Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site (35JA737) Data Recovery Excavations
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Rising from the Ashes: Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site (35JA737) Data Recovery Excavations By Chelsea Rose and Katie Johnson With contributions by Jaime L. Kennedy, Virginia Popper, Ray von Wandruszka, Kristine Madsen, Rachel Anderson, Elizabeth Harman, Morgan Spraul, and Sidney Hunter Findings: (+) Historic (35JA737) County: Jackson Township: 37S Range: 2W Section: 32 USGS 7.5’ Medford West 1983 Project Type: mitigation Project Acres: >1 SHPO Permit No.:1802 Accession Number: SOULA 2013.09 2016 Prepared for The Oregon Department of Transportation SOULA research report 2013.09 Acknowledgements The excavations at the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter were funded by the City of Jacksonville and the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The success of the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site Phase III project was made possible by the enthusiastic support and contributions of a large group of people and organizations. In particular, we would like to thank SOU students Jason Black, Emily Helmer, Logan Davis, Heidi Dawn, Kyle Crebbin, Sage King, and Jorden Peery for help with cleaning, sorting, organization, and preliminary research on the collection. Thanks to Kyle Crebbin and Heidi Dawn for metal conservation work. Artifact photography was done by Tyler Davis and Katie Johnson. Thanks also to ODOT archaeologist Jessica Bochart-Leusch for her help with all stages of the Chinese Quarter Project. We would like to thank Gayle Lewis, Carol Knapp, and Jeanena Whitewilson for their help in the excavation, public outreach, and ongoing stewardship of Jacksonville’s Chinese Quarter. Thanks also to La Fiesta, Thai House, Elan Guest Suites, and other local businesses who had to put up with our mess during our fieldwork. Thanks to the City of Jacksonville Public Works department for helping with the coordination and safety of the project. Thanks to the Jacksonville Fire Department for their help in the interpretation of the site, and thanks to the Weed Fire Department for allowing us to tour their burned neighborhoods to gather data for our project. Thanks to the Whitman Parker and the Jacksonville Review for supporting our research and providing us a platform to share our research with the public. Thanks to the Southern Oregon Historical Society (SOHS) and the SOU Hannon Library for allowing access to primary documents and historical photographs. Thanks to Kevin and Marjorie Akins and James Bard for analysis of the coin assemblage, and thanks to Priscilla Wegars of the Asian American Comparative Collection (AACC) for consultation of artifact identification and terminology. Thanks to Ray von Wandruszka and his students from the University of Idaho Chemistry Department for their help in the chemical analysis of artifacts from the site. Thanks to Jaime Dexter Kennedy of the University of Oregon and Virginia Popper of University of Massachusetts, Boston, for their help with the botanical analysis. Thanks also to Ryan Kennedy for his help with the faunal analysis, and to the Oregon Heritage Commission for grant funding for the continuing analysis of the faunal assemblage. Thanks to Chris Ruiz, Julie Schablitsky, Patrick O’Grady, Tom Connolly, and the staff at the University of Oregon Museum of Natural and Cultural History for their early work and ongoing insight on the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter. i ii Table of Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 1 Environmental Context ........................................................................................................................ 3 Previously Recorded Archaeological Sites ......................................................................................... 5 Cultural Context ..................................................................................................................................... 9 Prehistoric Context .......................................................................................................................... 9 Historic-era Context ........................................................................................................................ 10 Historical Context of the Immediate Project Area ........................................................................... 15 The Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site 35JA737 ............................................................................ 15 Chinese in the American West ......................................................................................................... 18 Archaeological Methods and Findings................................................................................................ 31 Fire Science in the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter ......................................................................... 45 Artifact Analysis and Findings ............................................................................................................. 55 Artifact Assemblage ............................................................................................................................... 56 Discussion of the Archaeology of the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter ............................................ 91 The Archaeology of the Chinese Dwelling ..................................................................................... 91 The Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Faunal and Botanical Assemblage in Context .................... 93 Daily Life in Jacksonville ................................................................................................................... 95 Summary and Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 99 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................ 101 Appendix A: Charcoal Identification and Starch Residue Analysis at Site 35JA737, the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter, by Jaime L. Kennedy ....................................................................... 111 Appendix B: The Analysis of Botanical and Flotation Samples from the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site 35JA737, Oregon, by Virginia Popper ......................................................................... 120 Appendix C: Analysis of the Faunal Remains from the Chinese Quarter Site, by Katie Johnson.................................................................................................................................... 159 Appendix D: Reports of the University of Idaho Chemical Analysis on artifacts from The Jacksonville Chinese Quarter Site 35JA737 ............................................................................... 177 iii iv List of Figures Figure 1. Locator map of the Chinese Quarter Site 35JA737 ........................................................ 4 Figure 2. Peter Britt painting of Jacksonville based on a photograph taken in 1856 ................. 16 Figure 3. View north of the back side of the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter ................................ 18 Figure 4. A sample of the Jackson County Poll Tax collected from Chinese miners ................. 20 Figure 5. Close-up of the 1883 Bird’s-eye view of Jacksonville ..................................................... 22 Figure 6. Peter Britt photograph of Lim Wang ................................................................................ 23 Figure 7. Peter Britt photograph of a young Chinese couple......................................................... 25 Figure 8. A photograph of Chinese New Year celebrations along Main Street .......................... 27 Figure 9. 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance map and Fire Station Map .............................................. 28 Figure 10. Overview of Chinese Quarter Site, view east.................................................................. 32 Figure 11. Location of QTU excavations along the north side of Main Street ............................ 33 Figure 12. Overview of the data recovery excavation trench .......................................................... 34 Figure 13. 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map ................................................................................... 37 Figure 14. Plan views of feature within QTU's 15 and 17 ............................................................... 39 Figure 15. Profile illustrations from data recovery units .................................................................. 40 Figure 16. South wall profile illustration of Unit 2, Unit 4, and Unit 3 ......................................... 41 Figure 17. Profile of the north wall of Unit 3 and Unit 4 ................................................................ 42 Figure 18. Plan view of the data recovery units at the floor level ................................................... 43 Figure 19. The cluster of pig mandibles and associated artifacts recovered from Unit 4 ........... 46 Figure 20. The burned feature artifact cluster from the southeast corner of Unit 2 ................... 47 Figure 21. Plan view of Unit 1 ............................................................................................................. 48 Figure 22. Melting point of common metals ..................................................................................... 49 Figure 23. Stages of glass distortion when exposed to high heat.................................................... 49 Figure 24. Visible