Chinese Camp

On the other side of Jamestown, southwest of Sonora, lies the small town of Chinese Camp (pop. 174). Part of this settlement is the remains of a town that was once a major town in this part of gold country.

Chinese Camp is the remnant of a notable California Gold Rush mining town. The settlement was first known as "Camp Washington" or "Washingtonville" and one of the few remaining streets is Washington Street. Some of the very first Chinese laborers arriving in California in 1849 were driven from neighboring Camp Salvado and resettled here, and the area started to become known as "Chinee" or "Chinese Camp" or "Chinese Diggings". At one point, the town was home to an estimated 5,000 Chinese.

And there was money to be had here:

An 1860 diary says Chinese Camp was the metropolis for the mining district, with many urban comforts. While placer mining had played out in much of the Gold Country by the early 1860s, it was still active here as late as 1870. An 1899 mining bulletin listed the total gold production of the area as near US$2.5 million.

 Things have changed quite drastically in the intervening decades. These old buildings left standing from its former life have stories to tell. This one looks as if it could have been a boarding house.

Standing years under this unforgiving, cloudless sky, these remnants appear to be reminders of poor people in plain houses in a barren place.

But there are many indications of the lives that once filled these spaces. Screened windows, front yard fences, painted walls all point to a place that was cared for and well lived in.