Chinese in the Woods

Sue Fawn Chung with two monographs published in the past six years has definitely been able to claim her expertise in the study of Chinese immigrants in Nevada. Chinese exceptional contributions to western mining and railroad industries in the nineteenth century are well recognized. These two major economic engines in propelling the speedy settlement of the American West would not have steamed without an enormous amount of timber. To connect mining and railroad to timber industry, Chinese in the Woods shows how less noticed Chinese woodchoppers and craftsmen made western mining and railroad construction possible. It is the first scholarly book on this subject. Instead of giving a general overview of Chinese in the entire western timber industry, Chinese in the Woods focuses on their activities in western Nevada and central California, more precisely the areas surrounding Lake Tahoe. In the 1870s and 1880s, for example, about three thousand Chinese laborers made up from 80 percent to 90 percent of the labor forces in the Sierra Nevada. The number in some parts in the Carson Range went near 100 percent. Drawing from both historical and archaeological sources, this study shows how Chinese timber workers provided everyone, from private household to industrial giant, with necessary materials for survival and prosperity. More than just offering manual labor, Chinese often performed highly skilled tasks including building transport flumes, constructing aqua ducts, and erecting railroad trestles. Because of high demands for such skilled workers, Chinese woodcutters and craftsmen often received higher wages than their fellow countrymen did in other occupations. In addition to an ample amount of technical information about logging and lumbering operations, the book includes enough discussions of Chinese camp life and material culture. The book also offers a general picture of race relations in the industry. This pioneering work successfully delineates the Chinese critical role in the frontier lumber trade and western development at large.

Archaeology · Business · China · Economic history · Geography · Immigration · Political science · Prosperity · Settlement (finance) · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · History of Science and Medicine · Law