We enjoyed a lovely evening at Judy Bell's home complete with Chinese Chicken Stir Fry. We were pleased that Joe joined us for our meal. I'm glad he got the fortune cookie with the Robert Louis Stevenson quote as he told us "Treasure Island" is his favorite book.
We read a local history book written by Stehekin resident Ana Maria Spagna, "Pushed, Miners, a Merchant and (Maybe) a Massacre". The author investigated a tale of Chinese miners, maybe 300 of them, who might have been pushed off the cliffs at Chelan Falls in 1875, supposedly by Indians. Spagna made a personal journey, contacting many different people who each had a different version of this tale. At times rambling, inconsistent and contradicting, no definite conclusion came of her investigation. She did provide insightful descriptions of Chinese immigrant life in the late 1800's, from the Tri-Cities area, Wenatchee, Entiat, Chelan, Chelan Falls and north to the Canadian border.
Of interest were many local historic facts, such as the streets of Chelan being named for the (maybe) murderers. It reminded me of all the famous names in California who were all the biggest of crooks. The first wall between the US and Mexico was called for by the first territorial governor, Kearney, to keep the Chinese out. White folks were glad to have them do all the hard work - farm laborers, builders of railroads, gold miners - but didn't want them around once the work was accomplished. "They worked hard...They were quiet, honest, dependable, and therefore were treated most abominably, worse than Indians." I'm always amazed when any one group is singled out as we all, except for Native Americans, are immigrants ourselves.
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