A network of canals, marshes and swamps fed by rain from the Sierra Nevada Mountains forms the tranquil California Delta, about fifty miles south of Sacramento.
Over the years, waves of immigrants have settled in this fertile area that stretches along the Sacramento River.
But among the vineyards and family farms that dot the area, the small town of Locke, California, occupies a different place in history as the only settlement in the United States developed by the Chinese people for the Chinese people.
Locke’s narrow main street looks more like an alley.
Centuries-old, weathered wooden buildings and houses with projecting balconies flank each side of the road, transporting visitors to a time when this community of 60 people was once a bustling Chinese center filled with schools, a movie theater , Hotels and restaurants.
Today, Locke remains the best-preserved example of the rural Chinese settlements that once dotted Northern California, and remains the only one where some of the descendants of the town’s original settlers still own and run businesses. .
Visiting the last rural Chinese town in the US, with its old Chinese school, its various boarding houses, game rooms and men’s associations preserved today as museums, offers a fascinating insight into the lives of immigrants from the Asian giant and the influence culture they had in their new homeland.
When news of the California gold rush reached China in 1848, thousands of Chinese prospectors flocked to the Sierra foothills hoping to strike it rich.
They referred to California as Gam Saan or “Golden Mountain” and enjoyed initial success before other resentful miners tried to drive them out.
In 1850, California imposed a heavy tax on foreign miners that was aimed at Chinese gold seekers, who would soon be violently attacked by other miners. Over time, many Chinese workers sought other opportunities, such as farming and building the transcontinental railroad.
The California Swamp and Flood Act of 1861 opened the Delta’s previously inhospitable swamplands to the possibility of agriculture by allowing landowners and private companies to drain them.
This opportunity attracted thousands of immigrants from China’s Guangdong (formerly Canton) region skilled in draining swamps and building dams in the Pearl River Delta.
These reclamation projects led to the establishment of small settlements for Chinese workers along the California delta.
Between 1860 and 1880, Chinese workers drained and reclaimed a staggering 88,000 acres of Delta soil, leaving an indelible mark on the landscape and helping transform the region into the agricultural powerhouse it is today.
“The Chinese took immense pride in their work,” says Carol Lee, who grew up in the Delta and attended a Chinese school in Locke in the 1960s. Today she plays a leading role in the Locke Foundation Oral History Project, that educates the public about the city’s legacy.
“We didn’t own the land, but we had the knowledge. We came from the Pearl River Delta and knew how to develop the dams and cultivate the land,” he adds.
But as with the hostilities they faced during the Gold Rush, many Chinese farm workers soon faced backlash from whites who accused them of taking their jobs.
In response to this growing anger and racism, the government enacted a series of discriminatory laws that severely restricted the rights of the Chinese.
Beginning in 1872, California passed a series of laws prohibiting Chinese from owning land or obtaining business licenses.
This was followed by the US Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, which effectively stopped further Chinese immigration and naturalization until it was repealed in 1943.
In 1913, California passed the Alien Land Act that specifically prohibited “aliens ineligible for citizenship” from owning agricultural land or renting it for more than three years.
Despite these restrictions, Chinese workers developed a thriving Chinatown in Walnut Grove, located one mile south of Locke.
In 1880, the town of 814 was home to more than 100 Sze Yap Chinese and Zhongshan Chinese from Guangdong Province, as well as some Japanese immigrants. However, a fire destroyed the area on October 7, 1915, displacing hundreds of families.
A group of Chinese and Japanese from Sze Yap rebuilt their homes in Walnut Grove by entering into agreements with landowners to lease their land and construct buildings on their properties. However, Lee Bing was not one of them.
Bing, also known as “Charlie,” was a prominent Walnut Grove businessman and one of the few Chinese immigrants who spoke English.
After making a fortune in his first seven years in the U.S., he built a gambling house in Walnut Grove in 1908, followed with a second, a hardware store, a dry goods store, a barber shop, a billiard hall, and a Chinese herbal medicine shop.
When it hit, the fire destroyed all seven of Bing’s businesses.
The day after the fire, a committee of Zhongshan merchants, led by Bing, approached local businessman George Locke Jr to negotiate a deal over his land.
Locke, who had already allowed three other Chinese merchants to lease land and build houses on his property in 1912, agreed to lease nine more acres of his land to Zhongshan merchants, charging them a “ground rent” of $5 a month for the lots. residential and 10 dollars per month for commercial lots.
It was a gentlemen’s agreement that lasted for years and, as a result, the settlement formerly called Lockeport became known as Locke.
Locke’s new residents of Zhongshan would soon build a textile shop and salon, a hotel, a restaurant, and an arcade in their small enclave.
This was followed by 45 one- and two-story wood-frame buildings between 1915 and 1917. Since the residents could not own the land, and since they viewed Locke as a temporary residence, they opted for less expensive materials. Many buildings were left unpainted and were only covered with corrugated zinc tiles.
“To me, it looks like a city [fronteriza] Western,” says Clarence Chu, vice president of the Locke Foundation. And today, the city looks almost the same as it did 100 years ago.
Beginning in 1915, hundreds of Chinese workers settled in Locke, working in nearby canneries and on local Delta farms.
However, his contributions were not limited to manpower. The residents established a Chinese school, where most children learned calligraphy and took Chinese lessons.
According to Lee, “This school was not only a place of education, but also a center of cultural preservation, ensuring that the next generation learned about their Chinese heritage.”
During its heyday, between the 1920s and 1940s, Locke was a thriving, culturally unique city with a population of approximately 600 people, most of whom were Chinese.
The town included a Chinese-owned movie theater, six restaurants, nine grocery stores, a hotel, boarding houses, and a flour mill. The Sacramento Bee newspaper described it as the “Monte Carlo of California” because its illegal gambling halls operated freely until authorities closed them in 1951.
Once the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed in 1943, descendants of Locke’s original Chinese families began moving in search of better opportunities to nearby cities. Today, only a small fraction of Locke’s 60 residents are Chinese.
But according to Min Zhou, director of the new documentary Voices: Chinese Women of the Delta, about how Chinese women helped shape the California Delta, Locke’s true legacy is how “the city successfully provided refuge from the shadow of discrimination, allowing Chinese immigrants to find a way to survive and contribute to the Delta.”
Although Locke’s population declined in the 1960s, the exodus did not destroy the city. “Locke was always a sustainable place. Everyone knew and respected each other. The friendly interaction between the townspeople provided a social cohesion that remains today,” Lee says.
“Some of those who left have returned to help restore the city.”
In 1990, Locke became a National Historic Landmark, with the U.S. Department of the Interior noting that “the Locke Historic District is the largest and most complete example of a Chinese American rural and agricultural community in the United States.” .”.
However, around the same time, Locke was facing critical infrastructure problems. His septic system was failing and his most recent Chinese and non-Chinese residents did not yet own the land on which their homes and businesses were built.
However, in 2004, the Sacramento Housing and Revitalization Authority (SHRA) intervened by purchasing the land, subdividing it, making major city repairs, and selling it back to residents.
Finally, with the help of the SHRA, the original residents of Locke and their descendants were finally able to receive ownership of the land where they had lived for generations.
Today, many of Locke’s original buildings are still in use. The former gambling hall is now the Dai Loy Museum, which displays the tables where Chinese games such as Pai Ngow, Fan Tan and the Chinese lottery were played, along with many historical photographs.
The former boarding house is now a museum preserving Chinese tools, clothing and other artifacts from the early 20th century.
The Joe Shoong School House serves as the Locke Chinese School Museum, where visitors can see the original classroom and desks used by students 100 years ago.
The Jan Ying Associated Building Museum offers a glimpse of the social club that was only open to male immigrants from Zhongshan. And Al the Wops, the first non-Chinese business that opened in Locke in 1934 in a former restaurant built by Bing in 1915, remains a popular restaurant among tourists and locals.
In recent decades, many artists attracted by the town’s unique character have moved into Locke’s original half-timbered houses and formed a close-knit bohemian community with the few remaining original residents and descendants.
While the city is quiet during the week, a few tourists visit on weekends, many of whom arrive via River Road, which runs parallel to the Sacramento River and is one of the most beautiful routes in the Delta.
“People realize the historical importance of Locke,” says Stuart Walthall, president of the Locke Foundation.
“Locke is a legacy for those who endured alienation, poverty and discrimination, and then prospered. “Locke provided a place of refuge in an unwelcoming world, and we should celebrate that.”
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