Can you dig it? Archaeological dig in Cedar Creek unearths Chinese story
by Mark Hebert
As if kids in a sandbox, four volunteers carefully scrape away dirt from a rectangle hole they’ve dug in the dirt, sifting through rocks while searching for clues to unveil the story of Cedar Creek residents who called the area home over 100 years ago.
As if kids in a sandbox, four volunteers carefully scrape away dirt from a rectangle hole they’ve dug in the dirt, sifting through rocks while searching for clues to unveil the story of Cedar Creek residents who called the area home over 100 years ago.
Gerry Geske has lived in Superior for 25 years, working as a school psychologist for many of those years. He was one was of a handful of volunteers from Passport in Time, a volunteer archaeology and preservation program of the USDA Forest Service, who is teaming with representatives from The University of Montana in archaeological excavation of early Chinese gold mining settlements in the state.
“It’s very neat to be digging here,” Geske said. “I’m very interested in our local history and being able to put things into perspective.”
As Geske and three of his cohorts carefully excavate an old Chinese hearth – and another such group does the same about 20 yards further up the Lolo National Forest mountain -- Chris Merritt, an archaeologist and doctoral student at The University of Montana, explains that the Chinese in the area were most likely starving near the end of their stay, deducing the tale from a small bone fragment.
“They are just little tiny fragments,” said Merritt. “It looks like the Chinese who were living here were starving. Most of these bones we found are from pigs, some from deer or sheep.”
Merritt said that bones found at a hearth from a 2007 dig in Cedar Creek show that the bones had been processed at least four times until they became smaller and smaller. “Bone has marrow in it and marrow has a lot of fat content,” he said. “If you break a long-bone and boil it in stew, you are actually extracting all of that fat out and giving your body all of those nutrients and helping you survive another day.”
Merritt said that the bones tell a story that the Chinese were starving – possibly because of mistreatment in Idaho – and came to Montana with very little and then had to survive on it.
What last year’s dig also revealed was evidence of opium smoking in Cedar Creek by the Chinese, as 15 small opium trays were found. Merritt said that the trays were all the same weight and were found in front of the same hearth – and none in front of others -- meaning that it is likely that there was one dealer selling opium to the rest of the gulch.
“You can get a very, very personal portrait of what was going on here in the fall of 1870,” he said.
Besides opium and bones, the crew at the lower hearth unearthed a small glass bead and other trinkets.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Cassy Marjerrison shortly after finding a 140-year-old button on the dig. “It makes all of this worth it when you can find items. The bones are cool because they tell a story and hold a lot of information that we didn’t know before and never could have imagined.”
Marjerrison said that she has been on two digs in the past two years, the first near her hometown of Plains where she helped unearth some of the area’s history that otherwise has mostly gone unnoticed.
“It meant a lot to be up there in the town where I grew up and have a lot of family,” she said. “It was pretty neat to be close to home, to that, and be able to tell part of the area’s history. It was very important to me and I hope to work on some more projects up there.”
She said that bones tell a story that is sad, but very interesting.
“You can imagine being up here in the winter and being very hungry and cold,” said Marjerrison.
The Chinese came to Cedar Creek following the discovery of gold in the area by two men from Frenchtown, Louis Barrette and Basil Lanthier. The two men agreed to keep the finding of gold under their hats, but with too many spirits in Lanthier’s belly, drunken bragging alerted residents of Frenchtown and Missoula of the find and a gold rush followed.
In Merritt’s 2007 report entitled The Cedar Creek Chinese Report on Excavations at 24MN249 & 24MN262, he says that by Christmas of 1869, unofficial tallies put the population of the Cedar Creek mines at about 250 with 200 more on the way. Later that winter, the report says, some estimates placed the winter population of Cedar Creek at nearly 3,000 with another 7,000 visiting the area and quickly moving on to other mines elsewhere.
Around that time Louiseville became the first settlement founded near Cedar Creek -- named after Louis Barrette’s wife, Louise – and the Helena Daily Herald reported “where two weeks ago dense forests obstructed the view heavenward, today a fine clearing offers a pleasant contrast to the surrounding somber woods” following the construction of 12 homes and the beginning of building a two-story hotel.
The 1870 Federal Census for the area showed that most of the people in the area were white males, but there were also nine blacks, 21 Indians and 31 Chinese. The Chinese continued to enter Cedar Creek over the summer, and reports in October 1870 suggested that there were at least 300 Chinese individuals at residence in the drainage by the end of September.
The Chinese in the area all those years ago are the main concern of Merritt and his crew as they dug up old earth in Cedar Creek’s China Gulch and Louiseville last week.
On Friday Merritt and the rest of the crew dug around a dilapidated structure that, rumor has it, may have been a saloon in the heyday of Louiseville.
Photos from 1952 show the old building standing, but before long -- due to weathering and growth knocking it down (and at times holding it up) -- the entire structure will most likely fall. He said that Louiseville was most likely not more than 20 acres in size.
“Most of Louiseville was destroyed in the 1930’s when they re-mined here,” said Merritt. “But by 1874 Louiseville was completely deserted, save for a few Chinese residents.”
Merritt added that although the findings that his teams have made in the past few years are significant, looters no doubt have come through the area searching for gold, bottles and trinkets. As of 1974, he explained, it became a felony to take such items from Forest Service lands.
“It’s very neat to be digging here,” Geske said. “I’m very interested in our local history and being able to put things into perspective.”
As Geske and three of his cohorts carefully excavate an old Chinese hearth – and another such group does the same about 20 yards further up the Lolo National Forest mountain -- Chris Merritt, an archaeologist and doctoral student at The University of Montana, explains that the Chinese in the area were most likely starving near the end of their stay, deducing the tale from a small bone fragment.
“They are just little tiny fragments,” said Merritt. “It looks like the Chinese who were living here were starving. Most of these bones we found are from pigs, some from deer or sheep.”
Merritt said that bones found at a hearth from a 2007 dig in Cedar Creek show that the bones had been processed at least four times until they became smaller and smaller. “Bone has marrow in it and marrow has a lot of fat content,” he said. “If you break a long-bone and boil it in stew, you are actually extracting all of that fat out and giving your body all of those nutrients and helping you survive another day.”
Merritt said that the bones tell a story that the Chinese were starving – possibly because of mistreatment in Idaho – and came to Montana with very little and then had to survive on it.
What last year’s dig also revealed was evidence of opium smoking in Cedar Creek by the Chinese, as 15 small opium trays were found. Merritt said that the trays were all the same weight and were found in front of the same hearth – and none in front of others -- meaning that it is likely that there was one dealer selling opium to the rest of the gulch.
“You can get a very, very personal portrait of what was going on here in the fall of 1870,” he said.
Besides opium and bones, the crew at the lower hearth unearthed a small glass bead and other trinkets.
“It’s pretty cool,” said Cassy Marjerrison shortly after finding a 140-year-old button on the dig. “It makes all of this worth it when you can find items. The bones are cool because they tell a story and hold a lot of information that we didn’t know before and never could have imagined.”
Marjerrison said that she has been on two digs in the past two years, the first near her hometown of Plains where she helped unearth some of the area’s history that otherwise has mostly gone unnoticed.
“It meant a lot to be up there in the town where I grew up and have a lot of family,” she said. “It was pretty neat to be close to home, to that, and be able to tell part of the area’s history. It was very important to me and I hope to work on some more projects up there.”
She said that bones tell a story that is sad, but very interesting.
“You can imagine being up here in the winter and being very hungry and cold,” said Marjerrison.
The Chinese came to Cedar Creek following the discovery of gold in the area by two men from Frenchtown, Louis Barrette and Basil Lanthier. The two men agreed to keep the finding of gold under their hats, but with too many spirits in Lanthier’s belly, drunken bragging alerted residents of Frenchtown and Missoula of the find and a gold rush followed.
In Merritt’s 2007 report entitled The Cedar Creek Chinese Report on Excavations at 24MN249 & 24MN262, he says that by Christmas of 1869, unofficial tallies put the population of the Cedar Creek mines at about 250 with 200 more on the way. Later that winter, the report says, some estimates placed the winter population of Cedar Creek at nearly 3,000 with another 7,000 visiting the area and quickly moving on to other mines elsewhere.
Around that time Louiseville became the first settlement founded near Cedar Creek -- named after Louis Barrette’s wife, Louise – and the Helena Daily Herald reported “where two weeks ago dense forests obstructed the view heavenward, today a fine clearing offers a pleasant contrast to the surrounding somber woods” following the construction of 12 homes and the beginning of building a two-story hotel.
The 1870 Federal Census for the area showed that most of the people in the area were white males, but there were also nine blacks, 21 Indians and 31 Chinese. The Chinese continued to enter Cedar Creek over the summer, and reports in October 1870 suggested that there were at least 300 Chinese individuals at residence in the drainage by the end of September.
The Chinese in the area all those years ago are the main concern of Merritt and his crew as they dug up old earth in Cedar Creek’s China Gulch and Louiseville last week.
On Friday Merritt and the rest of the crew dug around a dilapidated structure that, rumor has it, may have been a saloon in the heyday of Louiseville.
Photos from 1952 show the old building standing, but before long -- due to weathering and growth knocking it down (and at times holding it up) -- the entire structure will most likely fall. He said that Louiseville was most likely not more than 20 acres in size.
“Most of Louiseville was destroyed in the 1930’s when they re-mined here,” said Merritt. “But by 1874 Louiseville was completely deserted, save for a few Chinese residents.”
Merritt added that although the findings that his teams have made in the past few years are significant, looters no doubt have come through the area searching for gold, bottles and trinkets. As of 1974, he explained, it became a felony to take such items from Forest Service lands.
Courtesy: Clark Fork Cronicle
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