Chinese Miners Have Tough Time on Sailor Gulch

Sailor Gulch, Josephine County, 1864

The Chinese could be counted among the earliest of miners in South West Oregon and promptly poured into the areas richest mining districts within the first few years of their establishment. Sailor Diggings, better known as the Waldo Mining District, which was Oregon's first and now oldest organized mining district, was no different in this regard. With their sing-song accent, odd customs and strange manner of dress, the Chinese often took the brunt of the abuse which was dished out by the toughs of the early rough and tumble mining camps. In most of the early mining camps, not only did the Chinese enjoy little in the way of rights, but quite often, they were also afforded little to no protection by the existing law. This however, was not necessarily the case in Sailor Diggings, where in 1864, the early government of Josephine County investigated a major crime against a company of Chinese miners and successfully prosecuted the white perpetrators.

On the evening of February 22^nd, 1864 a company of Chinese miners working in Sailor Gulch were relaxing for the night. The nine men, (identified in the records as best as their names could be pronounced) were named Gou, You, Ohu, Hung, Ran, I, Fook, Sit and Toh and they had just completed a hard day's work and were preparing for dinner. All the while, the rest of the small mining community were attending a ball at the nearby town of Waldo. At around 6:30 PM, as most of the other men lounged about the room smoking opium and reading “China books”, Hung went outside to fetch a load of firewood.

While their partner was outside, three men slipped through the front door, drew their pistols and quietly took the eight Chinese miners captive. When Hung came back into the house with an armload of firewood, one of the men shoved the barrel of his revolver against his back and ordered him to tie the queues (pigtails) of his friends together. Once they were restrained, one of the men came forward and tied Hung's hair into the knot of his compatriots pigtails.

Having the situation completely under their control and knowing that the rest of the community was too occupied with their festivities to intervene, over the next two and a half hours, two of the men went through every nook and cranny of the house in search of their valuables, while the third man kept guard over their prisoners. Whenever one of the captives fidgeted or attempted to speak, the guard would promptly strike him over the head and threaten to shoot them all down like dogs if they watched as his fellow outlaws scoured the building for loot.

All in total, the three bandits stole the following items:

Three jackets belonging to I. One clasp knife, one bone handled knife, one pair of boots, a sliver watch worth $15.00 and a revolver belonging to Ohu. A carpet bag, one hat, awhite handled sheath knife and a clasp knife belonging to Gou. A gold ring worth $8.00 and a pair of boots with plates on their heels belonging to You. One hat belonging to Fook. They also located nearly 15 ounces (then about $250 worth) of gold that had been secreted away in various locations throughout the house.

To illustrate the thoroughness of the crooks, the records indicate that the gold had been split among three separate purses, one of which contained $110 and belonged to the company and was hidden underneath a pillow on the bed, another $84 worth belonged to I and was hidden in a box, while the remaining $56 worth belonged to You and was hidden in the blankets. Meanwhile, the pistol and the knives had also been hidden inside of several beds, while the watch had been hanging on a wall and the gold ring had been wrapped inside of a handkerchief that was again, hidden inside of a bed.

After being satisfied with their takings, the three men walked out the door, climbed aboard their horses and raced off into the winter night.

Once the Chinamen finally managed to free themselves, they promptly summoned the local authorities. The victims described their assailants as three white men, one of them with a blond beard, one with a dark beard and the third with nearly red hair and beard. The red haired fellow was described as being about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, while the dark haired outlaw was rather short and the remaining man had a missing tooth.

Sheriff Jeff Howell and one of his deputies, George M. Banks, followed the footprints of the men and then promptly mounted up and trailed the group of outlaws over the next several days into California where they were holed up at Tenmile House in the mining camp of Yreka. The three men surrendered without incident and were brought back to Oregon where they were lodged in the Kerbyville Jail. Once held, the men were promptly identified and were found to still be in possession of the majority of their loot.

On the second Monday of April, 1864, at a regular circuit court of Josephine County, Judge P.P. Primm called together J. Kennedy, A,F. Mitchell, Daniel Green, John L. Powell, James Turner, James Turnbull and Henry Thomas as jurors. John Powell was appointed as foreman and Dan Green was elected court clerk. Some of these names will be recognized as notable early miners in Southern Oregon. John Powell is of course, the man that Powell Creek was named for, while Dan Green, along with his brother George, discovered the famous Sugar Pine Mine near the mouth of Mill Creek in the Galice District.

With very little fanfare, the three outlaws (who never would identify themselves by name) were tried, convicted and sentenced to hard time at Oregon State Prison in Oregon City.