MUSEUMS
History can be found all around you
Kam Wah
Chung & Co.
at the John Day City Park
on NW Canton Street
541-575-2800
The ADA-accessible Interpretive
Center is open daily and located
across the street.
OPEN:
May 1 - Oct. 31, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.
ADMISSION:
Free
TOURS:
Guided tours only. Tours start at
the top of each hour at the
Interpretive Center and last about
45 minutes (last tour at 4 p.m.).
K
am Wah Chung State Heritage
Site is a must-see for anyone with
an interest in Oregon history.
Preserving the legacy of the
Chinese workforce in Oregon,
the museum contains artifacts
and displays that share some of the
challenges and happenings of everyday life
for the Chinese immigrants.
A small, unassuming building dating back
to the 1860s, Kam Wah Chung was originally
built as a trading post during the early days
after the discovery of gold in nearby Canyon
Creek. In the 1880s, during the rising popular-
ity of the Chinese immigrants' settlement, it
became both home and business for two
men, Ing “Doc” Hay and Lung On, and is now
a National Historic Landmark, listed on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Doc Hay and Lung On became business
partners and lifelong friends soon after meet-
ing, offering Kam Wah Chung as a medical
clinic with herbal treatments, general store,
religious temple and community center for
over 50 years. Doc Hay provided effective East-
ern medical cures until the late 1940s to locals
whose children and grandchildren can still re-
count the stories.
After the building was donated to the city
to use as a tool in interpreting the Chinese
history of the area, it was locked up for nearly
20 years before being restored and opened
as a museum.
Now operated by Oregon State Parks, the
site includes a museum and interpretive center,
and contains an extensive collection of materi-
als from the arrival and settlement of Chinese
immigrants in the American West. Chinese
herbs and surviving medical texts make Kam
Wah Chung a unique resource in the research
on herbal remedies and medicinal practices.
Christy Sweet, curator: “I think it is the
premiere site in the United States to learn about
the Chinese American experience in the West.
People seem to be searching for authenticity.
Everything at the museum is basically how it
was left by Doc Hay and Lung On. It’s like step-
ping back into a little time machine.”
MyEagleNews.com | OFFICIAL GRANT COUNTY VISITOR GUIDE 2015 | 37