With the joining of east and west railroads at Promontory Point, Utah in 1869, a new era of American History began. Many lives had been lost and construction costs exceeded $165,000,000. The Union Pacific workers were mainly Irish immigrants or Civil War veterans, whereas the Central Pacific employed Chinese who had been miners in the California gold rush. Most were without jobs now that the railroad work was over, so hundreds of Chinese turned their sites toward Idaho gold fields.
The Idaho Territorial legislature, alarmed at the influx of Chinese, passed a law taxing Chinese miners four dollars a month. The Legislature, in 1865, increased the tax to five dollars and required them to have a license. The tax collectors got twenty percent of the money collected.
In 1865 a large number of Chinese embarked from a boat at Lewiston on their way to the mines at Orofino and Pierce. Some stayed to become successful businessmen. They built a joss house or temple where joss sticks of fragrant incense was burned to honor their five gods. A Chinese Masonic Lodge was organized.
At first, most Chinese came as laborers to work the mines, but soon they were buying mines as the owners moved south to the Boise Basin. They were still aliens and weren't allowed to own the mines, but they worked them anyway employing guards to protect their diggings. The early placer miners started at the top end of a claim and washed all the soil down towards the creek. The Chinese started at the creek bed, washing all the tailings down including the undisturbed soil under the tailings. Many made as much money as the original miners.
Mine labors were usually paid $6-$7 a day. At Pierce, the huge Chinese labor force of 800 were paid $2 a day.
Many went into business for themselves. They started laundries and would shake out the gold dust from miners’ clothes before laundering. Some worked as servants. Gambling houses with opium dens flourished. Restaurants and herb stores opened.
One of the most famous Chinese was Polly. A little over four foot tall, born in China in 1853, she was sold into slavery by her father in exchange for seed to plant his next farm crop. Polly was smuggled to Portland by an old man for $1500. She was taken by pack train to the mining town of Warrens. At the age of 19, in 1872, she worked in a saloon. Polly had been taught the art of gold-smithing. She would buy gold nuggets from her friends and make trinkets to sell.
At the saloon, Polly met Charlie Bemis who saved her several times from threatening situations. He was a quiet man with a stern personality and knew how to use a six-shooter. In a poker game, a man shot him through the left cheek - just missing an eye. Polly cared for him until he recovered. One August 13, 1894, the two were married by a justice of peace. They left Warrens and took up a small homestead at the mouth of Crooked Creek on the Salmon River. Two years later, Polly received her Certificate of Residence under an Act of Congress of November 3, 1893.
Their ranch of 15 acres grew plums, pears, grapes, cherries, strawberries, corn, clover and watermelons. They had a cow, chickens and ducks. Meat also came from wild game in the forests and fish in the river.
Charlie Bemis died in 1922 and was buried on the river bank. Polly had gardening help from two neighbors across the river. They helped provide her with wood, game and necessities. A telephone line connected the parties. She entered into an agreement with them by which, in return for her care, they would inherit the property. Friends from her past took her to see her first motion picture show and first trains at Grangeville in 1924.
Declining health forced Polly to move to Grangeville in 1933 to a nursing home. She died in November 1933, at the age of 81, and was buried in the Prairie View Cemetery in Grangeville. Many of her clothes, jewelry and photos were donated to St. Gertrude's Convent at Cottonwood, Idaho.
Polly had expressed a desire to be buried near Charlie on the Salmon River. In 1987 her house, on the river, was turned into a museum. Polly's remains were reburied nearby.
Chinese came west to work on the railroads and in the mines hoping to earn enough money to retire in China. Some did return home, but most drifted into the crowded Chinatowns of San Francisco and large eastern cities.