Delta Explorer - Spring 2008 - (Page 18) GIFTED TEEN ARTIST &DESIGNER by Christina Esperson Rio Veterinary Service T.W. Schulz, D.V.M. 227 Main Street, Rio Vista CREATES LOCKE MONUMENT HONORING CHINESE ANCESTORS 707-374-6355 Mila Electrical Repair The Symbol of Quality Work Michael Parisi, Owner contractor’s license no. 396226 (707)374-5968 916-952-9967 STEWART INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY, INC. WE’RE OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK! Nestled on the winding river roads between Rio Vista and Sacramento, Locke, California is the only original rural Chinese town still in existence in the United States and carries the distinction of being built “exclusively by the Chinese for the Chinese.” So what brought the Chinese to this part of the Sacramento Valley region, and how is it that Locke’s courageous founders left a legacy that would inspire a 19 year old product design major to build a monument in their honor? History first. Dreams of striking it rich attracted Chinese immigrants to California during the Gold Rush. When the search for gold came to an end, they moved east providing a reliable and hard-working source of labor in building the transcontinental railroads, and later, building hundreds of miles of levees by hand, converting swampland into some of the richest farmland in the world. Many of these Chinese workers remained in the delta region, becoming farmers and settling in nearby Walnut Grove. A fire in 1915 destroyed their Chinatown community, and rather than rebuild in Walnut Grove, they moved one mile north and built a town of their own. Lockeport, later shortened to Locke, was named after George Locke, a landowner who leased nine acres of pear orchard to a group of Chinese merchants since state laws at the time prohibited the Chinese from owning land of their own. The pear orchard was cleared to make way for restaurants, saloons, grocery stores, herb shops, bakeries, brothels, gambling parlors, boarding houses, and even the Star Theatre which featured silent black and white movies. These businesses and merchants provided services to hundreds of residents (as many as 600 at its peak in the 1940s) and visiting immigrant agricultural workers, contributing to the electric atmosphere in Locke at the time. Teen artist and designer, Elyse Marr, whose father was born and raised This stunning monument, created by Stanford student Elyse Marr at only 19 years old, stands proud in the middle of the Locke Community Park as way of honoring her Chinese ancestors and their contributions to the Sacramento -San Joaquin Delta. about 300. The three sided monument in Locke, wants to make sure that her is covered on the front with a bronze ancestors are remembered for their illustrative history of the Chinese imcontributions to Sacramento - San Joamigration and their quin delta infrastructure Visitors to the monument will influence in northand agriculture. She “recognize what the earlier Chinese ern California and believes that “through remembrance and hon- pioneers did when they stepped foot the delta region. The back panels are made oring people of the past, on the delta region, from building of granite and include we can build on what a railroad, to building the levees, to laser-etched Chinese they have done for us.” building a Chinese town.” character and English Her tribute is a 7Clarence Chu inscriptions. foot tall pillar of bronze Chairman, Locke Foundation Now a Stanford and granite, unveiled University sophomore, Marr started to October 13, 2007 at Locke Community design the monument the summer bePark (which was designed by her fafore her freshman year, and began the ther, an architect) in front of a crowd of delta explorer / 18 Contributed Photo
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