If you have ever played Keno, then you owe thanks to the Chinese population of Butte.
Today, I visited the Mai Wah Museum on Mercury Street operated by the Mai Wah Society (http://www.maiwah.org/), a non-profit determined to preserve and research the Chinese and their role in the history of Butte and Southwest Montana.
Two buildings stand there today adjoining China alley. The two story buildings housed businesses operated by the Wah Chong Tai Company, Seattle's successful mercantile enterprise founded by Chin Chun Hock. Eventually the two adjoining buildings served the Chinese community as a general store with a noodle parlor on the second floor. It also contained space for an herb shop, special shopping rooms, and lodging. The Chinese were drawn to Butte for the same reasons as other ethnic groups but were poorly treated as the minority and a threat to the jobs and wage structure of the established majority.
One interesting feature is the "cheater story" built to evade extra taxes since buildings were taxed by the number of stories. The cheater story is a low ceiling space that exists between the first and second stories with small rooms used for offices or lodging. It overlooks the main floor like a loft.
The Mai Wah Museum has a gift shop and displays. One of the main exhibits is a collection of artifacts from the lots across the street where doctors offered medicines and healing in structures that have been since demolished. My favorite items were small jade bottles that once contained medicines. While the Mai Wah Society is struggling to return the buildings to their original glory, there is charm and character to the disrepair that gives you a whole other kind of feel for the busy activities conducted here which fevers the imagination.
But back to Keno. Tong wars erupted in Butte. The tongs were modeled after secret societies in China, but amounted to gangs fighting for control of the cash flow of the opium dens, lottery, and businesses. The lottery, run by the Chinese out of Butte's Crown Bar and known as Pok Kop Piu or the "white pigeon ticket," was an elaborate system based on 80 characters from the book Ts'in Tsz' Man.
The Butte Chief of Police, tired of the violence percipitated by the tong wars and harboring strong opinions about the proper place of the Chinese in his town, set about to close down the lucrative gambling enterprises. Frances and Joseph Leyden, two brothers running the Crown Bar, persuaded the chief to let them run the lottery on their own. He agreed and they figured out how to run it on their own. They made some modifications, and when gambling become legal in Nevada, Frances introduced the system to Reno. With some other refinements, it became the game we know today as Keno.
A look at the history of the treatment of the Chinese in Butte at the turn of the century up until World War II cannot but remind me of the discourse on the immigrant issue and discourse taking place today. The constant battles of one group to maintain dominance and the means they use to do that has changed little since the Chinese settled here and Chin Chun Hock looked over that small piece of property down on Mercury Street and saw opportunity.
Today, I visited the Mai Wah Museum on Mercury Street operated by the Mai Wah Society (http://www.maiwah.org/), a non-profit determined to preserve and research the Chinese and their role in the history of Butte and Southwest Montana.
Two buildings stand there today adjoining China alley. The two story buildings housed businesses operated by the Wah Chong Tai Company, Seattle's successful mercantile enterprise founded by Chin Chun Hock. Eventually the two adjoining buildings served the Chinese community as a general store with a noodle parlor on the second floor. It also contained space for an herb shop, special shopping rooms, and lodging. The Chinese were drawn to Butte for the same reasons as other ethnic groups but were poorly treated as the minority and a threat to the jobs and wage structure of the established majority.
One interesting feature is the "cheater story" built to evade extra taxes since buildings were taxed by the number of stories. The cheater story is a low ceiling space that exists between the first and second stories with small rooms used for offices or lodging. It overlooks the main floor like a loft.
The Mai Wah Museum has a gift shop and displays. One of the main exhibits is a collection of artifacts from the lots across the street where doctors offered medicines and healing in structures that have been since demolished. My favorite items were small jade bottles that once contained medicines. While the Mai Wah Society is struggling to return the buildings to their original glory, there is charm and character to the disrepair that gives you a whole other kind of feel for the busy activities conducted here which fevers the imagination.
But back to Keno. Tong wars erupted in Butte. The tongs were modeled after secret societies in China, but amounted to gangs fighting for control of the cash flow of the opium dens, lottery, and businesses. The lottery, run by the Chinese out of Butte's Crown Bar and known as Pok Kop Piu or the "white pigeon ticket," was an elaborate system based on 80 characters from the book Ts'in Tsz' Man.
The Butte Chief of Police, tired of the violence percipitated by the tong wars and harboring strong opinions about the proper place of the Chinese in his town, set about to close down the lucrative gambling enterprises. Frances and Joseph Leyden, two brothers running the Crown Bar, persuaded the chief to let them run the lottery on their own. He agreed and they figured out how to run it on their own. They made some modifications, and when gambling become legal in Nevada, Frances introduced the system to Reno. With some other refinements, it became the game we know today as Keno.
A look at the history of the treatment of the Chinese in Butte at the turn of the century up until World War II cannot but remind me of the discourse on the immigrant issue and discourse taking place today. The constant battles of one group to maintain dominance and the means they use to do that has changed little since the Chinese settled here and Chin Chun Hock looked over that small piece of property down on Mercury Street and saw opportunity.
Thanks for visiting the Mai Wah and for this thoughtful view of it!
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