Remnants of Chinese heritage evident

MINERAL COUNTY - Evidence of a 19th century Chinese settlement still exists in Mineral County but local historians want the site to remain largely a secret to preserve its integrity.

During the summer of 1870, Chinese laborers and miners were forcibly removed from their settlements in Idaho. Hundreds of the refugees traveled across the Idaho/Montana border and relocated to an area now known as Cedar Creek near the old town of Louisville.

According to research compiled by Mineral County Museum Secretary Kay Strombo and University of Montana Professor and Archeologist  Chris Merritt, the settlers made a new life for themselves in Montana and set about establishing a mining operation.

The only thing that remains at the site of their encampment are a few stone hearths used for cooking and for warmth during the harsh Montana winters. They are the only reminder of a group of people who escaped harsh treatment and discrimination in Idaho and made their home in what is now Mineral County.

Strombo said the number of settlers is still debated but there could have been anywhere from 200 to 500 Chinese refugees who lived up Cedar Creek. She said while there was still a lot historians don’t know about the settlers, they do have some information about their experience in Mineral County.

“We know they were mining for gold,” Strombo said. “We also know they darn near starved to death. They were boiling bones to keep from starving. They were ostracized by others in the area. They were killed and beaten.”

Strombo said despite the way they were treated by others in the county, the settlers managed to make a living mining for gold. She said, as far as historians know, the settlers weren’t in the county long.

After a little over a decade, the settlers moved on and left their encampment behind. Strombo said what happened to them, where they went and why they left remains a mystery.

“They were there until maybe 1883,” Strombo said. “There were rumors they were chased out by other miners. But nothing specific is known.”

Strombo said at the time there was access to the area in the form of a trail. The settlers would have had to haul all their equipment and supplies up the mountain by oxen-driven wagons.

“There was a path of sorts,” Strombo said. “They did take oxen teams up there and wagons.”

The encampment, according to research conducted by Merritt, included living quarters, a store and the mining operation. Strombo said there were no pictures or drawings of the camp. She said the only thing recovered from the site were a few rusty nails. The only evidence the settlers were ever there are the hearths.

“It’s distressing cause we have nothing,” Strombo said. “We don’t have actual material. The only things we have are the nails.”

Strombo thought the miners were relatively successful in finding gold. She assumes they didn’t leave because they weren’t finding what they came for. Strombo thinks a combination of factors contributed to their mysterious disappearance.

“I think the winters were probably just too hard on them,” Strombo said. “You can imagine what it must have been like up there in the winter.”

Strombo did say there was a rumor the site was visited in the 1950s by relatives of the settlers. According to her source, the relatives knew where they were going and may have been trying to recover the remains of their families for reburial back home in China.

As for the site of the remnants of the Chinese settlement in Mineral County, historians aren’t advertising its location for fear the site could be desecrated by vandals or trophy hunters.

The hearths themselves sit amongst the overgrown forest perched atop a rock outcropping overlooking a small creek. They serve as the only reminder of a small group of people, running from oppression and bigotry and who like so many people over the years and still to this day, found a home in Western Montana.