Original US Post Office And Store In Chinese Camp Royalty-Free Stock Photo

Original US Post Office and Store 1854 Chinese Camp was home to 5,000 Chinese miners in addition to as many Americans and Europeans. Many of the Chinese immigrants were servants to Englishmen. The mines were rich with gold a value of $2.5 million was removed from the area. The Chinese were pushed out of Sonora, located a few miles to the north, and settled in what would be called Chinese Camp in 1849. The original names were Camp Washington and Washingtonville.The first post office and store opened in 1854. As the town grew, Chinese Camp became a transportation hub for stage coach lines and express offices. The town was composed of a store, hotels, two joss houses (Chinese temple of worship), blacksmith shop, church, school, bank, the Wells Fargo Express office, Masonic Lodge and cemetery. Adams Express began in Chinese Camp before Wells Fargo was established as a viable business.The gold lay just below the surface of the ground but the work was hard because there was no water nearby. All the gold had to be hauled to a creek to be washed. The Chinese worked the mines and were successful where other miners had given up. When they had an argument, they settled it with a “Tong.” Instead of using guns, the men used pitch forks, rakes and other mining tools as weapons. A few Chinese were killed and many wounded during their fights.https: sierranevadageotourism.org entries chinese-camp-no-423-california-historical-landmark bb258d77-a52f-4a27-ae47-17e6fb91e40e