[Loscho_Enews] Japanese Gulch Archaeological dig

[Cameron Johnson]

"Fish, Boots, and Mud: Archaeology and Ecology in Japanese Gulch," with Dr. Thomas Murphy and AMEC's Emily Scott. 7pm Wednesday November 6, Everett Public Library Auditorium, 2702 Hoyt Avenue, Everett. A 2010-2012 project aimed to restore salmon runs to Japanese Gulch Creek, re-engineered during the 1960s when a railroad spur line was built up the gulch to the Boeing plant. During the final phase of the project, workers digging near the stream bed uncovered  artifacts: shoes, glass bottles, ceramic shards, architectural debris. Project work stopped and the archaeological dig began. Edmonds Community College's Learn and Serve Environmental Field (LEAF) school and AMEC Environment and Infrastructure took the lead in the dig.  The carefully exhumed artifacts show evidence of a segregated community of Japanese workers and their families who worked for Mukilteo/Crown Lumber Company and lived along Jap Gulch Creek, as it was historically called. Their community-which numbered about a hundred at its peak-lasted from 1891 to 1930.  Their one story dwellings stretched along a plank and dirt road leading up the gulch. The village included a men's dormitory, community center, gardens, a store, boys club, and a playground.  Few living people remember this community, but these artifacts recall it.
There is no charge to attend.


Cameron A. Johnson
Public Programs

Everett Public Library
2702 Hoyt Avenue
Everett, WA  98201
425-257-7640
425-257-8092 (fax)
cjohnson at everettwa.gov

As little as possible,
As much as necessary.
                           -R. Daneel Olivaw


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