Significant Events in Oregon's Chinese Diaspora: A Timeline Relating to the Winter 2021 Special Issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly

OHQ vol. 122, no. 4 574 Significant Events in Oregon’s Chinese Diaspora© 2021 Oregon Historical Society A Timeline Relating to the Winter 2021 Special Issue of the Oregon Historical Quarterly 1851: Gold rush begins in Oregon. 1857–1859: Oregon constitution is drafted and ratified. 1860: U.S. census identifies 425 Chinese-born residents in Oregon, many of whom are miners in southern Oregon. 1862: Oregon law requires Chinese and other non-White populations in Oregon to pay annual tax of $5 or perform road-maintenance labor at a rate of 50 cents a day. 1862: Gold is discovered on the John Day River and in Grant County, Oregon. 1868: Burlingame Treaty allows for free emigration between the United States and China. 1869: Transcontinental railroad is completed. 1870: Chinese population in Oregon is 3,330, and 42 percent of Grant County’s residents are Chinese, according to the U.S. census. 1875: Page Act passes into law. The law prohibits the recruitment of unfree laborers from “China, Japan, or any Oriental country,” and women “for the purposes of prostitution.” In practice, it effectively prevents Chinese women from immigrating to the United States. 1875: Bing Cherry is developed by Oregon horticulturalist Seth Lewelling with his Chinese foreman, Ah Bing. 1880: Chinese population in Oregon is 9,510, according to the U.S. census, which also notes nineteen Chinese mining companies in Grant County. Significant Events in Oregon’s Chinese Diaspora 575 1880: Angell Treaty updates the 1868 Burlingame Treaty and allows U.S. to restrict migration of Chinese “laborers.” 1882: Chinese Exclusion Act passes into law. The Exclusion Act suspends the immigration of Chinese laborers for ten years and declares Chinese immigrants ineligible for naturalization. 1883–1884: Laborers construct the Buck Rock Tunnel as part of the proposed route on the Oregon and California Railroad. Construction stopped in 1884 and the tunnel remains incomplete. 1885: Fire destroys Chinatown in Canyon City; many Chinese relocate to the Chinatown in nearby John Day. 1886: U.S. Supreme Court decides Yick Wo v. Hopkins, which ruled that the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment applies to non-U.S. citizens as well as U.S. citizens. A violent mob forces Chinese from Oregon City, and Dr. Kum Bow Wo establishes his drug store and medical practice in Salem. 1887: Oregon & California Railroad is completed, making it the first railroad to connect Oregon and California and complete encirclement of the United States by rail. 1887: Ing Hay and Lung On purchase the Kam Wah Chung and Company in John Day, Oregon. 1887: Local residents ambush and murder 34 Chinese miners at Deep Creek in Hells Canyon. 1888: Scott Act is passed into law and eliminates “returning laborers” status allowed under the Chinese Exclusion Act. Returning laborers are stranded outside the United States and are unable to return. 1889: U.S. Supreme Court decides Chae Chan Ping v. United States. This case challenges the Scott Act of 1888. The Supreme Court rejects the challenge and upholds the authority of the U.S. Government to set immigration policy. 1890: Chinese population in Oregon is 9,540, according to the U.S. census. 1891: Wah Chung and Company is established in Ashland. 576 OHQ vol. 122, no. 4 1892: Geary Act, an extension of the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, is passed into law. It extends the Exclusion Act for another ten years and requires Chinese residents to carry a certificate of residence to prove they legally entered the country. 1892: Louie Chung immigrates to Oregon in about this year as a railroad worker with a labor contractor. 1894: Wing Hong Hai Company is established in The Dalles. 1898: U.S. Supreme Court decides United States v. Wong Kim Ark. This case establishes the precedent that any person born in the United States is a citizen by birth regardless of race or parents’ status. 1900: Chinese merchants establish a chapter of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in Portland, Oregon. 1900: Chinese population in Oregon is 10,397, according to the U.S. census. 1902: U.S. Congress makes the Chinese Exclusion Act permanent. 1903: Salem City Council passes ordinance to condemn and destroy buildings in Salem’s Chinatown...