YE FONG CHEUNG MERCANTILE STORE
The Yee Fong Cheung Mercantile is named after an herb doctor who operated a Chinese mercantile store in Fiddletown, CA, during the California Gold Rush. During the Gold Rush, Chinese communities were usually located on the outskirts of the mining communities due to discrimination. The Chinese stores provided groceries and mining supplies to the Chinese community. They also provided laundry services, contracted for Chinese labor for work on railroads and mines, as well as herbs and remedies for the sick and injured.
Of all the historic displays in the Railroad Gardens, Stephen and Cheryl had the most difficult time collecting historic items for the Chinese Mercantile. During the 1800s, Chinese workers were discriminated against, and most of the Chinese communities were eventually burned to the ground. It took the Bakers 50 years of collecting to put this display together. Except for the painted boards on the front of the store, the entire building is built from recycled materials.
In the above photo you will see a large brown crock (called a burial jar) on the counter in the store. When Chinese workers died in the United States during the gold rush years, they were buried in local cemeteries. After three years they were disinterred, and their bones were placed in a burial jar, starting with the feet and ending with the skull. They were then shipped back to China for final burial.
The stove in the Yee Fong Cheung Mercantile is an original laundry stove. If you look at the photo above you can see the sad irons circling the side of the stove. While one was being used, the others were heating on the stove so there would always a hot iron available. They were called “sad irons” because they weighed so much that the poor person using the irons all day was “sad” from the exhaustive work.
