Guest post by John Putnam
In the mines the Chinese were often forced to work sites that others had abandoned as no longer productive and, by hard work, made these claims pay.
As more men arrived in the gold fields and the amount of surface gold dwindled, tensions increased. Thirty-five Chinese showed up at Camp Salvado in 1849 where men from El Salvador had worked and here they found rich placer deposits.
White miners soon arrived and pushed the Chinese out, but they were taken in at another nearby site called Camp Washington where still more gold was found
Chinese flocked to a place where they were accepted and Tuolumne County’s Chinese Camp survives to this day.
But by 1850, a $20 per month tax on each foreign miner was imposed.
By 1852 Chinese were forced from Mormon Island and Horseshoe Bar along the American River, then from Colombia in the southern mines and Yuba City in the northern.
In 1856 Chinese paid $70,000 for the right to mine in Mokelumne Hill.
By 1868 almost all Chinese had left the mines to work on the transcontinental railroad or in Chinese operated businesses.
Return to Chinese in the Gold Rush – Part 1
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Reprinted by permission. First published May 23, 2011 in My gold rush tales John Putnam is the author of Hangtown Creek, a thrilling saga of the early California gold rush.
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Nice Post. I didn’t know the Chinese were invovled in the California gold rush and were victims of racisism and greed.
There are many examples throughout history of racism and greed that continues to this day. This is only one of them.
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You may also be interested in this post:
http://ilookchina.net/2010/09/08/americas-angel-island/
Angel Island in San Francisco Bay was America’s west coast Ellis Island.
From 1919 to 1940, mostly Asian immigrants entered the US through Angel Island.