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This rare ranch building
This rare ranch building
Very few buildings, if any, like this exist today in our community or in California. Many of them were bulldozed to make way for housing developments. There are few reminders that our region was originally farms, ranches, vineyards, nurseries, salt and sugar factories.
The Shinn Ranch China Camp buildings were very basic ranch wooden shed buildings. The remaining bunkhouse was part of a self-contained China Camp - with buildings for cooking, sleeping, ranch business, and an outhouse. The 1940s camp had a cook and a barber. Its original location, by the creek, provided water and easily accessible food, like fish and pheasants. The people who lived here were very important to the success of the ranch. Depending on seasonal activities, the number of men who lived in the China Camp would have increased as needed, up to 40 or 50. A "China Boss" contracted for that extra labor.
In the National Register of Historic Places, Asian/Pacific Islander places account for a small percentage of properties. If we preserve this building, it will help to give a voice to these forgotten people who helped build our community.
Luckily the Shinn family, the city, and Mission Peak Heritage Foundation all realized the value of keeping the Chinese Camp around for various reasons. The Shinn family moved the Shinn China Camp up to their barnyard in the 1950s to make way for quarrying along Alameda Creek. In the 1950s and on, our community rushed from rural to suburban. Buildings like this disappeared. The last 4 acres of the historic Shinn Ranch, established in 1856, became a city park in the 1960s. Soon neighborhoods sprung up around the house and barnyard. Today only two buildings remain to tell the stories the bunkhouse and outhouse. Jimmie Fong was asked to leave the bunkhouse in 1974.
In Southern Alameda County, we have rare photos of the China Camps.
What is a "Bunkhouse" versus a "China House"? What is a "China Camp" Find out here
What is a "Bunkhouse" versus a "China House"? What is a "China Camp" Find out here
Maybe you are wondering what is a bunkhouse. Today in our suburban towns, there are few who remember when there were vaqueros, cowboys, ranch laborers, nursery workers, salt and sugar workers, and migrants - who lived where they worked. Many of these workers were single men or men whose families lived elsewhere - back east or across the seas. It is part of our past and the history of the growth of California, now forgotten by many.
Many ranches, farms, vineyards, and nurseries in California had a "China Camp" where workers from China lived. The camp contained buildings for sleeping (bunkhouse), cooking (cookhouse), and doing business (often in the bunkhouse or "China House"), as well as an outhouse.
Chinese immigrants worked for the Shinn Family and lived in a China Camp located along Alameda Creek. There were two bunkhouse buildings for sleeping, one building for cooking, and an outhouse. The census records show men who are married and unmarried living in proximity to the Shinn family. Probably the married men had family at home in China or in San Francisco or Oakland. The Shinn workers worked for the Shinn family during the time period that the Shinn family had a nursery in the 1870s and 1880s and then later when they had a fruit ranch from the 1880s onward. There were times when the Chinese labor was restricted. Milicent Shinn wrote about a visit to the Chinese Camp in 1893 during the Lunar New Year to watch the firecrackers.
A "China Boss" contracted for extra workers during busy periods on the ranch, such as harvest, fruit-drying, and pruning. The workers could also contract for seasonal jobs at adjoining farms, ranches, and nurseries.
How do we know the history of this bunkhouse?
How do we know the history of this bunkhouse?
Only fragments of the history of the Shinn's China Camp exist. There are ledgers from the Shinn family, an old magazine article, memories jotted on the back of pictures, prepared remarks, letters from family, census records, notebooks, aerial photos, and hand-drawn maps.
We are very lucky to have a first hand account by neighbor, Dr. Joshua Fong, who grew up along Alameda Creek - further down the creek from the Shinn Ranch, Stevenson Ranch, and the California Nursery. Joshua's family had a farm and also contracted out work for work at the nearby ranch and nurseries.
Joshua's daughter has been a member of the team since the beginning.
Who lived in the China Camps?
Who lived in the China Camps?
Later in life, Dr. Joshua Fong wrote about his early years in the Washington Township. He described the China Camps that he knew when he was growing up in the 1930s in the Washington Township. "Social life on the farm ... [more]
"... involved visits from our distant relatives working for the California Nursery, owned by George C. Roeding, Jr. or the ranch of Joseph Shinn Sr. There was a Chinese camp on each of these ranches that had a kitchen building with a large wok on top of a brick stove, bunk rooms with hard bunkbeds, such as those found in China, an outhouse and a small vegetable garden.
The Shinn camp, situated on the edge of Niles Lake had a fish trap fashioned out of rice sacks, much like those observed in later life on a trip through China. Among those cousins and uncles I remember were Fong Day Ngin, served as the camp barber in his spare time; Fong Buck Ngee, the camp cook; two Fong Gwei Mao, one being called Big Mao and the other Small Mao; and Lum Wa Sung, who eventually brought his wife over from China and established his own family unit and farm in Niles. The Camp of the California Nursery was often our resting point as it was midway on our one-mile trek to school each day. [note it was actually 3 miles!] From the Shinn camp was Fong Hung Bong, who was the labor camp leader because he could drive and speak English. He used to drive his old 1929 Dodge truck the five miles to visit us. Fong Hung Bong was an envied one because he was the only one to own a real automobile. We later inherited that old Dodge, but it was sure hard to drive, because there was no power steering in those days and it burned so much gas.
Also living in Southern Alameda were several other Chinese families during those years of the 30's. Our nearest Chinese neighbor was the Yan Lira family consisting of six boys and one daughter, Joan. The Fong Wah Yo family lived in eastern Niles, the Low Gum Bong family lived in Newark and Cheng Wah Sung farmed the Patterson Ranch. From Joshua Fong's memoirs. Dr. Fong was also interviewed about his early days with local historian, Phil Holmes.
Where is the Chinese Bunkhouse at Shinn Park?
Where is the Chinese Bunkhouse at Shinn Park?
The Chinese Bunkhouse sits between a barn and a packing shed at the back of the Shinn Historical Park & Arboretum in Fremont, California. The Bunkhouse was once part of a complex of buildings along Alameda Creek - for sleeping, eating, and washing - for the Chinese workers at the Shinn ranch. Four studies of these buildings were made between 2003 and 2007 in preparation to tearing them down. Only the Bunkhouse and an outhouse remain now.
Shinn Park holds many stories of the early history of the Washington Township. The park tells the story of the Shinn family who came to the area shortly after the Gold Rush and lived here until the 1960's. The family was important in the growth of the early fruit industry as well as child psychology and forest preservation.
Why should the bunkhouse be preserved?
It is a rare reminder of the Presence and importance of the early Chinese in the Washington Township
Why should the bunkhouse be preserved?
It is a rare reminder of the Presence and importance of the early Chinese in the Washington Township
Less obvious are the stories of the many workers who lived here and worked for the Shinn family. Chinese immigrants and other immigrants worked for the Shinn family. With the help of immigrant workers, the Washington Township became an important agricultural area, producer of salt and sugar, and a link in the original transcontinental railroad.
Descendants of these early Chinese pioneer families still live in the area. Some of their stories have been written down and we hope to discover more stories as we progress.
The Bunkhouse, a rare remnant of an earlier time, is a physical reminder of the Chinese immigrants who worked with the Shinn family. The Bunkhouse and the other Shinn buildings will allow us to explore our shared heritage.
Fong Gan, the cook for the Shinn family with J.C. Shinn, Jr.
The bunkhouse was "discovered" ...
The bunkhouse was "discovered" ...
... several times. The latest...by the present group when Janet met James Shinn and Rick Jones at an ice cream social in 2015 or 2016. James said that this was a "Chinese bunkhouse" and Janet started connecting with others who thought this history needed to be told.
... several times. The latest...by the present group when Janet met James Shinn and Rick Jones at an ice cream social in 2015 or 2016. James said that this was a "Chinese bunkhouse" and Janet started connecting with others who thought this history needed to be told.
Gerry Low-Sabado and Al Minard were involved in earlier efforts to generate interest with the people of Fremont. The community wasn't ready to take on this project then. We are now.
References:
California Office of Historic Preservation noted this study Asian American and Pacific Islanders in California 1850-1995
References on Single-Wall Construction and related are on the Preservation page.
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