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Show 'itfi (DMti (DBaffltt f V" JF L.j. mem yr y by Bea Kummcr Park City's China Bridge ! m . ; 1 XT 4M '""-.-it-iH -TfK?''vs-.J- 1 ''. ',"! . 1 1 I WttSW1 P1 by Bea Kummer The Chinese colony was a most colorful and picturesque pictur-esque place in early Park City. Chinatown was on the bank of Silver Creek (before it became known as Poison Creek, poisoned from chemicals chem-icals used at the mines). And the China Bridge, long before the fire, spanned both the creek and the colony. The China Bridge was a suspended wooden walkway that ran east and west, linking Marsac Avenue to the Main Street area near Fourth Street (close to what is now Scrooge's Restaurant). Restau-rant). The bridge first served to bring ore carts down from the mines in Ontario Canyon to the Mar-sac Mar-sac Mill in Swede Alley. But it was also used as a foot bridge by those Parkites who were reluctant to go through Chinatown, a little frightened of the Chinese and their strange ways. Many was the time we stood on the bridge and peered over the railing at the Chinese butchering hogs below, then hooking them on a pulley and lowering them into tubs of boiling water and scraping off the bristles. Not a very edifying sight for youngsters and one I am sure would not be tolerated now, but it all seemed quite a sport in those days when life was less complicated. Walking close together on one side of Chinatown one could whiff the pungent aromatic aroma of incense mingling with the odors and strange-looking food laid out in the sun in front of the shops. The Chinese wore queues (braids) in those days and carried dimes and nickels and even quarters tucked in their ears, and scuffed along 1 1 WIMllll I TH The China Bridge before it was removed in 1954. now seen mostly in books. Their produce was raised in their own gardens below town. They could grow.fo mines, but to work on the railroad. Park City was the end of the line, so they stayed on here to work as The original China Bridge, painted red, was destroyed in the fire of 1898 which gutted the buildings on Main in scandals and loose-fitting garments, men and women alike, the latter often haltingly halt-ingly on the cruelly-bound misshapen feet that were, among them, a mark of distinction. Some of the men, nobles in the colony, let their fingernails grow to an outrageous out-rageous length to show they were of the upper class in case they were requested to do menial labor. The peddlers chop-chopping along with heavy laden bushels of vegetables hung at each end of the bamboo poles balanced on one shoulder shoul-der made quite a picture, much, it seemed, in a srmv! area. As children, we gathered on the bridge to watch the laundryman at work. A fire heated the irons on top, and on the end of his ironing board the laundryman would have a large pitcher of water. With it he would fill his cheeks with water. He then would clamp the handle on the iron, spray the clothes with a fine spray through his teeth, then iron. This was continued until the ironing was done. The Chinese came to Park City, not to work in the cooks and as cleaning people in the boarding houses. They introduced vegetables to the miners, rounding out their diet of meat and potatoes. They grew beautiful gardens and furnished the stores and restaurants with fresh produce. pro-duce. They brought much to Park City. But by 1945 the Chinese were gone. They moved out during World War II because there was just nothing here for them. Some moved to Salt Lake City. Many others left for California leaving their past and their colorful dress and ways behind. Street and all but the top row of houses on Rossie Hill. In 1954 its replacement, weakened by weather and heavy use, was torn down because it was a hazard. One little kid, for instance, came down it on a sled and went under a semi in Swede Alley. Luckily, he went between the wheels. We hoped they would strengthen the bridge and restore it, but there was no need for the bridge then. It was no longer used by the wagons, and the Chinese had gone. So a stairway of 44 steps was built in its place. |