The National tribune., 1902-06-05
THE CHINESE MINER,
He is Disappearing Before the March of
Modern Methods.

One of the most picturesque figures in
the development of Americas vastly
varied resources was the Chinese miner
of the Pacific Coast: and in the gold-rush
days of California, in the gold and cop
per boom of British Columbia. in all the
mining history of the Pacific Coast, he
has been one of the most interesting char
acters of life full of romance; but the
Chinese miner is disappearing, for the
days of placer mining are nearly done, and
the Chinaman, because of the temporal
ment which is As much part ard
popularity of him as his narrow, slantins
eyes, Will be a placer miner only In
California, Oregon, and British Columbia
days. thousands of the yellow Ceicstials
made great fortunes which they were very
careful 10 conceal until they returned to
their own Flower country, there to live
in splendor among their people. They
made their money in placer mining and
the gold which they accumulated they
washed from the loose surface ore. They
seldom went under ground; they had a
strange fear of mine where men work
day and night by the dim light of the lit
tie glimmering lamp of their caps under
the treacherous mountains Of rock. Yet
miners who have worked for years in the
same camps with Cinnamon say that in
other respects the yellow men show a
strange courage.
In the southern part of British Column
bia, particularly in the Similkameen Val
ley, there are rich copper mines with an
occasional streak of gold, and at one time
in this mining district there were many
Chinese placer miners. Patient and indus
trious, they would stand during the long
hours of the day. their bare legs in water
that was ice cold. 1t was the water Of
the mountain streams, clear as crystal and
piercingly frigid, coming directly from
fields of melting SNOW. 1t was a test that
no white man could endure. The icy wa
ter brought the white man immediate
pain, and its effect aftcrward produced
all sorts of physical ailments. But the
Cinnamon bore it patiently, because they
were making money; they showed a.pecu-
liar courage i'll another way.
At night. when there was no longer
light to wash out gold, the Cinnamon
would go often Il long distance to their
camps, to reach which they would be
obliged to pass through the wild. dark
woods. uninhabited excepting by danger
Gus wild beasts. During the intense dark
ness one of these stealthy animals might
creep up softly behind Il man and bear
him down in its great claws befofe he was
aware Of his danger. This lone walk at
night through the trackless forests no
white man would undertake. He realized
too well and feared the dangers. But the
Cinnamon seemed to have no fear of it,
and strangely enough they We're rarely
attacked. Yet the "Chinks'' would not
work underground in mines. Almost in
variably they feared the caving of the
rocks. 1t did require little nerve to
work in these mines, for in the days when
the work was imperfcctly done ''cave-ins"
were frequent.
And there was another peculiar thing
about the Chinese miners-they were
never pioneers. They never took the lead
in the search for fields of precious metals.
They always followed in the footsteps Of
the white man, prefarring to secure by
their superior patience and persistence
what the daring Caucasians passed over
in search of richer opportunities. In the
Similkameen Valley many Cinnamon
fingered after the impatient pioneers had
gone further northward; and in remain
ing there the MOngolians showed for once,
at least, what might seem to be superior
wisdom. for that valley has since de-
vel0ped into one of the richest of the
Pacific Coast, particularly in copper,
which the tremendous demand created by
the extensive and increasing growth of
the use of electricity has made even more
profitable than gOld-mining. For many
years the valley was filled with Cinnamon.
There were Indians there, too, the ma
tves of the country, and white men who
came to push the development the furthest
by the modern methods of mining and
The whites, the Indians, and the