Eastward to Northeastern Nevada: Tuscarora

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Nevada experience and looks at the large mining town of Tuscarora that the Chinese helped settle at the conclusion of the construction of the first transcontinental railroad. The Chinese miners and merchants in the new boomtown of Tuscarora had a different experience from those in Grant County, Oregon, primarily because Nevada allowed them to own property (including mining claims). Two Chinese merchants who headed rival brotherhoods were the leaders of the Chinese community and one, Ah Lee Lake of the Zhigongtang (Chinese Free Masons) even remained in the town long after mining had declined and most of the Chinese had left. The Chinese in Nevada became successful even though the nature of mining had become more technical and the national anti-Chinese movement that led to the passage of the Chinese exclusion acts was intensifying.