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Among Gold Rush era towns and settlements along California's Highway 49 on the way to Yosemite, is tiny Chinese Camp, near the southern end of California's Gold Country and the town of Sonora. The population was registered as a mere 146 souls in the 2000 census. However, during the raucous Gold Rush days of the 1850s, an estimated 5,000 Chinese dwelled there.
California Gold Country was steeped in violence during gold rush days. There was murder, theft, claim jumping, and about every vice known.
Several historical and journalistic accounts of the era, provide rich accountings of the first tong war which occurred near Chinese Camp in October 1856. Tongs were secret benevolent associations. Rival tongs often fought for control in Chinese communities and skirmishes between them were not uncommon. The 1856 war near Chinese Camp involved the Sam Yap and Yan Woo tongs.
While many gold rush era towns have been well-preserved and restored, still others are in a state of arrested decay. From the present appearance of Chinese Camp, the little town seems relegated to a state of accellerated decay.
I had been by this stretch of Highway 49 several times in the past. Yet, I had always failed to stop and seek its hidden past. This time, on the way back from my daytrip to Yosemite, I felt compelled to stop, grab a soda out of the cooler, and take a few steps up Main Street and enter a journey to another time and place.
I had visions of spirits passed. They emerged from every shuttered window and each closed door. And they were felt with each step taken, and every click of the camera's shutter. They were spirits long departed, but pleading remembrance still.
Inside the fairytale factory of my mind, notes from a windchime, and a bamboo flute entertained. Veils of opium smoke from a carved ivory pipe elevated scent to the air. Can you visualize it too?
Web resources which provide rich history about Tuolumne County's Chinese Camp and the Tong War follow here:
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