The Deadwood Historic Preservation Committee is paying homage to the Chinese community that settled in the Northern Black Hills during the gold rush of 1876. The Preservation Committee is reconstructing an altar and burner that was at the Mt. Moriah cemetery in Deadwood for almost forty years. Historians say members of the Chinese community originally built and placed the altar at the cemetery in 1908. The altar and burner fell into disrepair and were removed from the cemetery in the 1940’s.
Historic Preservation Officer for the City of Deadwood Kevin Kuchenbeckersays the City wants to acknowledge the important role the Chinese played in the early settlement of Deadwood by reconstructing the memorial.
“It was used for burial rights and offerings to the Chinese to the afterlife and the spirit world. We were able to reconstruct this based on archaeological evidence and photographic evidence using the Secretary of Interior’s standards for reconstruction,” says Kuchenbecker.
Kuchenbecker says the original memorial was constructed from brick and stucco. The newly restored burner and altar are built with similar materials – including century-old bricks from Deadwood’s Chinese Wing Tsue building that was lost in 2005. Kuchenbecker adds that while many Chinese came to Deadwood to mine for gold, others were also merchants, restaurateurs, and had laundries in the small mining town.
The dedication of the altar and burner is scheduled for Tuesday, July 23rd at the Mt. Moriah Cemetary in Deadwood.