Umatilla County

Chinese Ceremonial Furnace, Olney Cemetery, Pendleton.
The ceremonial furnace is surrounded by contemporary grave markers bearing Chinese names. The furnace is used to burn paper offerings as a way to help the deceased in the afterlife. The burning occurs during the April Ching Ming ceremony, a time when the grave sites are cleaned and offerings of food are made.  Reference: “Chinese Performed Memorial Rites at Olney Cemetery” 1992: 3-5; McDannold 2000: 82.

Chinese House/Oregon Railroad & Navigation Museum.

The museum, located at the corner of Bonanza Street and Bridge Street in the community of Echo, is Chinese House. It  was initially a bunkhouse for Chinese railroad workers. Dating to 1880, it was the first one constructed with the so-called White House being built second. The White House was the residential unit for non-Chinese workers. The museum, celebrating the Oregon Railroad and Navigation Company (today’s Union Pacific Railroad), is housed in Chinese House. Reference: City of Echo 2002: 95.

Echo Chinese Laundries.

The City of Echo continued to have at least two Chinese laundries by 1910. The first was located in a shed behind today’s Liesegang House at 10 N. Dupont Street, the Liesegang House itself not being built until 1917. The second laundry was behind the Hotel Echo. Reference: City of Echo 2002: 15, 93.

Echo Chinese Restaurant.

Nib Ying operated a Chinese restaurant on the ground floor of the Hotel Echo in 1915. He advertised “Chinese Noodles and Chop Suey. Fresh Bread for Sale Also.” The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1925.

Reference: City of Echo 2002: 93.

Hop Sing’s.  Pendleton.

Hop Sing’s, located in the City of Pendleton, was a laundry offering hot baths to Euro Americans and Chinese alike. It was located in the systems of tunnels beneath the city.

(See Tours, Pendleton Underground Tours, Umatilla County).

Reference: Millwright 2004: 14.

 

Pendleton Chinatown. Pendleton.

The Pendleton Chinatown was in the area of SW 1st Street and Emigrant Avenue in Pendleton. It offered housing as well as laundries, barbershop, restaurants, grocery store, drug store and various retail shops.  It is currently part of the Pendleton Historic District that is on the National Registry of Historic Places. ( See Tours, Pendleton Underground Tours, Umatilla County). Reference:  “Chinese in Umatilla County”; Tidswell 1992: 10.

 

Pendleton Underground. Pendleton.

Dug by the Chinese, the tunnels were initially a series of delivery passage ways joining one business with another in downtown Pendleton. Eventually, the passages were connected, forming a network extending from the train station to the river.  The tunnels became the sleeping quarters for Chinese as well as housing various businesses. (See Hop Sing’s, Umatilla County). Reference: Millwright 2004: 14.

References

“Chinese in Umatilla County.” http://www.ccrh.org/comm/umatilla/primary/chinese2.htm/ Accessed October 5, 2010.

“Chinese Perform Memorial Rites at Olney Cemetery.” 1992. Pioneer Trails. Umatilla County Historical Society, Summer: 3-5.

City of Echo. 2002. Echo’s Cultural Inventory. http://www.echo-oregon.com/coeinventory1.pdf/ Accessed September 20, 2010.

Millwright the, Jake. 2004. “Pendleton-Elephant Rock and the Chinese Underground.” The Sagebrush News, May 23: 1, 14.

McDannold, Thomas A. 2000. California’s Chinese Heritage: A Legacy of Places. Stockton, California, Heritage West Books.

Tidswell, David. 1992. “Early Pendleton Was Site for Chinese Community.” Pioneer Trails. Umatilla County Historical Society, Summer: 6-16.