Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site — Attraction in John Day

Went here with my husband and took the tour. We really enjoyed what was there and the building is quite unique. I wish we had had more time in the info building, but the tour ran long. Please be aware that not all tour guides are very good. I work for a museum myself, so I know what to look out for. Our guide was very charming, but he added a lot of conjecture and his own opinions to the tour which skewed the provable history of the space. Like all history, there are gaps in the timeline and the story. As historians, we are supposed to acknowledge those gaps, not fill them with some story we invent in our heads (which is what our guide did). If you go on a tour, watch out for statements like "we believe," "I think," and "because of this." These statements mean "I don't know for a fact this happened, but you should trust my idea because I work here." Another red flag are contradiction in the story. For example, in Canyon City, nearly all European homesteaders employed and depended on Chinese laborers. There are first-hand records from a homesteading woman who described how cooperative it was and that chinese were regarded as hard workers. Yet, our tour guide implied that Chinatown in Canyon city was destroyed by a racists arsonist even though there is absolutely no proof of how the fire started. Same with the bullet hole and tin laminated on the door of kam-wah-chung. There is no record. Assumptions should...

Amazing this little store and home was preserved while it sat vacant for years. Thank goodness it was because the history inside these little walls is now available for all to learn. A drive to John Day for this history lesson is well worth it. One story from our tour guide which I just treasured was the fact that Doc Hay often times did not take payment for his services. You can see all the uncashed checks from the 1920's and beyond in the interpretive center. But the story of Doc Hay telling patients to plant an apricot tree in lieu of payment is fascinating, considering all over John Day in private yards and farms are apricot trees, iIncluding in front of Kam Wah Chung. Maybe the reason, just maybe is because Chinese medicine understands the value of the little seed inside the apricot pit. If you crack open the pit you'll find a little white seed. This seed contains some very powerful healing compounds in fact many cancer preventative compounds. Laetrile/was made from these little seeds.(Toxic in high doses but then so is water.) You have to ask yourself, how did a 1900's Chinese immigrant save lives with Chinese herbs and know the apricot seed was one of nature's many gifts to keeping us well. If you're visiting John Day during Apricot season, stock up. They are delicious. But don't eat the seeds unless you're advised to by a...

This is a hidden gem in the State Park lineup. What a vast treasure of both information and irreplaceable artifacts. This is a story of recession, civil war, and bigotry. However, the chinese population here in John Day only used that discrimination to stand on so that they could reach new heights never before attained in this budding new country. At least never attained for the Chinese immigrants. These hard working folk left a legacy of generosity and good will still rarely matched even today. They commonly went out of the way to show the community that this was their home as well. Regularly the locals harvested that good nature and neighbors helping neighbors mentality. Leaving behind one of the richest time capsules of Chinese life in the nation, and a glimpse at what all American men should aspire to. No matter race, creed, or color. If any immigrants had good cause to hold a grudge it was the Chinese who arrived during the Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1902) being extended by the Geary Act. These two men in John Day (Lung on and Ing "Doc" Hay) instead chose to elevate and truly embody what most of us feel the "American Spirit" was meant to be. A must...