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Volume 056-2 - April 2002 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
NCHS Bulletin April 2002
baby. This was reported on December 24 and was the last
Chinese news item of the year.
As 1885 rolled around, the Transcript reported. “Chinese
New Year will fall on Februany 14, which is St. Valentine’s
Day on the church calendar.” The February 18 edition of the
Transcript had a long article about the writer’s visit to
Kentsville on new year’s night. The article was very gloomy
in nature, did not report anything of substance and was lacking in convincing details. The final paragraph expressed the
writer’s horror at discovering white men and boys smoking
opium there. The article concluded with the customary
tirade about how opium was destroying the young men of
America. Because the article lacked substance, it is possible
the “visit” to Kentsville that night did not actually happen.
The remainder of the year only short items about the laundry issues and crimes committed by Chinese were noted.
1886 was a year of intensified anti-Chinese agitation
throughout the state. Nevada City tried to do its part by organizing an Anti-Chinese Club. Meetings were held regularly at Hunt’s Hall and at the Nevada Theatre. While these
organizations were not as successful in Nevada City as they
were in other parts of the state, the newspapers kept up the
anti-Chinese tone for the entire year. “The Chinese Must
Go!” was a slogan and theme regularly seen in the newspapers. The only activity reported that year about Kentsville
was the Chinese New Year celebrations. The Transcript reported on February 4, 1886:
The Chinamen at this city are “whooping it up, with
their new year’s festivities as though they expected it to
be their last celebration of the kind. They made Tuesday
night hideous with the din of firecrackers and bombs.”
On February 6, 1886 a follow-up article appeared:
The Chinese did not celebrate their holiday in this city
in as boisterous a manner as they have done in the years
past. It is thought that they concluded to keep as quiet as
possible in order to convince the people hereabouts that
their numbers were few.
The rest of the year there were no more articles written
about the Chinese themselves; only the “Chinese Must Go!”
theme followed for the rest of the year.
In August of 1887 the Chief Engineer of the Nevada City
Fire Department in his annual report listed the location of
fire hydrants including: “New Chinatown—one at upper
end and one at lower end.” He also listed two on Commercial street: one back of the New York Hotel and one near the
American Tea Store.
The Transcript reporter visited Kentsville in February of
1888:
The new Chinese quarters are about the same here as
everywhere else in the state. In their indoor life the
Chinese are certainly the filthiest set of mortals on the
earth, not excepting the Diggers [Indians], though there
are some exceptions to the rule. In the buildings they
consider ventilation, light, comfort or neatness unecessary. In many of their dens the apartments are dark, cold
and damp, but they are generally clean in their persons.
There are, in their new quarters on the bedrock, two or _
three small restaurants. None of them would be likely to
excite the appetite of an American by their appointments,
but examination of the kitchen would satisfy one that the
Chinese are adept in the culinary art. They excel in pastry
and in cooking fowls or hogs. Chinamen go “the whole
hog” in cooking and do the job in such a manner as to
give the outisde a rich mahogany polish.
There are about the same number of gambling houses
as restaurants, and Chinamen being inveterate gamblers
keep them well patronized. Probably the entire Chinese
population of the city is between 250 and 300 at most,
including men, women and children. A visit to their
houses is not calculated to impress anyone with an exalted idea of these people or demonstrate that they are a
good element of population.
The Transcript February 13, 1904:
There was much life in New Chinatown Sunday afternoon and about one thousand white folks were on hand to
watch the festivities occasioned by the annual election of
a josshouse keeper. Nearly one hundred Mongols were
here from Grass Valley to help celebrate and nearly every
heathen was out in his best and flashiest.
Eight bombs were exploded, which shot high into the
air. In one of these was a black iron ring and according to
the rule of the Chinese, the one catching the ring acts as
josshouse keeper for a year. The job fell into the hands of
one Hi Wah Sing Lip and he will make about $15 a
Imprint from Kentsville Chinatown Temple seal
that reads, “Treasured seal of Kuan Ti.”’ Kuan Ti
was a major Chinese God. Temple seals were
believed to have magical powers.