Sierra In Peril; Sf 270

Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks Thanks. Thanks.

You know that. Yeah.

We'll just do one like this. Yeah it's

ok doing it. Yeah. Go ahead and do it all the way out it's ok. OK. I just feel.

Small for. Just small victories feel. Here that. Possibly other blacks. Are various faction two factions. Just War. Which. Probably. Several minutes duration but. We. Are certain. That. This is. The story.

Along with some of the other. Pretty impressive sight. Do you think. The Magic. Evan one of these things. Run you through. It would be impressive. What do you think. I wouldn't hazard a guess. It's a fishing fork or something isn't it. Yeah. Salmon spear. Called use it for almost anything and. How do you. Figure out how to make one of. Those old fellas were extremely versed mechanics. Thank you Bill just about anything you go down the. Valley and get a.

Little wagon tires or wagon irons and. Bring them up here. Come in. Now this is an original idea. One of the one of the marks that has to be an original lie. And not some recreation of the later period. You can cheer. This is probably a piece of red Chinese cloth. Was used to you as it was a banner. Attached to the spear. What it indicated I really don't have any idea but. It's never. Has. Been such. A beginning. How do you survive. Why do we still have. Well we were very fortunate. That. Jake Jackson. Was. A. Very avid collector a lot of. He was a

native of. The county. Preservation history at heart. Again in. TIME Some of these things showed up while. He. Grabbed hold of it. This is something pretty unique in California history probably in western history. I'd say so. Have you heard of anything like this anywhere. Well. No. Not. Really but I would assume it was. Similar items fell from. Some of the other trying. To kick. Maybe you're. Good. Let's. TAKE YOU HOME WITH. One to look.

At. You're probably none other than Weaverville. Can you tell us the story. Of what happened. Not not really I'm not sure whether it started over a card game or whether it started over a dispute over mining claims. And anyway the two different factions from Duke to different parts of China were involved. How significant a Chinese player we were. Very significant. Gore said take over mining claims where the white miners were easily discouraged. In those days they'd take over mining claims and they're looking for Chinese companies who were amounted to maybe anywhere from 6 to 10 or more. Chinese would form these little

companies and they would take over where the white man gave up. How were they view by the way or the way I was thinking. Well. I guess a new panels. My great grandfather ran Chinese my miners and his operations I think from the beginning. So he was very friendly to their being here. Yes our family's always been friendly to the Chinese. Were there was there generally new experience for joins. Well I'd say it was average. Some people just naturally didn't like Chinese and of course there were some. There was probably a. Proportionate amount of renegade Chinese as there were renegade whites and of course those are the people that caused the problems and the feelings.

That's for sure. Do you think this was a really good bunch of whiners that got this thing started. Not really. I think it was probably just. I don't know. Because there was always feelings between the two groups but I don't think it ever erupted into a battle like like this one but. Then. It would probably have been settled peacefully peaceably if the whites hadn't gotten involved in it. They're the ones that egg the Chinese on. The fact that one of the accounts say that the Chinese seem to be hesitant about going after each other and that it was triggered by a white man that ever that he pulled a gun and. Shot at one of the Chinese or whatever and then that started things. A lot of people came to see that student debt or get. Sure. Yes it was it was a big

attraction because the preparation went on for months. You must have been the biggest thing that happened up here. Do you have any idea how far people came from the CIA. No no I knew they probably didn't travel very far. I would I would say very few came from any reaches outside of the base who became a terrorist. I'd hazard it. I hazard a guess but. Really I couldn't say because there was just people everywhere. Back in those days and all these cultures and time itself. Of course you can you can. You can probably estimate the kind of confines of the town by the old business district like from here up to where the courthouse is now

you know you the reports say that there were five hundred thousand Chinese living in the area. That seems like quite a few by the standards of other communities you know there were so many Chinese in Weaverville area. As opposed to other parts of the gold mining regions in the state. Well I don't know as I've heard that statement before. But one thing I'm told is that the foreign miners tax had a great deal to do with why the Chinese ended up here. They were so well received in other parts that part of the tax was to get rid of. Well. If I remember correctly we knew we had a former miners tax too. So I don't know whether that was a factor. Well joining me now is a story we talked to.

For this project mentioned. Big curly here was able pretty much to fund its entire budget for minor tax and therefore the Chinese were such. A bad thing. Whereas in other locations the regions particularly here. They were seen to be looked down they kind of want to get rid of them. Do you think there was a difference. In order to keep trying to ease roll about the same but I get I think it was quite feeling toward them that. Made the Difference and I don't know if there was a great deal of animosity toward them no. I've heard a number of stories where they really didn't trust. Chinese but then that come from the fact of the few renegade Chinese were running around robbing people flute boxes whenever the chance rolls and that sort of thing. But generally I

can't see that there was a great deal of animosity. Now there was a particular district or town that was Chinatown. You're right. Yes well it's pretty well established by if you go up in a street or the old firehouse that was probably the northernmost limits and then right down here were. Just above in the next block your attention Gulch comes down through that was probably the lower extremity of the southern extremity. Of the China river. Chinese Chinatown. With no job and the joss house of course was a step Mr earlier. Much earlier than the one that was constructed at 75 and 74. We're going to start a garden we were. In the gold rush right here when when was goals got here well it was discovered in July of 1848 down here Douglas

city maybe half a mile below the present time above the city at the mouth of reddish creek. So shortly after the discovery will go on. Oh yeah. Well Major reading was a old pal of Sutter and he went from his ranch of your Spanish grant down here south of reading him and he went down there for some reason to see Sutter and recognized it digging down there's been similar goes up appears so he first discovered gold on cric cric a few months. Well a little earlier in eighteen forty eight just down south a reading on Clear Creek and he came over the hill here in July and discovered gold at Reddish creek but he'd been here a couple of years previously so he knew the territory was here. This year that made sense because it's great information but isn't this part of the

coastal range. Yes but there's also all sorts of hard hard rock mines which is actually the source of placer gold in the back country here. So Fawley's stream channel don't say all of them but quite a number of the stream channels here have their sources you know in hard rock gold mining country. So the stream channels all carry placer gold. So the Romulans were granted that right. Well the hard rock mines are not always in granite formation. Oh really. Oh no. No. We take the formations are there you know. Well just that not being a geologist to tell but should contain a number of other hard rock types of rock besides granite. I'd say very little of it was in granite actually granite formation. But I could be wrong.

Was it the size of Russia. Well I don't know what you call sizable but there are quite a few people came in right from the word got around that maybe it began to spread because you know these old time miners it was always greener on the other side of the fence and as soon as they heard it there was a better strike over a big strike over on Salmon River. The guys left here and went over there. Maybe father wasn't quite that good so they came back a number of them came back. So it's one of those things just at that moment you're Chinese war are. You talking. Is that correct. No because I don't I haven't heard any references to any actual Tong being here because Tong from our family

associations and they were regional. Organizations these peace people came from two different regions in China and. I don't have any any idea that they were a. Tong. At that point. We do know some of the characters. When this occurs John Karr. I mean what can you tell us what happened for you. Very well John Karr came in here and in the very early days and he being a blacksmith of course was heavily involved in making a implements of war that these two groups used. If you were going to use it against each other you can be kept pretty busy. All day. Yet from all accounts you probably were at it for a couple of months making up all these things while

the two Chinese groups were getting ready to fight each other I don't know how they kept up the momentum but at least I think the whites were back of the whole thing. First keep in more momentum goals. Yeah you think you feel they want to see a whole sure great entertainment. Did they think that after it was all over. Well I don't know when it was over it was over and I think it's everybody went back to work. It is kind of a part comedy part tragedy. You know way because it works. Yes I should say so. There sure seems to be an awfully hopeless figure in all of this. Well I don't know. Just probably a matter of how much she cared about it. After all China and kill each other didn't matter much if you tried to stop work. I don't think so. OK.

But anyway you might you might find something in some of the right he said you might have done something but just offhand I'd say from the results. Nothing much happened as far as law enforcement go. OK good. That does it. Thank you very much.