TRADITIONAL CHINESE MUSIC PLAYING]
Woman: MY NAME IS YENYEN CHAN, AND I WORK FOR THE NATIONAL
PARK SERVICE AS A PARK RANGER.
AND I GIVE NATURAL AND CULTURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS
TO THE PUBLIC AS WELL AS TO SCHOOL GROUPS.
AND THEY GET POLLINATED FROM THE BOTTOM.
WHEN I FIRST GOT HERE TO YOSEMITE, I INTERNED HERE
WITH THE PARK SERVICE, AND I STARTED HEARING
ABOUT CHINESE WHO WORKED IN THE WAWONA HOTEL, AND THEN
SLOWLY AS I WAS DOING RESEARCH, I ALSO HEARD THAT
THEY WORKED ON SOME OF THE ROADS HERE.
AND SO WHEN I WAS ASKED IF I COULD LEAD A SEMINAR
ON THE HISTORY OF THE CHINESE, I DECIDED TO DO SOME MORE
RESEARCH AND DISCOVERED A LOT MORE ABOUT THEIR ROLE HERE
IN YOSEMITE.
THE CHINESE FIRST ARRIVED HERE IN GREAT NUMBERS IN 1848,
AND THAT WAS WHEN GOLD WAS DISCOVERED HERE
IN THE FOOTHILLS.
AND DURING THAT PERIOD OF TIME IN THE MID-1800s, THE CHINESE
IN SOUTHEAST CHINA HAD A LOT OF FAMINES, DROUGHTS, OTHER
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS, AND SO FOR THEM,
TRYING TO FIND A PLACE WHERE THEY CAN TRY AND EARN MONEY TO
HELP THEIR FAMILIES WAS A BIG GOAL FOR THEM.
BUT VERY SOON, GOLD BECAME SCARCE, AND BY 1850, THERE WAS
A FOREIGN MINERS TAX PASSED FOR ANYONE NOT FROM THIS
COUNTRY, AND SO THIS PUSHED A LOT OF THE CHINESE TO MOVE
AWAY FROM MINING TO LOOK FOR OTHER TYPES OF WORK.
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I DISCOVERED WAS THAT HERE
IN YOSEMITE, THERE WERE A LOT OF REALLY WELL-KNOWN COOKS.
THEY WERE OFTEN THE HEAD CHEFS IN ALL THE HOTELS.
AND ONE CHEF WAS A CHEF FOR THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY,
AND HIS NAME WAS TIE SING.
AND HE COOKED SUCH EXTRAORDINARY FOODS
IN THE BACKCOUNTRY THAT THE HEAD OF THE NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE, STEPHEN MATHER, ASKED HIM TO COOK FOR HIS MATHER
MOUNTAIN PARTIES.
THESE MATHER MOUNTAIN PARTY TRIPS BROUGHT INFLUENTIAL MEN
TO THE MOUNTAINS, WHERE MATHER WAS ABLE TO GIVE THEM
A FIRSTHAND EXPERIENCE OF WHY WE SHOULD PROTECT THESE
NATURAL PLACES AND HAVE NATIONAL PARKS.
AND AMONG HIS DISTINGUISHED GUESTS, THERE WAS ONE WRITER
NAMED ROBERT STERLING YARD, WHO WROTE ABOUT TIE SING
DURING THE TRIP.
HE SAID, "TO ME,
"TIE SING HAD ASSUMED APOCRYPHAL PROPORTIONS.
"THE EXTRAORDINARY RECITALS OF HIS CULINARY TALENTS HAD BEEN
"MORE THAN I COULD QUITE BELIEVE, BUT I BELIEVE THEM
"ALL NOW AND MORE.
"I SHALL NOT FORGET THAT DINNER: SOUP, TROUT, CHOPS,
"FRIED POTATOES, STRING BEANS, FRESH BREAD, HOT APPLE PIE,
"CHEESE, AND COFFEE.
"IT WAS THE FIRST OF MANY EQUALLY ELABORATE
AND EQUALLY APPRECIATED."
AND IN 1899, THERE WAS A PEAK NAMED AFTER HIM RIGHT
ON THE BOUNDARY OF YOSEMITE.
IT'S CALLED SING PEAK.
IN ADDITION TO BEING WELL-KNOWN AS TALENTED COOKS,
THE CHINESE ALSO GAINED THE RESPECT OF PEOPLE FOR THEIR
STRONG WORK ETHIC.
MARK TWAIN WROTE, "THEY ARE AS INDUSTRIOUS AS THE DAY IS
LONG, AND A LAZY ONE DOES NOT EXIST."
IN YOSEMITE, THESE CHINESE IMMIGRANTS PROVIDED
THE PRIMARY LABOR IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TWO
MAJOR ROADS.
ONE OF THE ROADS THEY BUILT HERE IS THE WAWONA ROAD,
THE ORIGINAL ROAD FROM THE MARIPOSA GROVE AND THE TOWN
OF WAWONA IN YOSEMITE'S SOUTHERN PARK ALL THE WAY TO
THE VALLEY, AND THAT'S A 23-MILE ROAD
THAT ASCENDS OVER 4,000 FEET UP AND DOWN THE MOUNTAIN.
AND THEY BUILT THAT DURING THE WINTER FROM 1874 TO 1875,
DESPITE ALL THE SNOW THAT THEY HAD ENCOUNTERED, AND IN 4 1/2
MONTHS FINISHED THAT ROAD.
THESE CHINESE WERE WORKING UNDER EXTRAORDINARILY
DIFFICULT SITUATIONS.
THEY WERE USING HAND PICKS AND SHOVELS AND WHEELBARROWS
AND REALLY GOING THROUGH THIS REALLY DIFFICULT
MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN.
AND THE CHINESE WERE DOING THESE TYPES OF PROJECTS NOT
JUST HERE IN YOSEMITE, BUT THROUGHOUT
THE SIERRA AND THE WEST.
THERE'S ALSO ANOTHER ROAD THAT THE CHINESE BUILT HERE, AND IT
IS THE TIOGA ROAD.
WHEN THEY BUILT IT, IT WAS CALLED THE GREAT SIERRA WAGON
ROAD, AND THEY BUILT THIS ROAD ALSO IN AN AMAZING AMOUNT
OF TIME--JUST 4 1/2 MONTHS AGAIN, AND IT'S A 56-MILE ROAD
THAT CAME FROM THE WEST ALL THE WAY THROUGH TUOLUMNE MEADOWS
AND ALL THE WAY TO THE OUTSIDE OF THIS PARK, WHERE
THERE WAS A MINING TOWN CALLED BENNETTVILLE.
AND SO THAT ROAD CLIMBED UP ALL THE WAY TO
ABOUT 10,000 FEET.
THEY DIDN'T HAVE THE AID OF MACHINERY THAT WE THINK
OF TODAY WHEN WE BUILD ROADS, AND THEY DIDN'T HAVE THAT MUCH
HELP FROM EITHER MULES OR HORSES, AS WELL.
IT WAS PRIMARILY ALL HUMAN LABOR, AND IT WAS A DANGEROUS
JOB, REQUIRING BLASTING POWDER TO BLAST THROUGH SOME
OF THE ROCKS THAT WE ENCOUNTER HERE IN YOSEMITE.
SO AT THE TIME, IN 1882 TO 1883 WHEN THEY BUILT THAT
ROAD, THERE WERE ALL THESE SHAREHOLDERS THAT WERE HOPING
THERE WOULD BE THIS GREAT SILVER LEDGE THAT WOULD MAKE
THEM VERY WEALTHY, SO THAT'S WHY THEY BUILT THIS ROAD,
TO TAKE OUT THE SILVER ORES, AND THEY ALSO WERE THINKING
OF BUILDING A RAILROAD ALONG THAT ROAD SO THEY COULD
TRANSPORT PEOPLE AND FREIGHT UP HERE AND THROUGH TO
THE MINING TOWN, WHICH THEY THOUGHT WAS GOING TO BE
A HUGE, BOOMING TOWN.
AND SO WHEN THEY FINISHED THAT ROAD, IT WAS EXPECTED THAT
SILVER WAS GOING TO COME OUT, BUT THAT YEAR, RIGHT AFTER THE
ROAD WAS FINISHED, THE MINING TOWN CLOSED BECAUSE OF NO MORE
MONEY, AND IT NEVER FOUND SILVER.
SO TO THIS DAY, THAT ROAD STANDS AS THE MAIN ROUTE
ALMOST ACROSS THE MOUNTAIN RANGE FROM THE WEST
TO THE EAST.
AND THEN, A FEW YEARS LATER, IT CONNECTED ALL THE WAY TO
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN.
THE EARLY CHINESE IN YOSEMITE FACED NUMEROUS CHALLENGES,
AND YET THEY MADE INCREDIBLE CONTRIBUTIONS TO THIS PARK.
FROM THE EXTRAORDINARY TALENT OF THE COOKS TO THESE
INCREDIBLE ROAD-BUILDERS WORKING THROUGH SUCH DIFFICULT
CONDITIONS, THEY HELPED TO MAKE THIS PLACE THE PLACE
WE CAN VISIT TODAY.
AND I THINK IT REMINDS US OF HOW IMPORTANT IT IS TO
REMEMBER THE STORIES OF THESE EARLY PEOPLE THAT CAME
AND HELPED SHAPE THIS PARK'S HISTORY AND ALSO WHY IT'S
SO IMPORTANT FOR US TO REMEMBER THAT WE, TOO,
CAN HAVE A LASTING IMPACT AND A CONTRIBUTION TO THIS PARK.