Roseburg, OR - Douglas County Museum
Right off the I5, there’s the Douglas County Museum. This is more of a natural history museum. It’s great for children. Although not mentioned at the Museum, there was approximately 200 or so people working in the area. Like the history of many Chinese laborers, they aided in building the railroad to connect Oregon with California. The Chinese also created irrigation by developing the ditches. Like Red Bluff and many other parts of the West Coast, you will find rock walls built by the Chinese in Baker City, OR. Throughout Oregon, there were several massacres of the Chinese.
The Museum has one small exhibit of the 20th Century Chinese working in a fishing factory. A uniform is on display. In the rear of the Museum, there is a depot. The Depot only has a picture of Lem Queue, who worked for the Hamilton family. A large trunk is next to his picture, this trunk is quite similar to Red Bluff’s Chew You’s early 1881 voyage trunk.
At some point the Masonic Lodge allowed the Chinese to have a temporary burial before exhuming the bodies back to the motherland’s ancestral family plot. It was not uncommon for the Chinese to have their own Masonic Lodge or to be a member thereof. In any event, it was always important to the Chinese laborers that their employers kept their promise and exhumed their bodies to their ancestral lands.
Cemetery Location:
Lat: 43.2234° (43° 13' 24")
Lon: -123.3581° (-123° 21' 29")
Although the The Pioneer Indian Museum, does not have any Chinese artifacts or exhibit it does have a very sweet story regarding China Sam who lived in Roseburg, OR. He worked at the Hermann home when he was young. He later lost his legs and operated a store. Stopping here is a good stop to stretch your legs.
