Idaho Gold: An Analysis of the Ophir Creek Brewery, a nineteenth century Chinese Community

Summary

In 1860 gold was found in Pierce, Idaho. By 1870, the population of the Boise Basin alone reached 3,834 individuals, 46 percent of whom were Chinese. Many immigrants settled in Placerville, Idaho. Between 2002-2003 archaeologists at the Boise National Forest conducted excavations at the Ophir Creek Brewery. This work discusses excavations at the Ophir Creek Brewery, a part of town occupied by many of the Chinese immigrants. Analysis of the archaeological materials recovered from the Ophir Creek Brewery adds significant information to the knowledge about Chinese communities in the Boise Basin, and the Inland Northwest. This work highlights the importance of working on "old" collections as well as sheds new light on how Chinese communities in Idaho negotiated forces of assimilation, transition, and traditionalism and contributes to a broader understanding of how these forces helped to shape Chinese life in the turn of the century American West.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Writing Inequality, Endurance, and Transnationalism: The Archaeology of Chinese and Japanese Immigrants and their Descendants in North America   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2017

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 445