2004:6). Mining claims mention an arrastra being

used at the forks of the Jackson creek, which was possibly associated with the

Occidental Quartz Mill (see Figure 7; Jackson County 1866-1893).

Industrial lode mining required a level of skill well beyond that necessary for placer mining. In addition, substantial capital was needed for the specialized buildings, equipment and chemical rinse necessary to a lode mining operation.

Documentary sources reference several quartz ‘leads’ adjacent to Kanaka Flat, and at the forks of Jackson Creek at the base of the flat (Jackson County 1854-

1893).

Resource Type 3: Habitations and Support Structures While mining activities can often be recognized by technology and landscape alteration, the domestic component of a mining site is key to understanding the mining camp. Domestic sites can range from house sites, privies, artifact deposits, and wells, to landscaping and other improvements such as pathways and retaining walls.

Access to timber on site allowed most mining camps and cabins to work with simple wood construction. Previous archaeological investigations in southwestern Oregon have suggested that most dwellings were single-story, crude

one or two room buildings, made of lumber and scavenged or recycled materials

(Kramer 1999:92). Mining settlements across the west also commonly included partial or full canvas tent construction (Costello et al. 2007:46). Cabin sites often survive as foundations, building pads, retaining walls, fireplaces, or concentrations of miscellaneous household debris (Costello et al. 2007:46;

Kramer 1999:92).

Residential landscapes can also survive as evidence of domestic occupation. Fencing, domesticated plants, orchards, walkways and cisterns can all indicate the presence of a former habitation site (Kramer 1999:95). Documentary sources reference several cabins on Kanaka Flat and at least one larger building with two fireplaces that served as a saloon (Jackson County 1866-1893; OSA

1862b; UOSC 1864-1866:73). Documents also detail the construction of a wood frame pest house with a chimney during the smallpox epidemic of 1869 (County

Commissioners Journal 1869:350-354 in SOHS nd.a).

Archaeological Survey Findings Visibility in the study area was generally poor, with tall grass and leaf litter obscuring the ground surface in most areas. Survey results were gathered over several site visits throughout the year. Seasonal variation in vegetation and ground cover allowed for greater visibility in the winter months. The survey was done in informal transects over approximately thirty acres. Other than maintenance such as mowing or weed eating by the landowners, the land was not cleared prior to survey.

Figure 2. Kanaka Flat study area.

One Horse Town General Land Office maps from 1854-1881 show a small mining camp called “One Horse Town” in the vicinity of the study area. One Horse Town has long been thought to be the antecedent to Kanaka Flat. However, archaeological survey and map analysis indicate that this town was not in the study area and therefore not the precursor to the settlement of Kanaka Flat. The site of One

Horse Town lies on the north bank of the right fork of Jackson Creek, and although these two settlements were close, steep topography would have created a significant natural barrier between the two camps.

Figure 3. 1854 G.L.O. survey plat of Section 31 Township 37s Range 2w. One Horse Town is located in northwest corner of section 31. Kanaka Flat area indicated in red.

Evidence of Resource Type 1: Water Management and Placer-Related The full spectrum of placer mining techniques was used in the Kanaka Flat study area. When observed from a neighboring hill, Kanaka Flat was said to present “the appearance of an immense ant hill where tireless labor was the order of the day” (Fidler 1909:71). As a testament to this description, much of the

Kanaka Flat study area has been substantially altered by mining activities.

Accumulations of placer tailings of various sizes and shapes surround all of the seasonal and perennial waterways in the study area. The only area not resembling

a mining landscape is the open meadow in the center of the modern

neighborhood.

Evidence of hydraulic mining and ground sluicing can be seen along the

northern slope of the project area. An east-facing slope (Locus A) in the northwest

corner of the survey area bears an intricate maze of diversion ditches, dams, and hydraulic cuts, the most substantial of which are noted on Figure 4 below. Two deep water conveyance ditches (Features 1 and 2) run from the flat down towards the right fork of Jackson Creek and end in a long hydraulic cut bank (Feature 3).

The low meadow between the creek and the slope is full of substantial tailings piles (Locus B), many of which have been leveled by the property owner around the home. The creek bed is full of linear tailings piles, which suggests the use of a long tom or rocker in the creek. There is also a small diversion ditch leading to a large holding pond that the owner recently dredged and repaired (Feature 4).

Several mining claims reference the “Carter Ditch,” which took water from the right fork of Jackson Creek near Timber Gulch and transported it to

Kanaka Flat. This ditch was created by Alfred Carter, miner and resident of

Kanaka Flat, who used it to supplement seasonally available water on the flat

(USCB 1860; Jackson County 1866-1893). It was initially thought that the substantial waterway bisecting Kanaka Flat that residents call the ‘seasonal creek’

(Locus C) could be the Carter Ditch; however, further research showed that this

waterway originated in the mountains to the south and therefore was not fed by

Jackson Creek. The survey was unable to locate the Carter Ditch. The Opp Quartz

Mine now sits between Timber Gulch and Kanaka Flat, and heavy landscape

alteration due to mining may have obscured the early ditch.

While the ‘seasonal creek’ may not have been the Carter Ditch, it was

nonetheless a focal point for mining on Kanaka Flat. Although much of the

waterway has been impacted by development, substantial placer tailings and

mining features remain in the ravine and below the flat (Figure 4). In addition to

linear tailings piles suggesting the use of long toms, rockers, or even sluice boxes

along the ravine, the remnants of a dam and holding pond (Feature 5) can be seen along the ditch.

Evidence of coyoting, or drift mining, can be found along the eastern slope of the project area, directly east of the ‘seasonal creek’ (see Figure 4). A series of shallow prospect holes scar the hillside above an intact adit (Feature 6). A narrow ditch (Feature 7), measuring approximately ten feet in length, runs into the adit opening, which measures three feet wide at the entrance, opens up, and then continues for at least ten feet into the hillside (Figure 5). A large tailings pile

(Feature 8) is situated northeast of the tunnel opening at the confluence of two seasonal waterways that were likely used to sluice the material removed from the adit (see Figure 6).

There is also evidence of extensive mining (Locus D) around another perennial waterway to the south of the ‘seasonal creek.’ A small ditch runs east below Kanaka Flat road and then winds around to meet up with the drift mining

area near Locus C.

Figure 4. Water Management and Placer-Related Resources on Kanaka Flat. (USGS Medford West, Oregon Quadrangle 1983).

Figure 5. Features 6 and 7: Adit opening and ditch.

Figure 6. Grass covered tailings pile adjacent to adit (Feature 6).

Evidence of Resource Type 2: Lode Excavation and Production-Related While there is no evidence of lode mining in the core research area, the large Opp Mine operation sits directly west of Kanaka Flat. The Opp Mine was established in the late nineteenth century, but the height of its production was in the early 1900s (Brooks and Ramp 1967:244). It had eighteen adits that followed three main veins (Applebaker 2008; Brooks and Ramp 1967:244). Ore from the

Opp Mine was treated with a 20-stamp mill situated on the south bank of the right fork of the Jackson Creek. Amalgamation, cyanidation and gravity concentration were also used to capture and extract gold (Brooks and Ramp 1967:244).

Figure 7. The Opp Quartz Mine, taken by Emil Britt circa 1900. Note multi-story stamp mill at left on the right fork of Jackson Creek. Photo courtesy of the Southern Oregon Historical Society (negative number 10069). Tailings from the Opp stamp mill spill into the northwest corner of the survey area (Figure 9). The Occidental quartz Mill located ‘at the forks of Jackson

Creek’ would have been further downstream, and in an area that was not surveyed

75 for this study (Walling 1884:331). No direct evidence of an arrastra or lode mining was found in the study area.

Figure 8. The Occidental Quartz Mill on Jackson creek. Undated photograph, courtesy of the Southern Oregon Historical Society (negative number 12027).

Figure 9. Lode Excavation and Production-Related resources on Kanaka Flat (USGS Medford West, Oregon Quadrangle 1983).

Evidence of Resource Type 3: Habitation and Support Structures The central open meadow (see Figure 10, Area 1) where the smallpox pest

house was thought to have been was examined closely (Mather 2008). Although

permission was granted to access this property, property owners could not be

77 reached directly, and therefore survey avoided the northeast portion of the lot nearest the home.

Close-cropped grass and exposed soil offered high visibility, but very little was found. The meadow is bordered on two sides by the fork of Kanaka Flats

Road, and the soil was very deflated, with bedrock was visible in many places.

Only one small cluster of artifacts was observed, containing a small fragment of dark olive glass and an unidentified ferrous object.

Conversations with a resident later revealed that much of this area was scoured in the 1970s when the previous landowner rerouted the road around the pasture (Julie Mather 2008, personal communication). Due to the lack of artifacts, shallow soil, and evidence of disturbance, this meadow area has a low probability for intact archaeological resources (see Figure 10). However, there is a culvert and small ravine (Area 2) across Kanaka Flats Road from this survey area that may be where material was pushed off during the creation of the modern roadway

(Figure 10). This area would merit future investigation.

Poor access to water on Kanaka Flat affected both nineteenth century miners and modern residents. Existing households are furnished by wells, and water is considered scarce. The current house on the knoll, which predates the rest of the neighborhood, has two marginal modern wells, as well as evidence of an abandoned improved spring, which is now overgrown by willows (Feature 10). A large bolder (Feature 11) caps an ‘old mine shaft’ according to neighborhood lore, but it likely seals remnants of another well (John Boundy 2009, personal communication). A refuse pile (Feature 12) adjacent to the boulder consists of a

78 concrete slab and structural materials that could be the remains of a former well house.

Between Kanaka Flats Road and the house on the knoll are the remnants of a late nineteenth- early twentieth century cabin site (Cabin Site A, see Figures

11-13). Cabin Site A is circled by mature locust trees, and there is an old almond tree located to the north. Inside the roughly fifteen foot diameter tree ring, there are bricks, bottles, and ceramic artifacts, as well as large stones that could be the remnants of a foundation or fireplace. Surface artifacts appear to be consistent with a late nineteenth- early twentieth century occupation, and predate the

Depression-era artifacts found elsewhere in the study area. The current resident has noticed evidence of some looting in the past and remembers having seen horseshoes and brick in the vicinity (Sarah Cumings 2009, personal communication). From the surface, it appears that the deposit is relatively intact and would merit further investigation.

Figure 10. Habitation and Support Structure related resources on Kanaka Flat (USGS Medford West, Oregon Quadrangle 1983).

Figure 11. Cabin site A. Photo looking south. Kanaka Flats Road is to right of the tree circle.

Figure 12. Cabin Site A: Amber glass alcohol bottle.

Figure 13. Cabin Site A: Brick and stone artifacts. Several can dumps can be found in the project area (see Figure 10). All

date to the twentieth century and seem consistent with a Depression-era

occupation. A substantial can dump (Figure 14) sits along the north of the project

area near a flat depression that could be the remains of a cabin pad (Cabin Site B).

The cabin pad measures approximately 10 feet by 10 feet. There are a few sparse

can scatters along a ditch in the south of the survey area and a more substantial cluster to the east near the seasonal creek and associated with mining Locus C

(see Figure 10).

Figure 14. Can dump near Cabin Site B. An electrical cable runs through the study area in two places (see Figure

10). The cable is strung through the trees, which have grown around and

encompass the attached cable. White porcelain knob insulators are attached to the

trees, and the eastern end of the cable line terminates at a rusted metal “GE” box

adjacent to the house on the knoll. A similar wire line runs through the property

along the northern section of the project area and was thought to be the line to the old Opp Mine assay office according to the property owner (Jim Wingo 2008,

personal communication).

Figure 15. Overview of survey results on Kanaka Flat (USGS Medford West, Oregon Quadrangle 1983).

Oral History: Historical Memory and Life on the Flat The oral history component of this project was not as productive as was

hoped. The settlement of Kanaka Flat was short lived and largely abandoned by the 1880s. It would be more than a half-century before the area would be reoccupied and developed. Descendents of people associated with Kanaka Flat were

84 found in three cases, but all had very limited primary knowledge of the history.

Much of their information was gleaned from secondary sources previously consulted in this research.

Interviews with current and former residents of Kanaka Flat (Govnor

2008; Mather 2008), in addition to informal communication with residents, provided information about the site since it was reoccupied in the 1950s. James and June Mather, along with June’s parents Douglas and Myrtle Perry were the first to move out to the flat in 1951 (Mather 2008). When they arrived, Kanaka

Flat was empty save for a house located on the knoll at the northern end of the flat, which is still occupied today (see Figure 10). The Mather and Perrys held quick claim deeds encompassing approximately forty acres of the flat (Mather

2008). Soon after, the O’Dear family moved onto the northern end of Kanaka Flat

(Govnor 2008).

The land was subdivided and sold in the late 1950s. Prior to that, anyone living or working on the flat did so through government mineral claims (Mather

2008). The neighboring Opp Mine was one exception in the area, as they patented the mining resources, and thus privatized the large parcel of land adjacent to the project area. The modern Kanaka Flats Road was moved from the original nineteenth century wagon trail to its current location in the 1960s, and has been altered over time to accommodate development on the flat (Mather 2008).

Children growing up on the flat remember the cabins and the large several story wooden stamp mill on the nearby Opp Mine property, but none of the residents remember seeing any cabins, buildings, or structures on Kanaka Flats

(Govnor 2008; Mather 2008; Wes Mather 2008, personal communication). The

Opp Mine was in operation until the late 1930s, and Jacksonville resident Lewis

Applebaker, who was born in 1914, remembers falling asleep as a child to the

“thump-thump” of the stamp mill crushing ore (Applebaker 2008). Mr.

Applebaker later worked at the Opp Mine in the 1930s, and recalls:

I had a carbide light. So, I went back in there and began shoveling that into an ore car and push it out. Of course it was waste. When you come out of 18 there was a track that went off like this, and one that went down to the mill. And there was a switch there you could go either way. And they'd tell me whether it was good or not. So if it was waste, I would throw the switch and take it out there and dump it. And there it was steep like that and I would dump that waste. They had a foreman by the name of... Mitchell was the superintendent- I can’t remember the foreman’s name now, but he was always in the mine. And uh, he’d go around with a little pick and he'd pick samples out. They had an assay office there and they'd put those in a powder box, a wooden powder box. And then they got up to the assayer and he'd assay it to tell them how much gold was there (Applebaker 2008b).

None of the residents of Kanaka Flats remember any sign of the nineteenth

century settlement, and many were unaware of the site’s history. The Mather

family was unaware of the Hawaiian connection to the site until they visited a

town named Kanaka on a family trip to Canada (Mather 2008). Most residents

only knew of the site’s history from recent articles in local papers or magazines

(Govnor 2008).

Interviews with Jacksonville residents failed to provide information about

Kanaka Flat prior to the twentieth century. Jacksonville residents remember a lone miner, T.A. Spray, who mined and lived on Kanaka Flat, and brought his horse and buggy to Jacksonville to sell gold at the local store (Applebaker 2008;

McIntyre 2008; Offenbacher 2008). Spray took out and maintained mining claims

86 on Kanaka Flat between 1921-1943 (ALTC 1870-1950; Jackson County 1866-

1893). Mr. Applebaker recalls an interaction with the reclusive miner as follows:

Everybody called… “There goes Spray.” He used to come into town with a team and a wagon and he was hauling hay. Come in through town here, I remember that. I never knew him personally. Us kids be up town on the street and say, “here comes Spray!” And I guess one of the guys- we all had slingshots you know. And I guess it just came into my mind, that one of the kids was shooting his horses or something. I guess he stopped and chewed us out. He called them nigger- flippers or bean-flippers or something, he gave us hell for bothering his horses. That’s all I remember- “Spray” (Applebaker 2008a). Spray was one of many miners purchasing food and supplies with gold in

Jacksonville. The Godward’s store, which later became McIntyre Mercantile, used gold scales to accommodate the miners. Russell McIntyre recalls his father having a bottle of acid on the counter in order to test the gold dust for purity as some miners would attempt to pass off brass fillings as gold (McIntyre 2008;

Offenbacher 2008).

When asked about the original settlement of Kanaka Flat, many residents told similar stories involving the wild tales of the camp. Upon further questioning it became clear that most of the stories originated from modern accounts in various local papers and publications. Many of these stories were discovered to be exaggerated or erroneous. These Kanaka Flat stories, along with other oral history and documentary data, will be discussed further in Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: Comparative Analysis In western American history, heroism and villainy, virtue and vice, and nobility and shoddiness appear in roughly the same proportions as they appear in any other subject of human history (and with the same relativity of definition and judgment). This is only disillusioning to those who have come to depend on illusions (Limerick 1991:86).

As stated in previous chapters, the following five ‘myths’ were chosen as a means to test the stereotype of The Mining Camp. In each of the five categories, a brief literature review will contextualize each myth in mining frontier historiography. Data from Kanaka Flat will then be presented and briefly discussed. Further discussion and conclusions will be presented in Chapter 7.

1. Urban Wilderness: The ‘Germ of the City’ The motives of gold-seeking miners differed from that of agricultural pioneers: “instead of seeking fertile, well-watered fields, miners were attracted to mountains and desert lands that might normally have waited generations for occupants” (Paul 1963:vii). Many of these regions were obviously unattractive to pioneers, and as a result, settlement based primarily on proximity to mineral resources “led to unique patterns of occupation and urbanization of the wilderness” (Gibson 1993:232; Smith 1967:4).

The ‘urban’ aspect of mining settlements is a critical detail of their form and function. Growing food was not a priority, or even a possibility in many of the remote camps. As a result, “the camp—the germ of the city—appeared almost simultaneously with the opening of the region” (Smith 1967:4). Scholars have argued that the newly arrived miners were “reluctant to part with the way of life they had back home” (Phelps 2000:115). Industrious “shopkeepers and lawyers and all the multitudinous creators of modern civilization” followed closely behind

88 to supply the miners, creating cities and towns in their wake (Paul 1963:vii).

These urban settlements created a series of ‘patches’ or ‘islands’ across the West, where miners found themselves otherwise amidst a “sociocultural wilderness”

(Hardesty 1988; Knapp 1998:13). Historians have argued that this “transient urban system” allowed miners to “celebrate independence” while at the same time maintain “a vital connection to the outside world” (Limerick 1987:18; Phelps

2000:116).

Archaeological investigation confirmed that Kanaka Flat was settled based on access to the placer mines. In addition to the mining resources along both forks of the Jackson Creek, intricate water manipulation allowed mining to occur seasonally up on the flat. Reservoirs and dams found in the study area allowed miners to stretch out the mining season as long as possible by creating water storage. Due to the limited size of the flat, which at one time held approximately

30 households, the inhabitants would have been living intimately amongst mining activities (USCB 1860).

Documentary sources suggest Kanaka Flat itself did not blossom into a small city, perhaps largely due to its close proximity to the earlier established town of Jacksonville. Kanaka Flat was listed in the “Jacksonville Precinct” in the

United States Census records and was considered part of the Jacksonville Mining

District. Hardesty observed that industrial mining towns in the West often had

‘satellite towns’ with “alternative lifestyles and subcultures that reflect resistance strategies” (1998:89). Using the early twentieth century example of Reipetown,

Nevada as a case study, Hardesty illustrated how the satellite town became a

89 haven for the illicit trades that were unwelcome in the nearby company towns of

Ruth and Kimberly (1998:90). Archaeological investigations showed that

Reipetown did not function as a stratified community, but instead, “occupied a low social status in the social structure of the larger [mining] community”

(Hardesty 1998:92).

Kanaka Flat, like Reipetown, may have served as a convenient locale for the more socially self-conscious Jacksonville to export its vice. Newspapers and court transcripts show that the saloon and dance hall on Kanaka Flat was patronized by residents living in and around both communities. In addition to sinful activities, Jacksonville also outsourced disease to Kanaka Flat. Following the outbreak of a smallpox epidemic in early 1869, the Board of Health established a ‘pest house’ on Kanaka Flat. The pest house was built, supplied, and run under the management of the Jacksonville Board of Health (Commissioner

Journal 1869:350-354 in SOHS nd.a). In a letter to Indian Agent Lindsay

Applegate, William Turner said of Kanaka Flat, “it is a disgrace to any civilized community that such a place should be permitted to exist and, in my opinion, the only preacheable way to break it up is to remove the women. In so doing you will have the hearty thanks of all the good citizens of the place” (UOSC 1869). A removal was planned for April 6th for the Indian women and children living on and around Kanaka flat. While it is unclear if such a removal ever occurred, some residents of Kanaka Flat did end up living on the Klamath Indian Reservation in eastern Oregon.

Transcripts from an 1862 murder trial highlight Kanaka Flat’s dependence

on the social and public services of Jacksonville. Residents referred to

Jacksonville as ‘town’ and relied on its doctors, coroners, and lawmen (OSA

1862b). Although there was reference in a mineral claim to a ‘grocery’ on nearby

Farmers Flat, which is just south of Kanaka Flat, it is assumed that most residents

purchased food and supplies in Jacksonville (OHS 1853-1856:29). A search of

store ledgers at the Southern Oregon Historical Society did not turn up any

Hawaiian names or names of known Kanaka Flat residents.

Data presented here indicates that the mining camp of Kanaka Flat was not

a self contained ‘city,’ but nonetheless represented an urban type of settlement: it

functioned as a multi-ethnic ‘suburb’ of Jacksonville. This suggests that while the

urban distinction to mining settlements may exist, it can vary according to camp circumstances. Pertinent factors observed in the Kanaka Flat example included

precedence, class, and ethnicity. Jacksonville was already established as the

regional hub when Kanaka Flat was settled, and could provide needed social

services and supplies to the emerging camp. In turn, Jacksonville exploited the

marginalized suburb of Kanaka Flat to support the more distasteful aspects of

frontier life, such as vice and disease.

2. Lonely Men, Loose Women: Demographics of a Mining Camp Central to The Mining Camp are the host of familiar characters that make

up the “aggregate of adventurous, violent men, united only by greed and the

pursuit of valuable metal” (Pfaffenberger 1998:291). No traditional depiction of

The Mining Camp, be it literary, film, or scholarly, would be complete without the colorful portrayal of the buxom prostitutes and gruff and lonely miners.

Douglas (1998) recognized stereotypes surrounding the miner and his camp and argued that many of these clichés grew out of California’s initial gold rush boom (1998:101). Rohrbough (1997) suggested that limited supplies in early

California mining camp stores “formed a uniform” making many miners in an isolated area virtually indistinguishable (1997:152). However, Jackson (1970) noted, “one of our more charming misconceptions of the gold rush is our notion of the forty-niner as a graybeard accoutred in red flannel shirt, high boots, and black slouch hat” (1970:80). Although this image may represent the romantic archetype of a gold miner, in reality miners in the Western gold fields came from a wide variety of ethnic and economic backgrounds (Johnson 2000). Most of the early Western miners were neophytes, but Douglas argued that over time the camps shifted from conglomerates of inexperienced bachelors to communities of families and skilled miners (Douglas 1998:102).

Women also had their image and occupation stereotyped in The Mining

Camp. In most portrayals they existed as prostitutes or not at all. Historical revisionists have succeeded in expanding the economic roles women held in the gold mines (see Johnson 2000; Taniguchi 2000), such as cooking, running inns, and so forth, but it is nonetheless the ‘soiled dove’ that is the default position for the frontier female.

Rohrbaugh (1997) stated, “the presence of women in California turned out to be, initially at least, ever rarer than gold” (1997:91). Similarly, an article on

Kanaka Flat claimed “the only thing lacking were the women,” although Indian women could be purchased or traded for “housekeeping, prostitution, or marriage” (RVGS 2005:12). These statements highlight that the idea that

‘women’ referenced more than sex or gender, but also ethnicity and class.

Scholars have increasingly recognized this oversight in gold rush literature, and have begun to explore the presence of ‘other’ females in the gold fields (see

Johnson 2000; Taniguchi 2000).

Low status Indian or Hawaiian women living on Kanaka Flat were often disregarded and not seen as legitimate partners or wives. Mixed ethnicity relationships were often assumed to be of suspect character, and the dozens of

Indian women living on and around Kanaka Flat were described as living with “a low class of white man or with Kanakas and Portuguese” (William Turner April

1, 1869 in UOSC 1869). During the Rogue Indian War, Southern Oregon men were described as being “vile enough to take advantage of the necessities of the

Indians, and tempt them to trade off their daughters for revolvers, rifles, and ammunition” (Beeson 1957:28). This reportedly “shameful traffic” was said to be so widespread, that “ the common lament was everywhere heard, that there were scarcely any arms in the Valley, for the Indians had them all” (Beeson 1857:28).

Due to the disproportionate loss of male tribal members, Southern Oregon

Indian women were left without husbands, fathers, and sons (Douthit 2002:162).

While it is not possible to know if marriages were based on love, convenience, or coercion, some scholars have observed that “one of the many survival strategies was for [Indian] women to continue, or take up for the first time, a relationship

with a white male as a source of economic support” (Douthit 2002:162). Native

Hawaiian women were also found to be present on Kanaka Flat. The dearth of

females listed in the fur trade outposts such as Ft. Vancouver, may indicate that

Native Hawaiian women came over as sojourners, lured by the promise of

opportunity and riches of the gold rush.

Jackson County records indicate the marriage of several male Native

Hawaiian Kanaka Flat residents to Native American women. On a spring day in

May of 1858, James A. Raynor officiated at three marriages. John and Mary

Kewins, James and Bodey Alapai, and John and Maria Tomiah all were wed in

front of witnesses at the home of John Johnson (SOHS 1854-1880:49-50). On

January 6, 1859 Raynor married John Kehi to Julie, a fellow Native Hawaiian, in front of John Johnson and a Hawaiian named Moses (SOHS 1854-1880:56). And on the 7 October 1861, George Maio was wed to Susan of the Rogue River tribe

by C.C. Stratton in front of James and Elizabeth Cummings (SOHS 184-1880:85).

These marriages were done with a preacher in front of friends and family, yet they have not been recognized a legitimate relationships in the history books. In the marriage records detailing the above unions, the bride’s ethnicity was noted, but not her maiden name.

The lack of recorded marriages after 1861 could reflect the passage of a legislative act in 1862 that prohibited the intermarriage of whites with “Negro,

Chinese or any person having one-quarter or more Negro, Chinese or Kanaka blood, or anyone having more than one-half Indian blood” (Barman and Watson

2006:138). Although it is unclear to what extent this law was enforced, it remained on the books until well into the twentieth century.

In addition to marriage records, 1860 census records showed that four

(13%) of the thirty-one households on Kanaka Flat were single-family units (see

Figure 17). No single or multiple female houses (traditionally associated with prostitution) were listed. There were eight households (25%) listing multiple male occupants and seven households (23%) containing a single male occupant. The

Census also showed that eight (26%) of the houses on Kanaka Flat were listed as unoccupied. This could be due to the fact that Census data was gathered in July, a dry time of the year when many placer mines were not active, and seasonal miners were employed elsewhere.

1860 Census Household Ethnicity

3% Hawaiian

EuroAmerican

27% 40% Mexican

English 3% Unoccupied 4% 23% African American

Figure 16. 1860 United States Census Population Schedule. The chart shows the ethnicity of the 31 households on Kanaka Flat.

1860 Census Household Composition

Multiple Male

26% 26% Single Family

Single Male 13% 13% Mixed

22% Unoccupied

Figure 17. 1860 United States Census Population Schedule. This chart illustrates a breakdown of household types on Kanaka Flat. Total number of households was 31.

In addition to United States Census records, an inventory of Indians living on and around Kanaka Flat was taken in response to the smallpox epidemic and the ‘Indian problem’ around Jacksonville. The survey was done in the spring of

1869 in order to inventory the size and condition of the Indian population, which was then to be removed to the Klamath Indian Reservation. Twenty-six households were described, containing sixty Indians of the Klamath, Modoc,

Shasta, Pitt River, Umpqua, and Rogue River tribes. In the survey, there were three (12%) women-only households (with a total of six women), three households (12%) where multiple women were listed as living with one man, and seventeen households (64%) comprised of a single couple or family. Of the sixty

Indians recorded, twenty were children. The two widows listed in the inventory lost their husbands to the smallpox epidemic and were left destitute (OHS 1869).

1869 Applegate Indian Census Household Composition

Women Only 8% 4% 11% Single Couple/Family 12% Multiple Woman with Man

65% Widowed

Unknown Status

Figure 18. 1869 Indian Census conducted by William Turner for Indian Agent Lindsay Applegate. Chart shows the status of the 26 households containing 60 Native American women and children. While it is unclear how the residents of Kanaka Flat and Jacksonville interacted on a personal level, an obituary printed in the Tidings from September

19, 1890 reported:

Kanaka George, a full blooded kanaka, who has been a resident of Jacksonville since 1852, died at his home last night, aged about 65 years. George was a man of good intelligence, and an honest and industrious citizen and well respected. He has always worked in the mines around Jacksonville. He leaves an Indian wife and several children.

This article suggests that the town of Jacksonville was at least retroactively amenable to the Hawaiian miners of Kanaka Flat. Despite the decades Kanaka

George worked as an “honest and industrious citizen,” his wife and children were left in poverty. George was listed as indigent, and the county paid for medical and burial costs (Commissioners Journal October 8, 1890 in SOHS nd.a).

Figure 19. Photograph of an “unknown Kanaka” taken by Peter Britt in the nineteenth century. Mention of Kanaka George (also thought to be George Maio) was recently found in Peter Britt’s journal, perhaps suggesting that he is the man photographed above. Photograph courtesy of the Southern Oregon Historical Society. Evidence from Kanaka Flat does not support the myth of ‘lonely men and

loose women.’ Instead data reflected a multi-ethnic community where families were living alongside single men and women. Mixed-ethnicity couples were married in legally binding religious ceremonies before legislation prohibited it, and many of these unions could be traced in the documentary records for generations. The surprising diversity of Oregon and California Indian tribes represented on and around Kanaka Flat could indicate that the community served as a refuge for the Native American women and children who were displaced after the Rogue River Indian Wars of the previous decade.

3. Glory Days: Mining Camps as Epicenters of Vice and Sin Miners did not have longevity in mind when settling a region. Due to the

fickle and extractive nature of mining, mining settlements were rarely stable or

sustainable (Limerick 1987:99; Paul 1963:10; Smith 1967). Scholars argued that

miners tolerated the notorious fast and loose lifestyle as they never intended to

stay and build community (Limerick 1989; McKanna 2004:402; White 1991:302).

Competition, and a fierce ‘everyman for himself’ mindset,” was said to have

“fostered a “cultivated anonymity” that allowed for social freedom, yet precluded

long-term community building (Marks 1994:224). In the unending restless search

for gold, scholars have argued that miners “ruined the opportunity for stable

community for everyone in the mining west” (Benedict 1996:13) and were instead

left with a “society of incredible rootlessness, diversity, and fragility” (White

1991:303). Marks argued that this social climate created the “mining-camp man,” characterized by his “free” and unconventional “open ways” (1994:227).

Historian Richard White further proposed that the acceptance of “sex as a mere commodity” was proof positive of the sojourners disregard for permanence on the mining frontier (White 1991:304).

In theorizing the lack of social cohesion and abundance of ‘wild’ behavior in the mining camps, scholars have inadvertently legitimized certain assumptions about life on the mining frontier. However, some scholars have noted the mining camp stereotype of “wickedness and extravagance,” and argued that “behind this false front was the real mining camp, less glamorous but more significant in

American history” (Smith 1967:4).

Early Jacksonville historian W.W. Fidler wrote that the camp of Kanaka

Flat was established when a “colony of Kanakas through some ‘concatenation of

unfortunate circumstances’ found their way to the Jackson creek placers,”

(1909:71). Fidler described the “coppercolored Argonauts” of Kanaka Flat as

pious and productive and acknowledged the diversity of the “various races and

conditions of men and women” engaged in mining activities on the flat (1909:71).

Fidler also discussed the residents of Kanaka Flat attending church in

Jacksonville, and holding services on Kanaka Flat albeit in the “rudest of log

cabins” (1909:72). However, it is his description of the Kanaka Flat nightlife that

has been most enduring.

“The Terpsichorean Tumult”: Nightlife in the Camp The dancehall on Kanaka Flat, as described by Fidler, was host to a

“somewhat frayed at the elbows” mix of visitors from the surrounding area who

came to see “darker Kanaka Flat at her worst” and the “Terpsichorean tumult,”

which often ended in violence (Fidler 1909:72). In the trial transcripts of a widely

publicized murder at the dancehall, witnesses recalled the altercation in which

William Riley fatally stabbed A.C. Humphries. The “dance house” was described

as a long building with a fireplace at each end. Benches were arranged around one

of the fireplaces, and a “mixed up” crowd of “Indians, white men, and Kanakas” danced, dealt Monte, played poker and were “drinking considerably” (OSA

1862). Other witness stated that “the house was pretty much full,” and there was a

“parcel of old squaws” on the dance floor (OSA 1862). Years after the Riley murder trial, while preparing the Kanaka Flat Indian Census, William Turner used

100 the dance house, “where whiskey is sold and where the women are plied with liquor and debauched in the most shameless manner,” as justification for promoting the removal of Indian women on Kanaka Flat (UOSC 1869).

Documentary records consistently indicated that the Saloon and dance hall on

Kanaka Flat was also used by residents of Jacksonville and the surrounding area.

That drinking, dancing, and gambling were occurring in the dance house does not necessarily mean Kanaka Flat earned a reputation as a “disgusting den of infamy” (UOAC 1869). The saloon “remains an indelible part of the popular image of the American frontier” and “part of our national mythology” (Eliot West quoted in Delyser 2003:283). Although the image of the saloon is often of the

“rip-roaring whiskey mill,” in actuality they were frequently the “peaceful refuge of heavy, dull, skirt-scared men watching the flies crawl up the window screen”

(Erdoes 1979:4). Furthermore, the saloon was not a Western frontier phenomenon, but was a fixture in nineteenth century American life across the continent. Between 1790-1830 Americans “drank more alcoholic beverages per capita than ever before or since,” this places the height of American drinking well before the gold rushes of the West (Rorabaugh 1979:ix). In addition, saloons were more than drinking establishments, and often served other functions for the residents by acting as a post office, voting booth, or community center (Erdoes

1979:9; Marks 1994:152, Rorabaugh 1979; White 1991:275).

A common story told by modern Kanaka Flat and Jacksonville residents concerned the Kanaka Flat ‘brothel,’ which was supposedly marked by two white stone elephants near the forks of the Jackson Creek at the base of the old wagon

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trail. These white elephants can still be found there today, but further research

showed that they do not date to the settlement of Kanaka Flat. They were

constructed in 1948 by Burt Conger (John Black [1987] in SOHS nd.a). Conger

constructed the elephants, which were once painted pink, as a humorous gift to

the owner of the Jacksonville Saloon (John Black [1987] in SOHS nd.a). While

the elephants sit in front of a house that was not built until the 1980s, they have

been on the property for over 50 years. The elephants used to frame a home built

by homesteader Carlos D. Reed who patented the land in 1883 (Jackson County

1866-1893:431).

Figure 20. Burt Conger constructing one of the elephant statues circa 1949. While the Reed occupation and the elephants postdate the settlement of

Kanaka Flat, there may be a small sliver of truth to this story. The Occidental

Quartz Mill sat at the forks of the Jackson Creek during the 1850s, and was taken over by Mr. Pape in 1860 (Walling 1884:331). This operation was later obtained by Daniel Hopkins in 1865 and transferred to a steam operated lumber mill.

Hopkins’ mill was presumably filling lumber needs for the construction of flumes

102 and sluices in the mines. The Oregon Sentinel ran an add on Saturday December

22, 1866 stating:

New Saw Mill- The saw mill recently fitted up by D. Hopkins & Co. at the forks of the Jackson Creek, is now in good running order, and making great havoc in the splendid timber of that locality. Orders for lumber are solicited, and will be promptly filled, as the mill can cut as high as five thousand feet a day.

In addition to the sawmill, Hopkins held several mineral claims on and around

Kanaka Flat and there is some evidence that he may have been running a saloon.

Chattel mortgage records from May of 1863 show that Hopkins purchased from

William Orr, “1 billiard table, 1 stove, 4 lamps, 1 sett [sic] bar fixtures” (UOSC

1861-1877:299). That same year, Hopkins would be charged in the Jackson

County Circuit Court for selling whiskey without a license (Jackson County 1852-

1865:391). Hopkins’ descendent Karl Slack was interviewed for this project, and described Hopkins as a responsible family man (Slack 2008). Hopkins was killed in a saw mill accident in 1879, and after his death, his brother married his widow and helped to raise his children (Slack 2008).

“The Saving Grace of a Righteous Redeemer”: Religion in the Camp While Fidler lamented the sinful environment that the “simple-minded, but piously inclined islanders” suffered on Kanaka Flat, he also suggested that the

Hawaiians were active in the Methodist Church in Jacksonville (Fidler 1909:73).

While no church records mentioning a Hawaiian congregation were located,

Preacher Thomas Fletcher Royal wrote in his diary of visiting the nearby mines

(SOHS 1854). On the first of January 1854, Royal wrote of a visit to nearby One

Horse Town:

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This morning I went to my appointment in One Horse Town in the mines and found but a few in attendance- being New Year’s Day, and observed as a holiday by the miners. I talked to the few present a short time, sung and prayed with them, and returned home to fill my appointment in Jacksonville.

Royal also wrote, “today I visited the miners at their cabins and found a friendly

reception,” and “the house was crowded today in miners town” (SOHS 1854).

Royal’s presence in the nearby camps suggests that religion may have been

available to Kanaka Flat residents who wished to participate.

Data clearly indicates that Kanaka Flat was not merely ‘an epicenter of vice and sin.’ Although the camp supported a saloon and dance hall, it clearly served both residents of Kanaka Flat and the neighboring communities. The only resident that was directly linked to illicit alcohol sales was found to be an enterprising business and family man. Finally, while there was no explicit reference to Kanaka Flat or its residents found in church records, earlier diaries showed that religion was occasionally available in the camps through traveling preachers. And, if we are to believe Fidler, the more devout residents may have traveled the short distance to Jacksonville to attend one of the many churches located there (Fidler 1909:73).

4. “Loaded to the Muzzle With Vagabonds”4: Violence and Power on the ‘Lawless’ Frontier Scholars tend to agree that violence on the Western frontier has been

exaggerated (McKanna 2004; Ridge 1999; Udal et al. 2000). Many of the

4 “Don’t go to the mines on any account. They are loaded to the muzzle with vagabonds from every quarter of the globe, scoundrels from nowhere, rascals from Oregon, pickpockets from New York…Mexican thieves…and assassins manufactured in Hell” (Hugo Reid [1849] in McKanna 2004:401).

104 firsthand accounts are derived from “shocked Victorian observers” who “overly dramatized the turmoil of the early California mines” (Ridge 1999:23). However, historians have argued that gold camps did become “enclaves of violence” as their often transient multi-ethnic inhabitants lacked “local systems of control [which] encouraged high levels of violence” (McKanna 2004:394). Violent behavior was said to be invited to the mining camps by the “critical convergence of rapid population growth, ethnic diversity, alcohol, gun culture, and the boomtown effect” (McKanna 2004:395). While most historians suggest that violence decreased as communities matured, Rohrbough (1997) argued that violent behavior increased over time, as gold became scarce and miners had more invested in time and resources (1997:216-217).

Other historians have argued that, contrary to popular belief most residents found the mining frontier “peaceful and orderly most of the time” and that frontier violence is more reflective of a “shared myth than reality” (Limerick 1991:86;

Marks 1994:276). Bodie, Nevada, a gold mining town famed for its violence, was found by scholars to actually have had less crime than most contemporary eastern cities (Delyser 2003:280). This fact seems surprising as in the Western image of ghost towns and mining camps, “rowdiness has become accepted as the norm and indeed expected” (Delyser 2003:280 original emphasis).

Only six violent episodes were found to have occurred on Kanaka Flat, and they span over twenty years. In most cases these incidents were discussed in the local papers, and all were processed through the judicial system to some extent. A brief summary of each of the six violent episodes is presented below.

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In March of 1860, the District Court docket recorded “State of Oregon

versus John Ladd, Kanaka: Assault with intent to kill” (UOSC 1859-1861). There

is no account of the Ladd case in the newspaper, and it is unclear what happened

during the altercation. The case appeared in various court records over a few

months, but then disappeared without a mention of the outcome.

In June of 1860, John Boyd, a Hawaiian resident of Kanaka Flat was

charged with assault, and the attempt to murder an African American named

Samuel Lemons (UOSC 1859-1861). Lemons survived the attack, after three weeks of medical supervision by Dr. Brooks at a cost of $150.00 (County

Commissioner Journal 1860:123 in SOHS nd.a). A bill was presented to John

Boyd by a Dr. Foppoli, to which Boyce paid $25.00 (County Commissioner

Journal July 1860:123in SOHS nd.a). Boyce, also known as ‘Whiskey John,’ was released from jail after failing to pay his fine (County Commissioner Journal

August 1860: 129 in SOHS nd.a; Jackson County 1852-1865).

William Butler or Makakoa, a Hawaiian resident living on Kanaka Flat with his Shasta Indian wife Mary Decker, was charged with the act of “purposely, feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice and without the authority of the law kill Parla Escalona by shooting him with a gun” (OSA 1862a; UOSC

1869). On July 12, 1862 the Oregon Sentinel stated:

Spaniard Shot- on the morning of the 4th of July, a Kanaka by the name of Bill Butler shot a Spaniard, named Eskalone, at Kanaka Flat, a sort distance from town. The weapon used was a yager; the ball entered the left side of the Spaniard, near the region of the heart, and came out on the right side. Eskalone went about seventy yards and fell. He died about two hours afterwards. The circumstances attending this melancholy affair, as developed by the evidence taken before the coroner May, are briefly these: The kanaka had an Indian wife; Eskalone stole her, or got her away,

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and brought her down to the town. Butler went to Eskalone’s house, and after some harsh words had passed between them, Eskalone went towards Butler, when the latter seized his gun and shot the deceased as above stated. The coroner’s jury found that Eskalone came to his death from the effects of a bullet, fired from a yager in the hands of Bill Butler. Butler was bound over to answer at the Circuit Court, the in sum of $1,500.

William Butler was released on bail paid by Simeon Smead and John Bennett

(OSA 1862a). His case was seen as “not a true kill” and he was found not guilty

(OSA 1862a). Butler would return to mine on Kanaka Flat for several years

(UOSC 1864-1866:109). Butler also filed a “Notice to hold a piece of land on

Kanaka Flat on Jackson Creek,” claiming 4 acres and a cabin he built “situated on

Kanaka Flat on Jackson Creek and about half a mile above the quartz Mill at the

forks of Jackson Creek” (UOSC 1864-1866:73).

In February of 1863 one William Riley went on trial for murder in the first degree, accused of “purposely, feloniously and of deliberate and premeditated malice” killing A.C. Humphries (OSA 1862b). The Oregon Sentinel reported in

December 15, 1862:

Fatal Stabbing Affray- A man by the name of William Riley fatally stabbed A.C. Humphreys, on Saturday evening last, at Kanaka Flat, some two miles from this town. The deed was perpetrated in a drinking and gambling saloon. Humphreys died about three o’clock on Monday morning. …The circumstances of the case, as narrated to us, are briefly these: There was a heterogeneous gathering at Kanakas, Negros, white men and squaws, at the saloon, and gambling, dancing and drinking, were the furor of the hour. Riley came in a little before ten o’clock, and in passing around through the crowd toward the fire, passed by where Humphreys was sitting on a bench, and intentionally or accidentally stepped on his foot. Humphrey accused Riley of doing it intentionally. Riley told him he might think as he pleased about it. A quarrel ensued; Humphreys struck Riley in the face with his fist, and Riley stabbed him as above. Riley has been committed to jail for trial. He is of medium height, thick set and rather forbidding in his personal appearance. It is said that Riley has served a term in the institution at Portland, which, in

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punning language, is called a state prison. The deceased has been about this place since 1858.

Both Humphries and Riley were miners living in cabins near Kanaka Flat.

Witnesses and fellow ‘Dance House’ patrons claim to have known both defendant and deceased for several years (OSA 1862b). After Riley stabbed Humphreys he returned to his cabin where he passed out in his wood shed (OSA 1862b). Alfred

Carter, Jesse Huggins, and John Hughes went to Riley’s cabin where they found him “under his porch asleep, his horse was hitched by him and his rifle was under his head” and they brought him to town (Jesse Huggins in OSA 1862b).

In the spring of 1867 a fight amongst several Indian women on Kanaka

Flat at the house of William ‘Bill’ Bottles resulted in the death of a woman named

Peggy, and the injury of a woman named Lilly. The Saturday April 6 Oregon

Sentinel reported:

Killed- In Thursday evening a row occurred among the squaws on Kanaka Flat; in which one named Peggy was killed, and one named Lilly wounded. The facts, as brought out before the jury, are to the effect that Peggy and a friend, named Molly, went to the house of a Kanaka named Bottles, to get a shawl which was claimed by Lilly. Peggy got hold of the shawl and started for the door. Lilly seized one end of it and started the other way, at which Peggy drew a knife from her stocking leg and stabbed Lilly in the back. Lilly turned quickly, snatched the knife from Peggy and inflicted a stab under the left shoulder blade, which pierced the heart and killed her almost instantly. The altercation was witnessed by Kanaka Flat residents William and Mary Butler,

Kanaka Jim, Kanaka John, a white man named Frank Keptner and his “Kanaka wife” Molly, host Bill Bottles, and a Native American women Peggy and Lilly

(Hegne 2002:77). The county coroner ruled the death a “justifiable homicide” and

Lilly was not charged (Hegne 2002:77).

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Several years passed before Kanaka Flat made it back into the papers. On

Friday, September 18, 1874, the Democratic Times of Jacksonville reported:

War on Kanaka Flat- Last Saturday night the denizens of Kanaka Flat, assisted by the colored population of Jacksonville, had a lively row, which resulted in the shooting of the Negro wood-chopper, Jackson, and his subsequent death. We are not familiar with the circumstances of the affray and are consequently not able to comment on it. The following is the report of the coroner’s inquest held on the Flat on the 15th inst. by J.H. Stinson, J.P., and acting coroner, on the body of Jackson: We the jury, find that the deceased, Jackson, came to his death on Kanaka Flat, Jackson County, on September 12th, by means of a rifle ball supposed to have been fired by George Ephram; we also find property sufficient to pay funeral expenses. The last seen of Eph[ram] He was taking a beeline to California at double-quick time.

While violence was a reality in Kanaka Flat, residents were also found to have participated in the legal system by serving on jury duty, and they were often called upon to act as trial witnesses (SOHS nd.a, nd.b; OSA 1862a, 1862b).

The Long Arm of the Law It is often assumed that small mining camps were lawless. However, most residents were affected by externally imposed legal mandates. In particular, residents of Kanaka Flat were impacted by racially motivated legislation aimed at ethnic minorities living and working in the gold fields.

Oregon Territorial Law prohibited “free Negro or Mulatto” people from residing in the state after 1859, and until 1862, no “Negro, Chinaman, or Kanaka” could testify against a white man in Oregon (Oregon Territorial Government

Constitution [1859], article I, No. 35 in Atwood 1976:8). This left minority miners particularly vulnerable and without means of retribution against dishonest

109 white miners. These same populations were charged a monthly fee under

Oregon’s Foreign Miners Tax. The Jackson County Commissioner’s Journal recorded two $10,000 bonds raised in 1864 by money collected for taxes and licenses of “Chinamen, Negroes and Kanakas” (Jackson County Commissioners

Journal, July 5, 1864 in SOHS nd.b).

In addition to government laws, many mining districts created their own by-laws, with which all miners were expected to comply. By 1860, a code of mining laws was created for the Humbug, Kanes, Jackass, and Foots Creek districts (Blue 1922). These laws were primarily concerned with staking, recording, and operating mining claims, but could also have provisions such as the ‘Sickness Privilege’ wherein no miner would lose his claim from absence due to sickness, or ‘Chinese Excluded,’ which stated, “no Chinaman shall be allowed to purchase or hold any claims on this creek” (Blue 1922:143). While no mining laws were found specifically assigned to the Jackson Mining District, most districts had similar laws tailored to the local conditions by adding or removing pertinent provisions. For example, the Mining Laws for Jackass Creek, which had an ethnically diverse population, omitted provisions excluding Chinese miners

(Blue 1922:143).

Data suggests that Kanaka Flat was not particularly violent, and the community was not beyond the reach of the law. While all of the cases involved alcohol, none of the cases mentioned the traditional mining camp tales of ‘claim jumping’ or disputes over gold. Kanaka Flat operated within the same legal constraints as Jacksonville, and residents also participated in the legal system by

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acting as witnesses and jurors on court cases. In addition, the foreign miners

living on Kanaka Flat were affected by several laws aimed at restricting their

social and economic standing in the American West.

5. Boom and Bust: ‘Go In, Get Rich, Get Out’ Historian Rodman Paul described the frontier boom and bust scenario in

what he referred to as the “cycle of the mining camp.” Put simply, the cycle

begins with a mineral discovery in a remote location, word gets out, a rush

ensues, and ‘civilization’ is lured to the wild (Paul 1963:10). The mining boom

ranges from a season to a dozen years, and the settlement is eventually resigned to

one of two fates: survive the unavoidable post-boom depression through new influx of capital and technological advancement or suffer both economic and demographic losses leading to eventual abandonment (Paul 1963:10).

Most of the mining associated with the boom and bust cycle was small- scale placer mining. For a settlement to become more permanently established, a less fickle economic infrastructure was required. As many mining communities

“neglected to create communal safety nets,” scholars have argued “the fluctuating economy of the mining West and the mercurial existence of rich veins more often than not created the despair that destroyed these fledgling communities”

(Benedict 1996:6).

While Jacksonville fits into Paul’s model of the mining camp cycle better than Kanaka Flat, both camps were affected by the rise and fall of mining in

Southern Oregon. Archaeology showed that only small-scale placer mining was occurring on Kanaka Flat. Even where hydraulic mining was in process, the

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operations were small. It is unclear which aspects of the mining activities

observed on Kanaka Flat were associated with the mid-nineteenth century, and which reflect later mining efforts. It is possible that the same deposits were worked over time, as each generation of miners would re-sift the tailings of their predecessors in search of any missed gold. The drift mining located in the project area was likely associated with the mining in the 1930s, as evidenced from a metal pipe and nearby can dumps.

The Boom There is little evidence indicating exactly when, or how, Kanaka Flat was settled. Local historians have often assumed that Kanaka Flat evolved out of the earlier settlement of One Horse Town (see Hegne 1995, 2002; RVGS 2005).

However, while these settlements were close neighbors, they were not the same

(see Chapter 5). Early miner John Mickey wrote of mining on “Jackson Flat,” one mile from Jacksonville (Mickey 1854). The earliest record specifically naming Kanaka Flat is from 1860, when several mineral claims were taken out on

“what is known as the Kanaka Flat, between the left hand fork and right hand fork of Jackson Creek and above Kanaka Town” (UOSC 1860-1861:15)

Gold was discovered on Jackson Creek downstream from Kanaka Flat by

1852, and the Rich Gulch diggings that spurred the gold rush in Southern Oregon was located across the creek from Kanaka Flat (see Chapter 3). This suggests that

Kanaka Flat was an obvious location for early mining ventures. Jackson Flat and

One Horse Town may have represented an earlier wave of miners in the area, and the Native Hawaiian, Portuguese, Spanish, Mexican, and black miners associated

112 with Kanaka Flat could represent a second wave of mining activity. There is also the possibility that the “Kanaka Town” mentioned in the above paragraph could have been One Horse Town, which would have sat slightly “below” Kanaka Flat to the north. By the time Kanaka Flat appears in the documentary record (1860s-

1870s) the gold rush was effectively over. Jacksonville was transitioning into a regional economic and political center that was largely fueled by agricultural development in the valley (see Chapter 3).

The Bust Although much of Kanaka Flat has remained fairly undisturbed over the past 150 years, preliminary survey uncovered little of the nineteenth century settlement on the ground. The mining landscape is still visible and remains a visual testament to the mining activities taking place on the site. However, little evidence of the domestic component of the site was observed. This could have been due to the poor visibility in many areas, and does not prevent the possibility of significant subsurface site components such as privies, wells, or cisterns.

Documents indicated that the buildings and cabins in Kanaka Flat were made of wood, and perhaps constructed quickly, without much attention given to foundations and landscape alteration that would remain visible on the surface.

Two potential cabin sites were located during the survey for this study, and the presence of can dumps suggests the existence of other domestic habitation areas.

However, all but one of these locations appear to date to the Depression-era mining in the 1930s (see Chapter 5).

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There was no private real estate in the study area until the mid-twentieth

century. Cabins and structures were deeded along with placer claims to the next

generation of miners. Mining claims often transferred cabins, blacksmith shops,

and tools with the mineral rights to the next party of miners on Jackson Creek

(Jackson County 1866-1893). As the built environment of the mining camps was

not a permanent investment for the miners, buildings were often of simple

construction, leaving a subtle imprint in the archaeological record.

Some residents stayed on Kanaka Flat through the 1880s. Hiram Alison,

listed in 1869 Indian Census with his Indian wife Betsy and child, mined and

lived on Kanaka Flat through at least 1887 (UOSC 1869, 1860-1861:262-263;

Democratic Times November 18, 1887). Other residents like the families of

William and Mary Butler, and Kanaka George moved to Siskiyou County in

Northern California where a large population of Hawaiians were mining in the

mountains (Democratic Times May 11, 1888; Hegne 2002). Historian Janice

Duncan wrote that by the twentieth century most Hawaiians had “recognized the

futility of seeking homes, security, and equality in the United States and retreated

to their homeland where their abilities were respected and where the benefit of

their experiences was eagerly sought” (1972:7). While it is unclear what data

Duncan based this statement on, it is clear that most of the Hawaiian, Native

American, and other minority residents of Kanaka Flat did not stay in the area.

Evidence shows that while Kanaka Flat shared many aspects of the mining camp cycle described by Paul, rather than one significant boom and bust phase it seems to have undergone waves of occupation and abandonment. Like many early

114 camps, Kanaka Flat’s location was not conducive to long-term settlement when unsupported by mining. Lack of water and other resources would have made life on the flat difficult. When the gold mines were exhausted, some residents were able to remain in the area and work as laborers in Jacksonville, but most left in search of work elsewhere. Research indicated three periods of occupation: the initial wave in the early 1850s; the second wave of multi-ethnic miners that came to work claims abandoned after the initial rush; and finally the Depression-era mining that took place in the 1920s-1930s.

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Chapter 7: Summary and Conclusions The goal of this thesis was to use Kanaka Flat to test the validity of The

Mining Camp myth. Prior to this thesis, Kanaka Flat’s history has been written for the highlights. Thus it has traditionally appeared as the quintessential mining camp. However, this research has showed that in fact this community was far more complicated.

Kanaka Flat did not function as an ‘urban wilderness’ introducing

‘civilization’ to the backwoods of Jackson Creek. Instead Kanaka Flat more closely represented another type of urban settlement, the suburb. While Kanaka

Flat was clearly considered a spatially and socially discrete community, distinct from nearby Jacksonville, it still relied on the infrastructure and resources provided by the larger town.

Kanaka Flat was not a haven of single men and sinful women. Instead the community was comprised of both bachelors and families. Many residents were married or living with long-term partners, and often they had children. Although these unions were ‘non-traditional’ and largely ignored in contemporary and modern accounts, they were nonetheless long lasting partnerships. Very few single women were associated with Kanaka Flat, and while there may have been prostitutes living or working in the community, they were just one portion of a larger population of women in the camp.

Kanaka Flat did have a dance house/ saloon where patrons could drink whiskey, dance, and gamble. This establishment served residents of Kanaka Flat,

Jacksonville, and the surrounding areas. Documents also suggest that religion was

116 available in the camps and in Jacksonville to the miners and their families wishing to participate.

Over the span of two decades, six violent episodes were found involving

Kanaka Flat. While this indicates that murder and strife were present on Kanaka

Flat, an average of one episode every three years does not seem to indicate an especially violent community. All of the violence occurred where participants had been drinking, a parallel that has been found in mining camps across the West

(see McKanna 2004:403; Ridge 1999:19).

Scholars have acknowledged that much of mining frontier’s violent reputation is inflated, arguing that mining camp violence was short-lived and shifted as camps transition from ‘boomtown’ to permanent community (Zanjani

1992; McKanna 2004; Ridge 1999). However, this hypothesis is largely based on the supposition that ‘boomtowns’ functioned essentially the same as The Mining

Camp, and that a reduction in crime reflected a ‘change in values’ in the community.

Kanaka Flat did not undergo a clear boom and bust phase. Instead the site witnessed periods of punctuated occupation. The settlement of Kanaka Flat represented the second wave of placer mining on Jackson Creek. Scholars have long recognized the pattern of Chinese miners arriving in an area at the end of a mining boom (LaLande 1987; Paul 1963; Zhu 1997). Early Oregon historian A.C.

Walling stated that the Chinese had a “universal custom” of working mines abandoned by whites, and “made no effort to discover new claims” (Walling

1884:348). In reality, factors such as the mining district laws prohibiting the

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Chinese from staking new claims often meant they only had access to the claims

picked over by the whites. Like the Chinese, the Hawaiian, black, Portuguese, and

Mexican miners working the Jackson Creek placers appear to have moved in after

the earliest miners moved on.

By the late 1870s much of the Jackson Creek claims were transferred to

Chinese miners, who had no visible connection to the settlement of Kanaka Flat

(Blue 1922:147). Kanaka Flat was again occupied in the twentieth century and

mined by Depression-era gold seekers.

As we have just seen, Kanaka Flat did not fit neatly into the mining camp

stereotype. This suggests that while there may be similarities among gold camps

over space and time, geographical, social and economic factors all contribute to

the a camps individual form and function. This analysis highlights the need for

scholars to reexamine frontier institutions like that of The Mining Camp. Biases

inherent to the mining camp settlement type can and do lead to misinterpretation

of historical communities.

Local Lore and the Positive Feedback Loop Southern Oregon, like most places, has its own local legends and lore.

When embarking upon this research, rumors and colorful tales of Kanaka Flat were plentiful. Today many Southern Oregonians associate Kanaka Flat with vice and violence, claiming it was established for reasons of race, (“Jacksonville used to be white only”) or class (“it was where people kicked out of Jacksonville went”). As outlined in Chapter 6, people also confused Kanaka Flat with One

Horse Town, and believed the white elephants along highway 238 to be original

118

markers of the Kanaka Flat brothel. Conversely, very few people were aware that

Hawaiian gold miners were living and working in the area.

As many of these statements represented more the lore than the reality of

Kanaka Flat, it seemed that perhaps these stories survived as a testament to the

historical memory of the vanished community. However, it soon became apparent

that the origin of these stories was a century too late to support such a hypothesis.

Instead, these tales stand as an artifact of the frontier story. Mining Camp

mythology has provided a framework with which to interpret the history of places

like Kanaka Flat, and the often erroneous stories that conform to these

expectations have been written and reinforced over time.

As described in Chapter 2, much of Kanaka Flat’s infamous reputation can be traced to an article by W.W. Fidler in 1909. This secondary document has always been treated as a primary source (see Barman and Watson 2006; Hegne

1995, 2002; RVGS 2005; Simmons 1989). Fidler wrote well after Kanaka Flat had been abandoned, and the premise of his article was an argument for the renaming of the flat due to its unsavory reputation. Fidler’s account was meant to leave twentieth century Jacksonvillians with a sense of distaste towards the camp, rather than provide a balanced portrayal of the long abandoned community.

Fidler’s description of Kanaka Flat speaks more to his antiquated worldview than to the social reality of life on the flat. However, Fidler’s description has been uncritically reproduced for a century as it portrays in three pages the comfortable story we have come to expect, full of sex, scandal, and riches, with a dash of religion thrown in for good measure.

119

Depression-Era Mining Although a distinct mining landscape can be seen on Kanaka Flat, it is

difficult to associate the mining features with a specific time period or occupation.

Most of the mining consisted of small-scale placer mining, a technology that has changed little over the years. Kanaka Flat was mined in at least three periods: the early 1850 ‘boom’ period, a second wave of multi-ethnic miners though the 1860s and 1870s, and the Depression-era miners that worked the flat in the late 1920s to early 1940s.

The scarcity of domestic archaeological features on Kanaka Flat could be due to twentieth century mining activities on the flat. Tailings piles were commonly reworked and may have been redeposited over earlier sites. Sites may also have been eroded or destroyed through the water manipulation and landscape alteration of hydraulic mining.

The early mining camp of Waldo is an example of the destructive consequences of enthusiastic twentieth century miners. Home of Oregon’s original gold discovery in 1851, the remnants of the once bustling settlement were scoured from the landscape by Depression-era hydraulic miners on a desperate search for overlooked gold (Kramer 1999:66). Kanaka Flat had areas with deflated soils and visible bedrock, and it is unclear whether this reflects geological conditions or past mining activities.

At least one miner, T.A. Spray, was known to have mined on Kanaka Flat in the twentieth century (Applebaker 2008a; ALTC 1920-1950). Louis

Applebaker recalled a newspaper claiming “Jacksonville never had a Depression” due to all the local and backyard mining in the area (Applebaker 2008a).

120

Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of substantial Depression-era mining activities as seen by widely dispersed can dumps across the Kanaka Flat study area.

Recommendations That was my dad’s old blacksmith shop when I grew up. I’m talking about Dad shod horses and forge welded. He was good. Blacksmith. Tempering, it’s a lost art now. …Oh, he… Dad got old… he would go out in that shop and just putter around out there. The windows were broke out. It was cold, and he would bundle up, you know…he was in love with old shop. And then, times changed…people would start driving cars. Horse and buggy days were over (Applebaker 2008a).

Kanaka Flat has proven to be an interesting sample of a multi-ethnic mining camp. However, this thesis has only uncovered a fraction of its research potential. Further archaeological survey and subsurface testing could provide important information about the individual people who lived and worked on the flat. Material culture derived from archaeological investigation would also add another layer of data that could be used to investigate the Mining Camp Myth and enhance our understanding of the Kanaka Flat occupations.

Cabin sites A and B could provide information about the domestic life of the gold miners, as well as reveal how the nineteenth and twentieth century mining occupations were related. Issues involving multiple mining occupations are present on most mining sites in Jackson County, and information regarding the cultural site formation processes on Kanaka Flat could prove useful and relevant to a regional mining context.

Kanaka Flat could also be used to further our understanding of Overseas

Hawaiians in the gold rush. Historians have looked at Native Hawaiians involved with the fur trade (Barman and Watson 2006; Duncan 1972; Koppel 1999; Roger

1993), and archaeological investigations at Fort Vancouver, and other fur trade-

121 era sites have provided information on Overseas Native Hawaiians in the Pacific

Northwest (see NPS 2006; Rogers 1993). Archaeologists have also looked at nineteenth century communities of Hawaiians Mormons living in Utah (Malakoff

2008). However, there has been little research on Native Hawaiian participation in the gold fields.

The California Gold Rush lured hundreds of Hawaiians away from fur outposts such as Fort Vancouver, and Hawaiians emigrated from the mainland in such numbers that labor shortages spurred a law prohibiting “natives from leaving the Islands” (Barman and Watson 2006:153; Duncan 1972). Yet, Hawaiian gold miners have been largely left out of the historiography of the mining frontier. The extent to which Native Hawaiians were participating in the gold rush and where the population went afterwards remains unclear. Further archaeological investigations at Kanaka Flat hold the potential to shed much needed light onto the lives of the ‘Kanaka’ miners living and working in the Oregon gold fields.

When combined with data on the fur trade and Mormon colonies, Kanaka Flat could contribute to the growing body of literature outlining the nineteenth century diaspora of Overseas Native Hawaiians.

122

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