Asian American Comparative Collection (AACC) University of Idaho 875 Perimeter Drive, MS 1111 Moscow, Idaho 83844-1111 USA 208-885-7075 |
Priscilla Wegars, Ph.D., Volunteer Curator pwegars@uidaho.edu Renae Campbell, M.A., RPA, Research Assistant rjcampbell@uidaho.edu |
Boise - Morris
Hill
Cemetery
Japanese and Chinese gravestones and shrine/burner.
Burley - Bureau
of
Reclamation (Minidoka incarceration camp Materials)
Some planning documents and plat maps are housed here.
Cottonwood - The
Historical Museum at St. Gertrude
Clothing and other objects that once belonged to Polly Bemis.
Artifacts from local Chinese residents.
Eden - Minidoka incarceration camp. See Minidoka incarceration camp.
Grangeville - Bicentennial
Historical
Museum
Polly Bemis's wedding ring, plus artifacts from local Chinese
residents.
Hope - May
Den's
Gravestone
Gravestone of May Den, 1890-1925, in English and Chinese, in the
town cemetery, and gravestone of her husband, Louis Den.
Hunt - See Minidoka incarceration camp.
Idaho City - Boise
Basin
Museum
Items related to Idaho City's former Chinese residents.
Idaho City - Granite
Creek Heritage Trails: Hop Lee Placer
Placer mine operated by Chinese miners during the 1860s and 1870s.
Inquire locally.
Idaho City - Pon Yam House
Home of Pon Yam, a prominent Idaho City Chinese merchant and
conflict mediator.
Jerome County - Idaho Farm
and Ranch Museum (Minidoka incarceration camp Barracks)
One barrack building interprets the Minidoka incarceration camp
experience. Located in Jerome at the crossroads of Highway
93 and Highway 84. It is some 18 miles from the Minidoka
incarceration camp site.
Jerome County - Jerome
County Historical Museum
In Jerome. Contains bound WWII Northside News and Minidoka
Irrigator newspapers, Minidoka Interlude souvenir
book, and some artifacts.
Lewiston - Chinese at the Confluence: Lewiston's
Beuk Aie Temple
Permanent exhibit at the Lewis-Clark Center for Arts &
History, Fifth and Main streets. Honors the early Chinese of
Lewiston, ensuring that the achievements of "Lewiston's other
pioneers" are recognized and remembered for the benefit of future
generations. Illustrated booklet available.
Lewiston - Chinese
Gravestones
In a section of Lewiston's Normal Hill Cemetery, near 13th Avenue
and 4th Street.
Lewiston - Prospect
Park
Site of turn-of-the-century Chinese cemetery, on Prospect Avenue
overlooking the Snake River. Graves all relocated.
Interpretive sign.
Lowell - Kooskia Internment Camp Site
The camp was located six miles above Lowell, at Canyon Creek.
Today, little remains of this World War II camp (mid-1943 to
mid-1945) for Japanese aliens who helped construct portions of
U.S. Highway 12. The Apgar picnic area, one-half mile
further east, was once the site of Kooskia Internment Camp
employee housing.
McCall - McCall
Ranger
District Office
Exhibit of Chinese artifacts from the Warren Mining District.
Minidoka
incarceration camp
Off Highway 25 and Hunt Road, near Eden. Euphemistically
called a "Relocation Center," it housed more than 9,000 Japanese
and Japanese Americans, most of them forcibly removed from the
Seattle and Portland areas. It is not at or even near the
town of Minidoka. Portions of a stone guard house and a
stone visitors' waiting room remain; several plaques have been
installed in more recent years. The Friends of Minidoka have another
Web site. To visit a barracks building, see Jerome
County - Idaho Farm and Ranch Museum.
Minidoka National Historic Site
See directions at Minidoka incarceration camp.
Minidoka Relocation Center. See Minidoka incarceration camp; Minidoka National Historic Site
Minidoka War Relocation Authority Camp Site. See Minidoka incarceration camp; Minidoka National Historic Site
Moscow - Asian
American Comparative Collection
Housed in the Laboratory of Anthropology at the University of
Idaho. Chinese, Japanese, and Korean artifacts; bibliographical
materials; and slides.
Orofino - Clearwater
Historical Museum
Contains some history of the Chinese in the Pierce and Oro
Fino areas. The earlier Oro Fino is not the same place as
the modern Orofino.
Pierce - Chinese
Cemetery
Depressions indicate where former burials were exhumed.
Contact city for more information.
Pierce - Pierce Free Public
Library
Exhibit of Chinese artifacts.
Polly Bemis Ranch. See Salmon River - Polly Bemis's Cabin and Grave
Potlatch - Japanese Gravestone
The city cemetery has a gravestone, dated August 30, 1917 (5th
year of Taisho period) marking the burial location of a former
resident of Japanese ancestry.
Salmon - Lemhi
County Historical Museum
Exhibits include artifacts from Salmon's former Chinese residents,
plus a "Chinese Room" of objects (clothing, tablewares, pipes,
swords, knives, and tapestries) collected in China and elsewhere
in Asia during the 1920s by a couple from nearby Leesburg.
Salmon River - Remains of Chinese
Mining
Hydraulic workings, man-made reservoirs, rock dwellings, and
Chinese artifacts attest to the presence of Chinese miners on the
Lower Salmon River.
Salmon River - Polly Bemis's Cabin
and Grave
Idaho Chinese pioneer Polly Bemis lived in this cabin on the Main
Salmon River from 1922 to 1933. She is buried nearby. Easily
accessible only by jet boat from Riggins. Slide lecture available.
Silver City - Chinese
Settlement
Chinese artifacts are visible on the ground in Silver City's
former "Chinatown."
Twin Falls - Twin
Falls
Public Library
Research materials on the Minidoka incarceration camp, including
newspaper articles, a diary, a thesis on the camp, and Journey to
Minidoka paintings by Roger Shimomura, c. 1983.
Warren - Chinese
Cemetery
Depressions indicate where former burials were exhumed.
Warren - Chinese
Gardens
and Old China Trail
Upper terraced gardens; trail leads down to others near the South
Fork of the Salmon River. Information available from Payette
National Forest, McCall, and from Warren Ranger Station.
Warren - Warren
Ranger Station
Outdoor display panels discuss local Chinese history.
Warren - Winter
Inn (scroll down)
Local tavern has display cases containing labeled Chinese
artifacts.
Butte - Archaeological
Excavations
"Digging Butte's Chinatown" is a photo diary of the excavation
and shows some of the recovered artifacts.
Butte - Mai Wah Society
Building that once housed the Wah Chong Tai Co. store and the Mai
Wah Noodle Parlor. Exhibits during the summer months.
Butte - World Museum of
Mining
Outdoors; buildings depict a Chinese apothecary shop and a
Chinese laundry (displays inside; look through the windows).
Helena - Montana Historical
Society
Houses major items from Butte's Mai Wah Noodle Parlor. The
Paul Eno collection includes clothing, household goos,
photographs, and phonograph records.
Louisville - Mineral
County Historical Society and Museum
Photo plus brief discussion of excavations at this site.
Nevada City - Replicated
Chinatown
Contains a store and several other buildings, complete with
contents, from Chinese businesses in other communities.
Douglas County - Allan
Taylor Cabin
A historical cabin, likely constructed by one of Nevada's Chinese
wood cutters in the late nineteenth century (exact location not
disclosed).
Douglas County - Glenbrook
Cabins
Cabin and adjoining structures built by Chinese laborers in the
nineteenth century as part of logging operations (exact location
not disclosed).
Gold Creek - Island
Mountain
This placer mining community began about 1873, and was 76% Chinese
by 1880.
Incline Village - Incline
Village
Historical site of Chinese labor camp and lumber operations.
Nye County - Carson
& Colorado Railroad Company Culverts
Railroad culverts constructed by Chinese laborers in the late
nineteenth century (exact location not disclosed).
Nye County - High
Desert Chinese Campsite
Remains of a Chinese labor camp; occupied while constructing
and maintaining the nearby Carson & Colorado railroad, road,
and drainage systems (exact location not disclosed).
Nye County - Mt.
Montgomery Tunnel
This 247-foot tunnel through Mt. Montgomery was created by Chinese
laborers between 1880 and 1883 (exact location not disclosed).
Sparks - Sparks Museum and
Cultural Center
Includes a preserved railroad bridge built by Chinese immigrants
and a memorial to Chinese railroad workers.
Winnemucca - Humboldt
County Museum
Houses artifacts and information about the Chinese in the
Winnemucca area. Has a Chinese altar on display.
Astoria - Columbia River
Maritime Museum
Exhibits illustrate maritime ties with Asia, and Asian cannery
workers.
Astoria - Garden of Surging
Waves
Chinese garden commemorating the contributions of Chinese
immigrants to Astoria. Website also has links to Astoria Chinese
history and videos.
Baker City - Chinese
Cemetery
Contains depressions where previous burials were exhumed, and one
marker for a burial that still remains. Cemetery probably contains
other, unmarked, burials. Reconstructed shrine/burner. Location
information available here.
Baker City -
Mt. Hope Cemetery
Contains about 15 gravestones, some in Japanese, of Japanese
nationals and Japanese Americans who died in Baker City during the
1920s and 1930s. Also several gravestones indicating burial
locations of deceased Chinese American residents.
Baker City - National
Historic
Oregon Trail Interpretive Center
Chinese names appear on a page reproduced from the 1870 Baker City
census; several Chinese artifacts.
Baker City - Baker
Heritage Museum
Artifacts from local Chinese residents.
Bend - High Desert
Museum
One exhibit recreates a Chinese store.
Brogan - Harada
Japanese
Garden
This garden commemorates Japanese American farmers in Brogan.
Canyon City - Chinatown
of Canyon City
Once the home of 162 recorded Chinese residents, no structures
associated with Canyon City's Chinatown remain but the Grant County
Historical Museum and the murals at the Canyon City park
commemorate its history.
Field - Borax
Lake
Former site of a refining plant that employed Chinese laborers
to collect and process sodium borate from sediments around Borax
Lake.
Granite - Ah
Hee
Diggings
Sixteen [not sixty, as often misheard and perpetuated] acres of
hand-stacked rock tailings left by Chinese placer miners. Also
known locally as the "Chinese Walls." Illustrated site report and slide lecture
available. Additional information available here.
Grant County - Happy
Camp Mining District
Over 1200 acres of archaeological features like ditches, dams,
reservoirs, tailings piles, and cabin sites that are predominantly
the remnants of nineteenth century Chinese placer mining (exact
location not disclosed).
Hells Canyon - Chinese
Massacre Cove
In 1887, Euroamerican thugs massacred some 34 Chinese miners at
Deep Creek on the Oregon side of the Snake River. Accessible only
by jet boat or a difficult 8.6 mile hike from the Dug Bar boat
launch. Location information can be found here.
Huntington - Clark's
Cafe
Sign
Sign painted on brick wall of building for long-gone business;
sign states, "All White Help," meaning, no Chinese. Note that this
building burned down in 2019.
John Day - Kam
Wah Chung State Heritage Site
Former Chinese store and herbal medicine shop housing a vast array
of Chinese artifacts.Websites about this heritage site are
maintained by Oregon
State Parks and by the Friends of Kam
Wah Chung. Additional information about the John Day
Chinatown that once surrounded this building can be found here.
Lake Oswego - Oswego
Iron Works
Remains of the Oregon Iron Company, which employed Chinese
laborers, can be found in Lake Oswego's George Rogers Park.
The park site includes the former location of the Chinese workers'
housing and is the entrance point to the Oswego
Iron Heritage Trail.
Medford vicinity/Applegate Valley - Gin
Lin
Mining Trail
Remains of Chinese hydraulic mining near Applegate Lake within the
Rogue River National Forest.
Multiple - Chinese
Place Names
A blog with a list of over 300 places in Oregon with names
reflecting Chinese heritage.
Ontario - Four Rivers Cultural
Center and Museum
Includes exhibits on local Japanese Americans as well as on the
World War II incarceration of Japanese Americans, such as a
recreated incarceration camp barrack. It also has a Japanese
garden.
Pendleton - Chinese
Graves
and Burner, Olney Cemetery
The Chinese section, on the southwest side, has some 23
gravestones and a brick burner.
Pendleton - Pendleton Underground
An interesting tour of downtown Pendleton basements. However, some
guides call them "Chinese tunnels" thus perpetuating a stereotype
for which there is no basis in fact. See "Ongoing Research" for a
discussion of so-called "Chinese tunnels."
Portland - Japanese
American Historical Plaza
Thirteen inscribed stones honor the legacy of Portland's Japanese
American residents before, after, and during World War II.
Portland - Japanese
Garden
Multiple garden spaces, a Cultural Village, Japanese Arts Learning
Center, and galleries with rotating exhibits on Japanese art,
design, and culture.
Portland - Lan Su Chinese
Garden
Chinese garden with a tea house and a rotating schedule of events
and exhibits.
Portland - Oregon
Nikkei Legacy Center
A museum and cultural center honoring Japanese Americans in
Oregon.
Portland - Portland
Chinatown Museum
Museum with permanent and rotating exhibits about Portland's
Chinese population and Chinatowns.
Prairie City - Ah
Heng Placer Mine
A multi-feature gold mining complex that was leased by the Ah Heng
Company in the late nineteenth century. The Malheur National
Forest offers a virtual
tour and a GeoCache
has also been established at the site.
Prairie City - Ah
Yee Placer Mine
Five placer mining feature complexes extending over 150 acres that
were owned by Ah Yee and Company in the late nineteenth
century. This site can also be explored through the mobile
app Agents of
Discovery.
Union Creek - Chinese
Mining
Site
Three-tiered, rock-walled, water delivery channel, originally fed
by two earthen dams.
Unity - Eldorado
Ditch
An interpretive sign in Unity, Oregon, and a mural in Vale,
Oregon, both commemorate the extensive Eldorado Ditch (also known
as the El Dorado or the Big Ditch) network constructed by Chinese
laborers in the late nineteenth century to supply water for mining
operations in the vicinity.
Box Elder County- Transcontinental
Railroad Backcountry Byway Driving Tour
An 87-mile section of abandoned railroad grade that was built by
Chinese workers in 1869, now marked with interpretive signs.
Delta - Great
Basin
Museum
Numerous artifacts from the Topaz incarceration camp.
Delta - Topaz
Internment Camp
140 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. Today the site
contains roads, rock walls, manholes, concrete slabs, rubble, and
miscellaneous artifacts.
Ogden - Union
Station Museum
Exhibit on Chinese and Japanese railroad workers located inside
the historic Union Station Depot.
Promontory Summit - Golden
Spike National Historical Park
U.S. National Park commemorating the completion of the
transcontinental railroad. Includes an exhibit on Chinese railroad
workers, "Chinese Arch," and a plaque dedicated to the Chinese
railroad workers who lost their lives.
Between Kamas and Hanna - Masashi
Goto Monument
Monument along road to Japanese American pilot Masashi Goto, who
died while attempting a transglobal flight in 1929. An image
of his memorial can also be seen here.
Auburn - White River
Valley Museum
Exhibit of Japanese farmhouse, c. 1915.
Bainbridge Island - Yama and
Nagaya Communities
The Bainbridge Island Historical Museum includes an exhibit on
the history and archaeology of two Japanese immigrant communities
centered around the Port Blakely mill.
Long Beach - World
Kite Museum & Hall of Fame
Our of 1400 kites, the museum has 700 kites from Japan, China, and
Malaysia. The collection of 300 Japanese kites is considered
the most complete outside of Japan. There are also some
Indonesian kites. Displays rotate.
Port Townsend - Antique
Mall
Basement reportedly has a display of Chinese artifacts relating to
1880s Chinese residents.
Port Townsend - Diamond
Point
Quarantine Station
Many Asian immigrants were detained in this facility, or passed
through it, between 1893 and 1935. It is now mostly demolished.
Port Townsend - Jefferson County Historical
Society
The Chinese in Port Townsend; artifacts of the Zee Tai
Company, a Chinese mercantile establishment, as well as historic
photos and a discussion of the opium trade.
Seattle Chinatown Historic District. See Seattle -
International District
Seattle - Chinese
Garden
Admission is free, and your dog is welcome!
Seattle - International
District
Historically, the home of Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino
immigrants. Places of particular interest include the Bing
Kung Association, the Bush Hotel, Canton Alley, the Chinese
Bulletin Board, Chinese Cultural Service Center, Chinese
Information & Service Center, Chong Wa Benevolent Association,
Danny Woo International District Community Garden, Hing Hay Park,
Jackson Street Colonnade, Panama
Hotel, Tai Tung Restaurant, Tsue Chong Noodle Company, and
the Yick Fung Company.
Seattle - Kubota
Garden
Japanese immigrant Fujitaro Kubota created this 20-acre garden
in 1927. Located at 9817 55th Ave. South, the garden "blends
Japanese and Japanese American garden concepts with native
Northwest plants" (David Takami, International Examiner, 31[9]:14, May 5-18,
2004).
Seattle - Wing Luke Museum
of the Asian Pacific American Experience ("The Wing")
Contemporary and historical exhibits of Asian and Pacific Islander
groups.
Stevenson - Columbia
Gorge Interpretive Center
Exhibit of Japanese household objects.
Tacoma - Reconciliation
Park
Site of Chinese commemorative park near early Chinese settlement
burned in 1885 during anti-Chinese riot.
Vashon Island - Mukai
Farm
and
Garden
Owned by Denichiro Mukai, and later by his son, Masa, this was
once the largest strawberry farm in the U.S. Denichiro's
second wife, Kuni, created the Japanese garden. It is the
only one surviving that is known to have been designed by a
Japanese immigrant woman.
Walla Walla - Chinese
Gravestones
and Shrine/Burner
In the city cemetery; scroll to end of link.
Vancouver, British Columbia - Wing Sang Company building and Yip
family artifacts in Vancouver Museum
The Yip Sang Building is at 51 East Pender Street. Over 300
related artifacts are housed in the Vancouver Museum.
See Links
for additional information.