D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 1
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Frisbie Hoar as "nothing less than the legalization of racial
discrimination." Sadly, the law would stay on the books
until 1942, when we allied with the Chinese against the
Japanese in WWII.
The Act made life very difficult for those Chinese already
living in Montana for various reasons, including a shortage
of Chinese women, who were vastly outnumbered by the
men. Gradually, the number of Chinese in Montana and the
surrounding states declined, as it did across the country. By
1943, Copper Camp reports that "All
is quiet in... Chinatown... The pop-
ulation has dwindled to a handful.
Most of these are now withered pa-
triarchs who sit over their long pipes
and talk about the good old days."
But of course, that's not the
whole story, because some of the
Chinese families stayed, despite
the difficulties. Partly because
some exceptions to the Chinese
Exclusion Act were made for
merchants and other non-worker
class Chinese, there were some
families who managed to establish
long roots in Montana, and some
businesses that survived, and even
enjoyed a rousing success for dozens of years, chief among
them the Pekin Noodle Parlor in Butte, the oldest operat-
ing Chinese restaurant in the country as well as the oldest
restaurant in Montana.
Such stories serve as particularly poi-
gnant examples of the fabled "American
Dream." Because, like so many grand
Western narratives, the Chinese-Amer-
ican experience in the 19th and early 20th centuries is a
tale of hard work, perseverance, and for those who would
continue to call Montana their home, a story of adversity
overcome.
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