Laura:
I know of a couple of archeological studies of railroad camps that
might be useful to you. One is:
Rossillon, Mary P.
1984 The Curecanti Archeological Project: The Archeology of
Marion, An Historic Railroad Camp in Curecanti National
Recreation Area, Colorado. Midwest Archeological Center
Occassional Studies in Anthropologoy No. 9, National Park
Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.
You can probably get this through NTIS, or through interlibrary loan
from federal depositories.
These were Italian laborers, but you might find their data useful in
comparison. The cultural material was very parsimonious, and nothing
Italian about it, if I remember right.
Another study was one done by Bill Buckles, I believe, in what I think
was called 40-Mile Canyon, also in Colorado. You might contact the
Colorado Historical Society. That's where I saw a copy of it. Again, I
don't think there were any Chinese there, but it would be useful
comparison.
Cathy Spude
______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Chinese Railroad Workers
Author: L J McIlrath <[log in to unmask]> at NP--INTERNET
Date: 12/9/97 4:12 PM
Hi. I'm currently working on a thesis concerning a Union Pacific section
camp in SW Wyoming where (for a time) a significant proportion of the
inhabitants were Chinese laborers. These laborers left very little in the
way of identifiably 'Chinese' evidence in the archaeological record. What I
would like to do is a general survey of small, isolated work camps,
preferably with a population of Chinese workers, so I can get an idea of the
effects of company control, trade possibilities, worker transiency etc. on
the material in use at these camps. Does anybody out there have references
or information on archaeological excavations at such camps? (I've been
concentrating on RR and mining camps).
Thanks in advance for any help!
By the way, I've seen Jews' Harps in Central Asia and been told they are a
"traditional Kyrghyz instrument" though I think they got them from elsewhere
-- I don't know when. The term in Kyrghyz is Timur Komuz or "Iron lute"
Laura McIlrath
Interdisciplinary Archaeological Studies
University of Minnesota
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