***this section of the website is currently undergoing review and will be updated soon***

Chinese Diaspora before the 19th century

Guangdong province and other parts of southern China were part of an extensive maritime trade route which extended throughout southeast Asia to India, the Middle East and as far as northern Africa. Known as the Maritime Silk Road, trade along this route began as early as 200 BCE with the Chinese merchants and traders establishing communities throughout southeast Asia between the 10^th and 16^th centuries CE. In the early 18^th century Chinese placer mining companies began extensive tin and gold mining operations in Borneo, Malaysia and Indonesia which continued in some locations well into the 20^th century.

 

The Chinese Diaspora in North America

During the late 18^thand early 19^th centuries trade between China and North America increased as part of the fur trade driven by the Manchu elite’s high demand for sea otter pelts. Chinese traders and merchants, mostly from Guangdong province, began establishing residence in port cities including San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver BC during this time.

Chinese Americans began immigrating in larger masses to the United States after gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in California in 1848. People in Guangdong likely knew of the California gold strikes before the news reached the eastern United States. Due to severe labor shortages in California, the arrival of immigrants from Guangdong was initially welcomed and encouraged by the state government. With a century of experience in placer mining in southeast Asia, the Chinese American miners in California proved to be highly capable and productive. Although some of the Chinese American miners worked as laborers for EuroAmerican mining companies, the majority were part of Chinese American joint partnerships similar to how they were organized in the earlier mining operations in southeast Asia.

With the success of the California gold mines, prospectors started searching for gold in other remote regions of western North America. In 1851 gold was discovered in southwestern Oregon triggering a gold rush to Jackson and Josephine Counties. Chinese American miners were established in the area by 1853. In June of 1862 gold was discovered in Grant County, near where the town of Canyon City was established, and by 1866 Chinese American miners and mining companies were working in the area.

 

Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

With the rise of Chinese immigrants, in 1882, the federal government enacted the Chinese Exclusion Act that prohibited Chinese laborers from coming into the U.S., as well as making it harder for Chinese Americans to come in and out of the country. In addition, families were not allowed to come with and as such, bachelor communities dominated the population in the first few decades. The exclusion act is an important context as it created the larger system that Chinese Americans had to navigate through, even in the rural areas of Grant County, Oregon. Below is a comprehensive list of the series of legislation that limited Chinese Americans in Oregon.

 

Year	Federal/State/Local	Title	Description
1854	Federal	People v George Hall	Chinese testimony against a White man was inadmissible. Chief Justice Murray argued that Black meant not just “negroes” but all non- Whites, including Chinese immigrants
1868	Federal	Burlingame Treaty	Permitted free immigration of Chinese people to U.S., deny right of naturalization
1875	Federal	Page Act	Prohibited the immigration of anyone from Asia who was involved in forced labor, women from Asian involved in prostitution, and anyone with a criminal offense in their country of origin
1870	Federal	Further Restrictions on Chinese Immigrants	An Act to Prevent the importation of Chinese Criminals and to Prevent the Establishment of Coolie Slavery
1878	Federal	In re Ah Yup	The circuit court in California ruled that Chinese-born Ah Yup could not naturalize because he was a member of the “Mongolian” race and therefore not Caucasian
1882	Federal	Chinese Exclusion Act	Prohibited all immigration of Chinese labors and also impacted all the Chinese who had previously settled in U.S. by forcing them to obtain certifications for re-entry. This Act made Chinese immigrants permanent aliens by excluding them from U.S. citizenship and prevented many Chinese immigrants to be united with their families.
1884	Federal	An Amendment to the Exclusion Law	Created further hardships for the Chinese living in the U.S. and more harassments for Chinese re-entry
1888	Federal	The Scott Act	Prohibited Chinese laborers to the U.S. and also the return of Chinese who had temporarily left the U.S.
1892	Federal	The Geary Law	Extended Exclusion Law for another 10 years, requiring certificates of residence for Chinese in the U.S.
1902	Federal	Act of April 29	Extended the Chinese Exclusion Law indefinitely. Chinese in Philippine Island restricted
1907	Federal		Regulations for the interrogation of Chinese entering the U.S.
1859	State- OR	Article XV, Section 8; State Constitution	“No Chinaman, not a resident of the state at the adoption of this constitution, shall ever hold any real estate or mining claim, or work any mining claim therein”
1859	State-OR		Oregon required Chinese and Kanakas to pay a $50 per month tax if they were involved in trade or barter.
1862	State-OR	Poll Tax	Poll tax of $2 per month, which had to be paid every year; Chinese miners had to pay the state government $50 a year in taxes and fees just to be in Oregon
1862	State-OR	Poll Tax	Poll tax raised to $4 per month
1866	State-OR		Chinese allowed to mine with state license
1868	State-OR		Chinese were prohibited from working on public projects but, like other states, employers subcontracted with Chinese labor agents so that the public records showed only EuroAmerican companies on the payroll
1870s	State-OR/Possibly Portland specifically		Prohibited baskets being carried by suspending from or attaching poles carried across one’s shoulders (This is how the Chinese transported the laundry in Portland)
1879	State-OR		Senator James H. Slater introduced a bill which would allow Chinese to live and travel in the U.S. but prohibited from working (never passed)
1862	Local- John Day		“Chinese or Tartars are hereby prohibited from working these mines under any and all circumstances”
1872	Local-Eagle Mining District	Article III of the Mining laws of Eagle Mining District	“No Asiatics should be allowed to mine or hold mining ground in this District”

 

A Tale of Two Towns

In 1862, the first mining camp along Canyon Creek was established on a small bench above the creek about two miles south of its confluence with the John Day River, at the location of the original gold strikes. The new community was named Canyon City and within a few months included multiple rudimentary stores, taverns, gambling halls and other such requirements of a Western mining town. Shortly afterward a small satellite community sprung up in the John Day valley along the incipient wagon trail, near the confluence with Canyon Creek. Although it was located two miles from the heart of the initial mining activity around Canyon City, this new location was better situated to serve shippers and travelers along the wagon trail. By 1866 the new town was known as John Day City, soon shortened to simply John Day.

In 1866 the first Chinese American miners and mining companies arrived in the John Day valley as documented in mining claim deed records and newspaper accounts. By this time most of the viable mining areas were already claimed and either being worked or offered for sale by the prospectors who owned the claims. Chinese American’s were initially barred from working in or owning mining claims in the district under the regulations established by the original miners in 1862. This was a standard clause found in the early mining regulations developed by prospectors in mining districts throughout western North America. And, as was also the case throughout the West, this stipulation was only enforced until a EuroAmerican prospector wanted to sell their claim to a Chinese American mining company.

By 1870, according to the US census, there were 85 Chinese Americans, all male, living in John Day and 162, including five females, in Canyon City. All of the Chinese Americans in John Day were miners with the exception of two cooks and two farm hands. This suggests an actual Chinatown in John Day had not yet been established but rather it was a mining camp of two or more Chinese American mining companies with their cooks. The two farm hands were working for local ranchers. 130 of the 162 Chinese Americans in Canyon City were miners but other occupations such as storekeepers, launderers, restaurant keeper, bordering house keepers, housekeepers, gardener and boot mender suggest an actual Chinatown had been established in Canyon City providing services to both Chinese American miners and members of the adjacent Euro American community. The Chinese American mining camp in John Day was likely located along Canyon Creek just to the west of John Day town, at the site of the future John Day Chinatown. The Chinatown in Canyon City was located adjacent to, but just downslope of Canyon City, closer to the floodplain of Canyon Creek.

By 1880, again based on the US census, major changes had occurred for the Chinese American population centers at John Day and Canyon City. The Chinese American population of Canyon City had dropped by about one half to 84 persons, while in John Day it had exploded to 359, a fourfold increase. The John Day Chinatown was firmly established by this point with 8 merchants, 3 storekeepers, 3 launderers, 2 doctors, 2 blacksmiths, a bawdy house owner and worker, and one each of tailor, shoemaker, barber, and hog peddler. There were now 315 Chinese American miners in John Day, and only a single Euro American miner.