JOHN DAY — The Kam Wah Chung & Co. building in John Day is well known as the longtime general store and herbal medicine practice run by Chinese immigrants Lung On and Ing “Doc” Hay in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Historians have long believed that the structure was built as a stage stop for a 19th century wagon route called the Dalles Military Road.

But that idea may soon be put to rest.

Don Merritt, curator of the Kam Wah Chung museum, said he’s likely found the man behind the construction of the famed 19th century building and cultural resource in Grant County — a Canyon City founding father, county judge, photographer and businessman by the name of George I. Hazeltine.

Hazeltine, who ran a pack train company for freight delivery in the mid-19th century, bought a large homestead in John Day, where he built the first gristmill east of the Cascades and likely utilized Chinese laborers to build the Kam Wah Chung structure in 1865, Merritt said. The land claim covered about 64 acres in an L shape from Canyon Boulevard to the area where Les Schwab Tire Center is today, he said.

In the 19th century, in order to obtain a homestead, prospective landowners had to make improvements on the land such as farming or building a structure, he said.

“What I am thinking is he ran his freight business and built the building for that and he operated it there for several years,” Merritt said. “I think the reason he got the land claim is he already had improvements on the land.”

Merritt’s findings counter a long-held belief about the origins of the historic structure.

“(The Kam Wah Chung) building, it was assumed that it was constructed in 1865 by the Dalles Military Road Co. as a stage stop and supply depot for everyone traveling along the road,” Merritt said. “But it didn’t make a lot of sense to me because the Dalles Military Road Co. was not formed or designated until 1868 or 1869. So it didn’t make a lot of sense until a couple of weeks ago.”

Loosely translated as the “Golden Flower of Prosperity,” Kam Wah Chung was the longtime location of a successful business venture for two Chinese immigrants, herbal medicine practitioner “Doc” Hay and businessman Lung On, that also served as a social and religious center for the Chinese community for over 60 years.

Today the Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site includes an interpretive center on Northwest Canton Street and the historic museum building on Ing Hay Way.

The museum was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2005.

Eastern roots

Hazeltine was born on May 4, 1836, in Cattaraugus County, New York, but spent most of his early life in St. Charles, Illinois, according to “The Centennial History of Oregon, 1811-1912,” which was published in 1912, when Hazeltine was still alive at the age of 76.

According to information archived by the Orbis Cascade Alliance, a nonprofit library consortium serving 38 colleges and universities in Oregon, Washington and Idaho, Hazeltine trained as a photographer in New York City in 1852. He and his brother Martin operated a daguerreotype studio in San Francisco from 1853 to 1855, according to a biographical sketch about Hazeltine at the nonprofit’s website.

He began mining a claim in Canyon City in 1862 and established a pack train service from Canyon City to The Dalles in 1864. Hazeltine also served as Grant County judge from 1878 to 1882 and again from 1890 to 1894, as well as county treasurer from 1896-1898.

The Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site, where Merritt serves as curator, is open from May through October. During the offseason, Merritt said he often does research on the building.

In early March, Merritt came across information from the Grant County Historical Museum about Hazeltine’s acquisition of a homestead in John Day. Merritt also discovered, through online general land office maps from the Bureau of Land Management, that the property was owned by George Hazeltine in 1871.

“So my thinking is, if he owned a freight business on the Canyon City-to-Dalles wagon road, he probably built this building for his freight business that he ran for, like, one or two years, purchased the property and then, sometime in 1871, leased it to the Chinese to open Kam Wah Chung and Co. We know it was established in 1871 — we have all kinds of evidence of that.”

Hazeltine owned the Kam Wah Chung property until 1874, Merritt said.

“Someone else bought the property at that point,” he said. “We know a woman owned the property in 1885, shortly before Doc Hay and Long On purchased it in 1888.”

Merritt said Hazeltine also built a courthouse in Canyon City in the 1880s, and the stonework in that building and Kam Wah Chung was identical. (The structure predates the current Grant County Courthouse, which was built in 1952.) Merritt said evidence points to Chinese laborers having worked on the cornering of the rocks and the stonework on the Kam Wah Chung building.

“So I think everything is related to George Hazeltine, as far as ownership and construction of the building,” he said.

Kam Wah Chung

The Kam Wah Chung State Heritage Site, 125 NW Canton St. in John Day, is open from May 1 to Oct. 31. Guided tours are available, and admission is free.

Hours: 9 a.m. to noon and 1-5 p.m. daily

Phone: 541-575-2800

Web: friendsofkamwahchung.com 

Grant County Historical Museum

The Grant County Historical Museum, 101 S. Canyon Blvd. in Canyon City, is open from May 1 to Sept. 30.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday

Admission: Adults, $4; seniors and veterans, $3.50; children, $2; ages 6 and younger, free

Phone: 541-575-0362

Web: grantcountyhistoricalmuseum.org