The Chinese in Silver City

Go down Second Street to Jordan Street. To the right is the BLM campgrounds which was the location of Silver City's Chinatown. It is estimated that by 1870, following the repeal of an Idaho law prohibiting Chinese people from mining in the territory, over 5,000 Chinese people were working as miners or laboring to support the industry in Idaho alone. Some researchers estimate about 700 Chinese miners lived in the Silver City area in the 1870s. Many lived in this area of town though little remains of their homes or even their final resting place in the Chinese Cemetery as their bodies were sent back to China as was the custom in those days. Chinese workers dug miles of trenches for the mining companies, did most of the washing, planted gardens, cooked, and cleaned for as little as 50 cents a week.

Many Silver City pioneers wrote about the Chinese New Year celebrations held in town and Chinese funeral processions where the deceased men would be carried up Slaughter House Gulch to the sound of the small Chinese band. Thousands of small red papers were scattered along the route as the legend had it the devil had to pick up all the bits of paper before he could possess the deceased. If there was enough paper, he would be busy until the dead man could make his way to the celestial heaven. A host of food and drink were also placed on the grave to appease the angry devil when he finally arrived. 

Unfortunately nothing remains of Silver City's Chinatown.