Amber-Jamie-Makena: Road Trip ~ Day 3

Our morning started off with a visit to the Kam Wah Chung museum. The museum is now a part of Oregon Parks & Rec - the history was amazing - telling the story of two Chinese immigrants, Doc Hay and Lung On, who were a major part of the American West and Chinese communities in the 19th Century. When they made the building in to a museum, they pretty much left all of the supplies, boxes, medicines, and household items where they had been when Doc Hay passed in 1952.

Doc Hay and Lung On bought the building in 1888. At that time, only the bottom part of the building stood. Inside was a bedroom for each man and a medical office, general store, stockroom, herb room, kitchen and bunkhouse that was a safe haven for many of the local or traveling Chinese. Several Americans visited Doc Hay for medical reasons and/or purchased groceries from Lung On as well.

A few years later, they found a house that was the same size of Kam Wah Chung & Co. and hoisted on top of the building for extra storage space.

This was Doc Hay's room. Notice the butcher knife on the nightstand. Even though the men were well liked by the locals, there were still many traveling cowboys who threatened the Chinese community. Also, the black trunk under his bed held over $9,000 in uncashed checks when he died.

This looks in to the general store.

This is the chair Doc Hay would 'diagnose' medical issues in. And beyond that is his herb and medical supply room.

Complete with the necessary, Chinese ingredients for making medication. People would come from states away to get help from Doc Hay.

This is the kitchen. Doc Hay and Lung On would make food for almost anyone (in the 2000 Chinese local population) that needed it.

Lung On was an entrepreneur. He ran the general store, a bunkhouse (which would fit 4 Chinese per bed), a catalog ordering company, gambling (in the front room) as well as a few other 'hobbies'.

There is also now a small interpretive center with a lot more information on each man. Some additional items from the building are also now here, along with all of the checks found in Doc Hay's room.

Both men were buried in the John Day Cemetery. Most Chinese set up an account before they died so that their bones could be sent back to China. Both Doc Hay and Lung On wanted to remain in John Day as it had been their home for more than 50 years. Even though both men had wives and families back home, they never returned to visit them.

We then drove to the nearby Canyon City to go through the local museum. It had things like mercantile lists.

Skulls from the first two men hung in the town.

Strange births at local farms.

And other interesting history.

Next to the Canyon City museum is the Joaquin Miller cabin. He was a poet. The fun thing about the cabin is that you could go inside and touch things - not something you can normally do in places like these.

More than 50 years ago, the Greenhorn jail was apparently stolen in the middle of the night as local people had different ideas on what city the jail actually belonged in. So, to this day, it remains next to the Joaquin Miller cabin.

Our next stop was Dayville. We stopped just outside of the town to take a picture of a barn that is said to be built in the early 1800s.

But Makena just wanted to take pictures of the horses.

We were hoping to have lunch at the town's cafe, but like most of the other towns we had been to, they only were really open for dinner.

So we continued on our way to Spray. But not before stopping at a view point of the John Day Fossil Beds.

We found our motel in Spray. It was one of two motels in the town, so we didn't have a problem finding it.

We were able to finally find lunch a the cafe next door to the motel. There was a diner next door to the cafe, but it, of course, was closed. The cafe is also the only grocery store and gas station in town. So, the cook may need to take a short break so that he/she can ring up a customer or pump gas.