China Joe and Other Foreign Miners
Word
of the northern riches spread all over the world. Adventurers came not
only from the United States and Canada, but from every country where a
newspaper could be read. The "Three Lucky Swedes," relying more on guile
than luck, made their mark in the Nome mining district. Felix Pedro, an
Italian, discovered gold in the Fairbanks area and word of his strike
was brought to Dawson by Jujira Wada, a Japanese. Perhaps the best loved
immigrant of the Gold Rush era was Lee Hing, better known as "China Joe,"
whose unparalleled reputation as a humanitarian stretched from Fort Wrangell
to the Yukon River. This humble baker and storekeeper saved multitudes
of miners from despair and starvation, asking nothing in return. On several
occasions his benefactors stood ready to protect him with their lives,
as they did in 1886 in Juneau, when armed vigilantes tried to seize China
Joe and send him out of town with the low paid Chinese laborers they had
herded out of the Treadwell mine. China Joe remained to become one of
Juneau's leading citizens. He was said to be the only man in Alaska without
an enemy.
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Used with
permission.
Gold Rush Centennial Task Force, State of Alaska.
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