A Northern California Sojourner in Prescott

Document Type

News Article

Publication Title

Prescott (Arizona) Courier

Publication Date

5-16-2004

Abstract

The title to this article is a nod to the 1989 publications about the Chinese that came to Prescott in the 1860s and eventually drifted away by the mid 20th century. They may have never intended to stay in this country, hence the term "sojourner." The first accounts of Chinese in Prescott were in 1869, supposedly shortly after the Union Pacific railroad was complete across the middle of America. The so-called "Celestials" lived and worked mostly along Granite Street behind Whiskey Row. Sometime between 1880 and 1910 the Chinese population hit a peak of a little over 200 (Prescott claimed about 10 times as many people at the time). The 1900 fire was probably the beginning of the end, and the depression in the 1930s whittled the Chinese population to almost nothing. Clear into the late 1940s and early 1950s there are hints in the record that indicate that perhaps some of those Chinese were still here, but for all intents and purposes they were gone.

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