March 2004 - Society for California Archaeology

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18 Articles Angel Island Immigration Station Trish Fernandez Pacific Legacy, Inc. Pacific Legacy, under contract with Environmental Science Associates and the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR), excavated the site of the Angel Island Immigration Station (AIIS), located in the San Francisco Bay. The project is part of a plan to preserve and interpret the history of the Immigration Station, which was in use between 1910 and 1940 and was the main Pacific Coast entry for Asian immigrants, particularly Chinese. The current study was aimed at identifying the subsurface remains of the Administration Building to determine if and how those remains might contribute to the interpretive program. One of the aims of the interpretive program is to convey how Angel Island exemplifies the history of immigration policy and compare this station with the major east coast immigration station, Ellis Island. Key parties in the development of the program are the DPR, the AIIS Foundation, the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and the National Park Service (NPS). Historic Context Immigration Policy With the population increase from the California Gold Rush, labor became more competitive in the western United States and couched in terms of distinctions between nationalities. Eventually, the Chinese became scapegoats for the growing pains of America’s industrialization and capitalization, including the depression of the 1870s (Figure 1). Anti-immigration sentiment swept through the country and the Chinese Exclusion Act was enacted in 1882. The act excluded Chinese from obtaining American citizenship, but exempted merchants, diplomats, ministers, travelers, students, and children of American citizens. Chinese attempting to immigrate under these exemptions were heavily scrutinized by U.S. officials. Contributing further to this scrutiny, many vital records were destroyed during the San Francisco Earthquake, enabling Chinese residents in the SCA Newsletter 38(1)
19 Articles U.S. to claim they had more children than they actually Figure 1 did and thereby assisting “illegal” immigration. Between 1888 and 1943, congressional amendments, treaties, and acts effectively extended the Chinese Exclusion Act, which led to interrogations, hearings, appeals, and extended detentions for Asian immigrants. In 1943, when China became a wartime ally of the United States, the Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. The immigration process at Angel Island began in the San Francisco Bay, as immigration officers boarded ships to inspect passengers’ documents. Those with questionable documents were ferried to Angel Island for further examination. At the island, “whites” were separated from other races and the Asian population was separated into Chinese, Japanese, and “other.” Men and women were kept apart and not allowed to communicate with each other until cleared for admission. During the first years of the station’s operation, the average waiting period could stretch into months. After complaints by leaders of the Chinese community in the 1920s, however, the average waiting time reduced to approximately three weeks. Figure 2 Site History The AIIS was touted as the Ellis Island of the West; however, it was also known as the Guardian of the Western Gate, as it was overtly designed to control the flow of Chinese into the country. The station, which officially opened in 1910, consisted of an administration building, power house, hospital, wharf, baggage shed, carpentry shop, recreation areas, water tanks, a reservoir, a mule barn, a separate detention barracks for Chinese, and three managers’ houses and nine smaller employee houses designed by Julia Morgan (Figure 2). The steep topography of the site required the construction of a total of 27 retaining walls. In 1910, a tenperson privy was constructed in the Chinese recreation area, but was removed in 1920 after flush toilets were added to the barracks. A guard house was constructed northwest of the Chinese detention barracks in 1930. The Administration Building was located close to the wharf, forming the threshold to the AIIS (Figure 3). This building was the largest structure at the facility and occupied the majority of the flat portion of the site. It was an imposing, three-story building that housed a registration room, general office, medical examination room, Inspector and Doctor’s offices, kitchen, separate “Chinese” and “European” dining rooms, employee dormitories, and detention quarters for 100 European immigrants (Figure 4). An accidental fire destroyed the Administration Building in 1940. Between 1941 and 1946, the U.S. Army constructed several new buildings at the site, including a 1600-person SCA Newsletter 38(1)
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March 2004 - Society for California Archaeology

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