In 1890, Kam Wah Chung stood at the heart of a bustling Chinatown in John Day, surrounded by businesses, homes, and a temple. For Chinese immigrants to Oregon in the 1800s, who often faced life as a minority without the language and amid common hostility, it served as a lifeline linking them to loved ones and to the lives they once lived. In war-torn China, many had faced no food, no work, and little hope, while California, the "Golden Mountain," beckoned from across the Pacific despite the risk of never seeing family or home again. In the late 1800s, nearby Canyon City's massive hydraulic mining operations needed cheap labor, and word spread, bringing Chinese workers by the thousands. By 1885, almost everyone in Canyon City employed a Chinese laborer. When their homes and businesses burned later that year, many moved to the thriving Chinatown centered at Kam Wah Chung. Around the turn of the 20th century, as the gold played out, the once bustling Chinese community melted away, but Doc Hay and Lung On, known to townspeople as "Leon," had become valued members of the community, so they remained and Kam Wah Chung and Co. persisted as the only building left.