Chinese inkstone among artefacts found in Utah house that tell story of 19th-century migrant railway workers’ lives
- The house helped historians uncover a picture of a vibrant Chinese culture along America’s early railways
- But it is also a reminder of the intense racism they faced, and their near erasure from US history
As archaeologists dug up a 19th-century home amid the constant wind and sandy soil of northwest Utah, it would be hard not to daydream about this bustling outpost described by Pacific Tourist in 1882 as “a railroad town on the edge of the Great American Desert”.
But one artefact discovered in these ruins told a far more important story: a Chinese inkstone, used for grinding and storing ink for writing.
“The inkstone is that personal connection,” said Chris Merritt, a Utah state historic preservation officer who led the team that uncovered a 19th-century Chinese home in Terrace, Utah.
“Who was [the owner] writing to? What was he saying about his life in Terrace? Was he writing about politics? Was he writing love letters? That little piece of inkstone makes me connect to that,” he said.
Archaeologists have known about Terrace, Utah for a while, but the house provided a rare window into the lives of early Chinese-American settlers that have been nearly erased from history.
