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Fountain springs from history Mail Tribune / Drew Fleming Rick Shields puts the finishing touches on a replica of the Long Tom sluice box that will be dedicated as part of Jacksonville�s celebration of the Chinese New Year. Jacksonville set to honor legacy of early Chinese By Melissa Martin JACKSONVILLE � Chinese drum music echoes on California Street, red and gold banners brighten door posts, and the smell of egg rolls baking fills the air. New sights, sounds and smells drift through these historic streets as Jacksonville prepares for its first Chinese New Year�s celebration Saturday. Nearly everyone is making a contribution, including the city�s public works staff, who built a sluice box fountain to honor Jacksonville�s 19th century Chinese miners. New Year�s events Saturday 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. � Calligraphy, Chinese lettering, videos, displays and exhibits, U.S. Hotel Ballroom. 11:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. � Chinese food for sale at MacLevin�s, 150 W. California St., and Thai House Restaurant, 215 W. California St. 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. � Southern Oregon Chinese History by Cornelius Beekman, 1870s banker. 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. � Fashion show featuring 500-year-old Chinese dynasty costumes, a ribbon dance, Chinese folk music, U.S. Hotel Ballroom, sponsored by Southern Oregon Historical Society. Tickets available at Scheffel�s Toys and Jacksonville Barber Shop. 1:15 to 2:15 p.m. � Historical talk about mining with Larry Smith at the "Long Tom" fountain near Oregon and Main streets. 1:30 p.m. � Martial arts demonstration by Zach Haveman, 9-year-old world champion, at stage on Third Street, near the corner of California Street. 4 p.m. � Parade down California and Main streets. Rice candy for the kids, a dragon from San Francisco�s Chinatown, models wearing Chinese dynasty costumes and more. The fountain will be dedicated at 3:45 p.m. Saturday. Festivities begin at 11:30 a.m. with historical talks, a fashion show, calligraphy lessons, a food court and karate demonstrations and continue at 4 p.m. with a parade. The new fountain is situated near the corner of Main and Oregon streets in what used to be the "China Town" of Southern Oregon. Called the "Long Tom," the wooden sluice box replaced the gold pan as a popular mining method in the Jacksonville area from 1853 to 1865, said historian Larry Smith. Miners ran creek water through the Long Tom, tossing out the biggest rocks that collected in the box and then panning out the gold from mud and quartz dust that collected in the riffles at the bottom of the box. The city crew did its best to make the modern-day fountain match the original Long Tom. "We shaved and rounded the edges of the wood and tried to hide all traces of modern carpentry," said Doug Templer, public works supervisor. Cemetery sexton Rick Shields said the staff hiked up to a nearby historical mining site called Rich Gulch and hand picked pieces of quartz to lay around the sluice box. The crew also hammered the cedar planks with chains to give the sluice box an older appearance and used dowels and square pegs instead of screws or other modern trappings, said Public Works Director Jeff Alvis. The Chinese contributed much to Southern Oregon�s mining history, hand-digging ditches to bring water to mining operations, laying track for rail cars carrying gold ore and working the sluice boxes to toss out unwanted rocks, Smith said. Some Chinese purchased claims that others had mined out and abandoned and some, like Gin Lin of the Applegate area, reportedly netted $1 million worth of gold during his years in Southern Oregon. "Mining was cold, hard, wet work that could only be done in the winter because there wasn�t enough water in the summer," Smith said. Jacksonville is long overdue in honoring its unsung heroes, said Jeffrey Levin, owner of MacLevin�s Whole Foods in Jacksonville and coordinator of the Chinese New Year celebration. The Chinese built railroads, roads and mines that helped this town develop in the 1800s. "I can imagine sitting by that fountain in the summertime, listening to the water running, and enjoying a Chinese garden planted around it," Levin said. The sluice box fountain is in Jacksonville�s Veteran�s Park, near a memorial to World War II soldiers. Reach reporter Melissa Martin at 776-4497, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2000 Mail Tribune, Inc.