There’s a Hole in my Bucket! (But I Put it There on Purpose): Modified Can Use at Rural Woodcutting Camps in Mineral County, Nevada

Author(s): Emily S. Dale

Year: 2015

Summary

In 2014, in conjunction with the University of Nevada-Reno, I led a Forest Service Passport in Time project in a survey of rural Chinese woodcutting camps surrounding the turn-of-the-century mining boomtowns of Aurora, Nevada and Bodie, California. In addition to the expected glass bottle fragments, rusting cans, and Chinese-related ceramics and opium tins, we discovered a large portion of the material culture, specifically cans, buckets, and other metal objects, had been modified and repurposed for a variety of new uses. This poster explores the various types of modified metal artifacts and their implications for understanding the lives of rural Chinese woodcutters. Overall, this research is instrumental in providing a more holistic regional perspective of the Chinese throughout the late 1800s and early 1900s in urban and rural environments of western Nevada, particularly addressing their contributions to the mining industry of the West. 

Cite this Record

There’s a Hole in my Bucket! (But I Put it There on Purpose): Modified Can Use at Rural Woodcutting Camps in Mineral County, Nevada. Emily S. Dale. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Seattle, Washington. 2015 ( tDAR id: 434145)

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Keywords

Spatial Coverage

min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 442