Elem Historic Feature Interpretation
The following table lists the historical features, their probable age, function, and general characteristics. This information suggests a historic Native American community that was maintaining their traditional lake resource economic focus and their traditional religious focus while taking on some of the agricultural practices of the colonizing European culture. The features indicate differences between households in economic focus as well as traditional focus.
Features 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6 all included Chinese related materials suggesting that most Elem households accepted the Chinese mine-working pioneers into their families. The features indicate that different households specialized in different economic activities. Feature 4 had an abundance of fishing related material where Features 5 and 6 had more agricultural related material. Some features (particularly Feature 4 but also 5 and 6) had more “traditional” cultural items suggesting that older or more traditional individuals lived in these households. Children’s items used by both girls and boys were found in two of the features (5 and 6). A striving to be self-sufficient and not tied to the market economy introduced by the colonizing Europeans was evident by the existence of canning jars in most of the features (2, 5, 6, 7).
Fea. | Date | Type of Deposit | Representing | Traditional | Use of Lake | Children | Home Canning | Chinese Material |
1 | pre 1917 | Trash Pit | General Household Refuse | ? | ? | ? | ? | yes |
2 | 1903- 1934 | House Feature | General Household Refuse | Stone Tool Making | ? | ? | yes | yes |
3 | Pre 1917 | House Feature | General Household Refuse | ? | Fish bone | ? | ? | yes Many |
4 | Pre 1917 | House Feature | Fisherman Household Refuse | Shell Bead Making | Boat parts, fish bone and shell | ? | ? | ? |
5 | 1900- 1960 | House Feature | Agricultural Household Refuse | Shell Bead Making | Shell | boys & girls | yes | yes |
6 | 1880- 1958 | House Feature | General Household Refuse | Shell Bead Making | ? | boys & girls | yes | yes |
7 | 1880- 1930 | Sheet Deposit | General Household Refuse | ? | Boat parts | ? | yes | yes |
It is likely that these historic features contained information that could have been used to define specific families and the economic and cultural differences each family brought to the community as a whole.
The study of these features could have provided documentation on the rate of acculturation that was occurring in the community following European colonization of the area.
A study of the Chinese materials contained in these features could have provided a timetable for the arrival of Chinese pioneers in Lake County as well as an indication of what part of China they came from. The Chinese materials could have indicated their cultural status in the community and when and if they were forced to return to China following passage of the 1888 Scott Act (any Chinese who returned to China could not return to the U.S.) or the 1892 Geary Act (all Chinese in the U.S. must carry certificates of residence).
Unfortunately, all the historic features described on this page were destroyed by EPA grading without any data recovery or mitigation as required by the National Historic Preservation Act.
