WBTI & Chinese American Academic Association of Nevada (CAAAN)

Newsbrief ***** Saturday, December 13, 2003 ***** # First Edition
Washington Business and Technology Institute
http://communitylink.reviewjournal.com/lvrj/wbti
Advisory Board: Governor Kenny Guinn, Chairman; U. S. Senators Harry Reid and John Ensign, Vice Chairmen; U. S. Representatives James Gibbons and Shelley Berkley, and Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Executive Directors.
U. S. Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
Chairperson
Dr. Tony T. Lei
President
District Judges Mark R. Denton and Valorie J. Vega
Vice Presidents
Dr. William N. Thompson
Director of Public Administration Institution
Dr. E. Lee Bernick and Dr. G. Keong Leong
Deans of Graduate School of Business and Public Administration
Dr. Sue Fawn Chung
Director of Culture Institution
Justice of the Supreme Court William Maupin, Attorney General Brian Sandoval, and District Judge Stewart Bell, Honorary Chairmen of Clark County District Attorney and Police Civil Commission (CCDAPCC)
District Attorney David Roger and Sheriff Bill Young
Chairmen of CCDAPCC
(702) 255-9058
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Carson City's Chinatown*1
By Sue Fawn Chung*2
The Chinese first came to Nevada from California in search of that elusive placer gold, but they found jobs in other areas as well. Almost all of them were born in southeastern China, in and around the province of Guangdong. In the early 1850s the Mormons in Genoa hired a group of fifty Chinese to dig and maintain irrigation ditches in the Carson Valley to promote farming an ranching. When gold was discovered in present-day Dayton, originally called Chinatown, some Chinese moved there. As they headed up the mountain toward Gold Hill and the Comstock Lode, they encountered hostility. The miners of Gold Hill met on June 11, 1859 and passes rules that prohibited the Chinese from holding a claim in their mining district. This set a precedent for other mining laws, but the exclusionary clause was not always adopted elsewhere nor was it always enforced. In response, the Chinese turned to the service industries, especially cooking, domestic servant, and laundry work, as their economic niche in frontier Nevada.
The Comstock's need for wood and region's need for railroads opened other doors for the Chinese. In 1868 an approximate 10,000-12,000 Chinese railroad workers provided 90% of the workforce for the Central Pacific Railroad. When they entered Nevada, only about 5,000 continued to build the line across the state. The others either found work in western Nevada or returned to California or built railroads in other locations. Chinese railroad workers started on the Virginia and Truckee in 1869. They also built short lines and narrow gauge railroads within the state as well as maintained many rail lines. Between 1870 and 1880 the Chinese dominated the lumber industry's workforce in the Sierra Nevada range and the center of that industry was in Carson City. Lumber was cut in the Sierra Nevada and delivered by wagon, flume, or train to Carson City, where it was then sent to the Comstock, whose mines and mills had to close down in 1869 due to a lumber shortage. Wood kept the Comstock going and when it declined, the lumber was sent to other parts of the United States as well as across the Pacific Ocean to China, where new treaty port cities were under construction or expanding.
Carson City's Chinatown became a commercial hub linking merchandise, workers , and information between California and other Chinatowns in the region. It enjoyed its greatest period of wealth and influence in the 1870s and 1880s. Census records were highly unreliable but at their height in 1880, almost one thousand Chinese resided in the Carson City area. They represented one out of every six residents, most of whom were foreign-born like themselves. They worked in more than 61 different jobs, including physician, pharmacist, merchant, tailor, shoe maker, watch maker, mason( who helped in the construction of the Mint), painter, butcher, gardener, barber, farmer, cowboy, herder, wood chopper, jeweler, miller, school teacher, teamster, and gambler..... The Chinese population in the state will not increase until the 1970s when new immigration laws allowed Chinese from all over China to immigrate, thus changing the character of the Chinatowns.
Chinese laundries and restaurants could be found throughout western towns and Carson City was no exception...... As a result, some Chinese laundries were noted for the quality of their work. Many frontiersmen were not interested in washing their own clothes, so laundries became important in every town. Chinese laundries also held another attraction. The game, known as keno today, was played in many Chinese laundries and soon attracted many EuroAmerican customers. In 1892 a Carson City woman who bet fifty-five cents took home $900 and the local newspaper reported the win, resulting in even more customers participating in the game.
In China, the southern Chinese were famous for their cooking skills because of their use of a variety of ingredients and spices. Most served American cuisine but a few served a combination of American and Chinese dished. EuroAmericans often supplied the fresh meats and other products and Chinese gardeners(farmers) provided fresh fruits and vegetables whenever possible. In Nevada many Chinese restaurants catered to single males and railroad workers in the late 19th century...... Even today Chinese restaurents retain their popularity among the locals.
Around 1938 Thomas W. Chinn, a founder of the Chinese Historical Society of America in San Francisco, visited Chinatown and found only two rows of dilapidated wooden buildings, most of which had been abandoned........ Today the Supreme Court, legislative parking garage, state printing and employment, training and rehabilitation buildings, and a parking lot cover most of Carson City's old Chinatown.
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References
*1. This is a feature article condensed from Dr. Sue Chung's "Speech delivered October 31, 2003 in Carson City at Dedication of Chinatown Plaque," which was faxed by her to Dr. Tony Lei on December 10, 2003.
*2. Dr. Sue Fawn Chung is an Associate Professor of the Department of History of UNLV. She has been appointed as Western Advisor of National Trust for Historic Preservation. Dr. Sue Chung is also Fellow and Director of the Culture Institution (CI) of Washington Business and Technology Institute (WBTI).

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