University of Massachusetts Boston ScholarWorks at UMass Boston Graduate Masters Theses Doctoral Dissertations and Masters Theses 8-2020 Small Towns and Mining Camps: An Analysis of Chinese Diasporic Communities in 19th-Century Oregon Jocelyn Lee Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umb.edu/masters_theses Part of the Archaeological Anthropology Commons, Asian American Studies Commons, and the Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons SMALL TOWNS AND MINING CAMPS: AN ANALYSIS OF CHINESE DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES IN 19TH-CENTURY OREGON A Thesis Presented by JOCELYN LEE Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies, University of Massachusetts Boston, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS August 2020 Historical Archaeology Program © 2020 by Jocelyn Lee All rights reserved SMALL TOWNS AND MINING CAMPS: AN ANALYSIS OF CHINESE DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES IN 19TH-CENTURY OREGON A Thesis Presented by JOCELYN LEE Approved as to style and content by: ________________________________________________ Stephen W. Silliman, Professor Chairperson of Committee ________________________________________________ Nedra K. Lee, Assistant Professor Member ________________________________________________ Shirley S. Tang, Associate Professor, Asian American Studies Member ________________________________________________ Chelsea Rose, Research Archaeologist, Southern Oregon University Member _________________________________________ David B. Landon, Program Director Historical Archaeology Program _________________________________________ Stephen W. Silliman, Chairperson Department of Anthropology ABSTRACT SMALL TOWNS AND MINING CAMPS: AN ANALYSIS OF CHINESE DIASPORIC COMMUNITIES IN 19TH-CENTURY OREGON July 2020 Jocelyn Lee, B.A., University of Maryland, Baltimore County M.A., University of Massachusetts Boston Directed by Professor Stephen Silliman Chinese Diaspora archaeology has focused historically on urban contexts or in-depth case studies, with minimal comparative studies. To expand such research, this thesis is a multisited analysis in Oregon using archaeological assemblages from the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter and four remote Chinese mining camps, museum material collection from a Chinese store in John Day, and store ledgers written in Chinese and English dating to the late-19th century. By situating the research in the framework of race, this thesis seeks to understand the ways that race and racialization impacted market access and affected consumption choices for Chinese immigrants in different classes. Chinese communities had well established organizations in a complex network which contributed to controlling market access as well as serving to protect Chinese immigrants from impacts of racialization. These networks helped Chinese immigrants maintain a connection not only to other Chinese iv communities, but also to the homeland through various services including transfer of goods and people. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS First, I would like to acknowledge that this research takes place on the traditional homelands of the Northern Paiute, Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla, Takelma, and Cow Creek Umpqua. Secondly, I would like to thank everyone at the University of Massachusetts Boston in the Anthropology Department, the Andrew Fiske Memorial Center for Archaeological Research, and members of the Digital Story Telling team. Additionally, I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Stephen Silliman, Dr. Nedra Lee, Dr. Shirley Tang, and Chelsea Rose for their inspiration and encouragement. I greatly appreciate the support of Dr. Douglas Bolender. Special thanks to all the partners in the Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project including Southern Oregon University, Laboratory of Anthropology, Malheur National Forest, and Kam Wah Chung State Park, specifically Don Merritt, Don Hann, Katee Withee, Katie Johnson, and Kyle Crebbin for supporting me all the way from the West Coast. This research also could not have been conducted without previous trailblazers such as Kelly Fong and Laura Ng. Thank you for paving the way for Asian American historical archaeologists. Lastly I’d like to thank my amazingly supportive cohort, especially Sarah Carr, Delasanta, and Grace Bello who have been the kind of friends you need in graduate school. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................. ix LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER Page 1. INTRODUCTION .........................................................................................................1 Chinese Diaspora Archaeology..........................................................................4 The Archaeology of American Mining ..............................................................9 Chinese Translation and Transliteration ..........................................................12 Thesis Outline ..................................................................................................13 2. THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS ............................................................................16 Critical Race Theory and AsianCrit .................................................................17 Chinese Diaspora and Transnationalism ..........................................................23 Consumption, Communities, and Market Access ............................................27 Summary ..........................................................................................................33 3. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ................................................................................35 Mining Communities .......................................................................................36 Chinese in the Northwest .................................................................................40 Jacksonville and the Siskiyou Mountains ........................................................43 John Day and the Malheur National Forest .....................................................46 4. METHODS AND DATA ............................................................................................53 Archaeological Data .......................................................................................54 Archival Data ...................................................................................................60 5. DATA ANALYSIS ......................................................................................................68 Domestic Artifacts ...........................................................................................68 Personal Artifacts .............................................................................................76 Material Collections at Kam Wah Chung .......................................................81 Comparative Research .....................................................................................83 vii CHAPTER Page Summary ..........................................................................................................85 6. CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................88 Xenophobia: Then and Now ............................................................................98 APPENDIX A. LIST OF ALL ITEMS WITHIN EACH FUNCTION AND CATEGORY .......104 B. GLOSSARY OF TRANSLATED ITEMS ..........................................................115 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................................119 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1. Location of project areas .......................................................................................................2 2. Map of the Pearl River Delta, Guangdong Province. Map adapted from Choy (2007: 18) ..4 3. View north of the back side of the Jacksonville Chinese Quarter, OR ca. 1855-1858 (Southern Oregon Historical Society. Negative no. 5692) ......................................................45 4. Lease showing signature of Ah Heng Company (Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum) .......47 5. Kam Wah Chung building ..................................................................................................50 6. Photo of Ing Hay (left) and Lung On (right) (Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum) ..............50 7. Malheur National Forest Chinese mining sites ...................................................................54 8. Malheur National Forest Chinese mining sites and John Day .............................................58 9. Example of "X" Marks in Ledgers. (Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum) ...........................62 10. Jacksonville Item Request .................................................................................................67 11. Kam Wah Chung card advertisement. (Kam Wah Chung & Co. Museum) .....................90 12. New York Posts Tweet on Coronavirus (Photo source: AsAmNews) ..............................99 LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Federal, state, and local anti-Chinese legislation from mid-19th century to early 20th century .....................................................................................................................................21 2. Relative percentage of