County of remains: Lawrence County
Location of remains: Lower Main St., Deadwood
There is no marker specific to these remains, but, a marker about Chinatown located here. I show that text below the dividing line.
The first two seasons of HBO’s Deadwood portrayed the Chinese as rough, hardworking, shadowy underworld characters. But is this portrayal really true? Milch states on HBO’s Deadwood website, “I want to make it clear that I’ve had my ass bored off by many things that are historically accurate.”
So much for the truth, the feeding humans to hogs, - never happened ~ prostitutes kept in cages - never happened...all TV dream shop.
"Another successful way that they made money was by opening a laundry service. Think about it—a large population of young, dirty, hungry miners with excess cash (or gold dust). These men did not waste their time cleaning their clothes and cooking their food; they were in Deadwood to find gold.
"The Chinese laundry operators were pretty clever. They saved the wash water from the miners’ clothes and sluiced it, recovering gold dust—in other words, mining the miners. Half the recorded Chinese population in Lawrence County, of which Deadwood was the county seat, were involved in the laundry business, according to the 1880 U.S. Census.
"The number of Chinese who owned restaurants was greater than those owned by Caucasians. The 1898 Black Hills Residence and Business Directory listed 11 restaurants in Deadwood, seven of which were Chinese-owned. The Chinese learned to cook what American prospectors wanted to eat—for the most part, steak, potatoes and other standard fare. Wong Kee, the owner of the Bodega Café, had a standing joke with his patrons. “What kind of pie do you want?” he’d ask. The diner would name his favorite pie. Wong would then laugh and say, “We have apple.”
"Fee Lee Wong used his profits from his mining claim to open the Wing Tsue Emporium on Deadwood’s Main Street. Wing Tsue is Cantonese for Assembly of Glories. Fee Lee spoke English well and was respected by and socialized with the non-Chinese community.
"His advertisement in the 1898 directory reads: “Wing Tsue, Dealer in Chinese Groceries and Provisions. Chinaware and Japanese Goods, Silk Handkerchiefs, Silks and Dry Goods of all Kinds. Fireworks, Chinese Curios, Novelties, Etc., Etc. I also carry a full line of Chinese Medicines, Chinese shoes and Clothing. Americans as well as Chinese are invited to call and Inspect my goods.” ~ TRUE WEST: Written by Bill Markley Published May 31, 2006
Chinatown
Although the Chinatowns of New York, San Francisco, and Chicago are more well known, these ethnic enclaves weren't exclusive to America's urban centers. There were many Chinatowns in Western boomtowns, including one right here on Deadwood's Lower Main Street.
The California Gold Rush of 1849 combined with political upheaval in China sent Chinese fortune seekers streaming 7,300 miles across the Pacific to seek their fortunes. They were among the first to arrive in Deadwood Gulch during the 1876 Black Hills Gold Rush. By 1880, the Chinese population in Dakota Territory was 230. Nearly all of them lived in Deadwood, where the Chinese population was 221 - 202 men and 19 women. Throngs of settlers fought for a spot to prospect gold, but many Chinese set up shop to accommodate the needs of the growing mining camp. While miners were bringing home $4 to $7 per day, many Chinese chose to "mine the miners." A laundromat could bring in $10 per day.
From the late 1870s through the 1910s, this portion of Deadwood Main Street was lined with grocers, boarding houses, bakeries, opium dens, gambling halls and stables, primarily operated by and for Chinese immigrants.
However the area wasn't exclusive to one ethnic group: many white settlers did business here, and even Calamity Jane once lived in a shack in Chinatown. The cultural character of the neighborhood, however, was decidedly Eastern. On the Chinese New Year, a giant dragon paraded through the streets. For funeral processions, fireworks exploded to expel evil spirits while Deadwood City Brass band would wail on with the mourners.
Global political and economic changes gradually pulled Deadwwood's Chinese residents away, some returned to their homeland, while others moved to Chinatowns in larger American cities. The last representative of Deadwood's Chinese population - a janitor named Ching Ong and called Teeter by the locals - moved away in 1931. There are few remnants of Deadwood's Chinatown. Its approximate boundaries extended from the Wild Bill Hickock statue south on Main Street for about 600 feet (183 meters).