The 2022 Chinese New Year continues through February 15, so Historic Jacksonville, Inc. is again highlighting Jacksonville’s early Chinese population. Did you know that a Chinese labor boss, Gin Lin, was probably one of the wealthiest men in town during his time here?
Gin apparently left China shortly after gold was discovered in California in 1849. He was one of the Chinese men who came by the thousands, lured by tales of “Gold Mountain.”
By the 1860s, Gin was in Oregon. Despite state laws prohibiting Chinese property ownership, Gin was able to purchase a claim in 1864 on the Little Applegate River at the mouth of Sterling Creek for $900. He subsequently leased or purchased other “played out” placer mines in the vicinity from white men who had already taken out the easy gold. He was able to hire other Chinese laborers, using them to work his own claims and hiring them out to other mine owners.
Gin was honest and fair, even helping some of his men purchase their own claims, ensuring they were legally recorded and the proper taxes paid. As a result, Lin’s crew was willing to work hard for him and many of the laborers Gin had previously contracted to other mine owners came to work for him. Local legend credits him with founding the old mining ghost town of Buncom to house his Sterling Creek mining crew.
When the placer gold was depleted, they began excavating for gold in old stream beds long since buried in adjacent hillsides. To make the effort profitable, Gin is credited with introducing hydraulic mining to Southern Oregon. A remnant of this is the Applegate’s Gin Lin hiking trail.
Through industry and ingenuity, Gin Lin and his mining company began to play an important role in Southern Oregon’s economy. It also helped Gin amass a fortune. When he returned to China in the 1890s, he reportedly was worth over $2 million in gold from his various mining claims.