China Peak, A Sierra Mountain Named in Honor of A Chinese Cowboy

Arriving in central California from Alabama around 1859, J. A. Blasingame quickly became one of the area’s largest landowners by purchasing land in Fresno County. He entered the stock-raising business, which was very profitable.

His wife, Mary Jane, wanted a domestic servant and asked him to ‘‘try a China boy, as they were said to be excellent domestic workers with no marrying tendencies." Male Chinese servants were popular among well-to-do white families in California.  One writer noted that the Chinese male domestic was ‘‘ingenious about the kitchens and it mends,’’ ‘‘usually teachable,’’ ‘‘generally amiable and pleasant,’’ and ‘‘the friend of the children and seems oftentimes himself but a child of larger growth."

As luck would have it, one day while in San Francisco they saw a Chinese boy of about 13 years old crying inconsolably in front of a store because the owner was angry with him for poor work.  After obtaining permission from the boy's employer, Blasingame offered the boy, Charley Lee, an opportunity to live and work in his home near Fresno which he quickly accepted.

But young Lee preferred outdoor life and soon joined the shepherds Blasingame hired to manage his livestock. The Blasingames were sheep ranchers, but by the early 1890s this industry was under fire both locally and nationally.  The large herds living in the mountain range were seen as a significant environmental threat because sheep consume natural flora at a high rate. In 1893, President Benjamin Harrison signed an executive order creating a Sierra Forest Reserve, regulated by the federal government.

As the head cowboy, Charley Lee, who was regarded more as a family member than an employee, added "Blasingame" to his name. He was both the face and the power of their operation in the Sierra at a place that came to be called China Camp. As a Chinese during a period of growing racism, Lee was often a target for verbal abuse from Basque and Portuguese herders under his authority and who also threatened to disobey instructions of their Chinese American boss. 

In the late 1860s, John Muir, the famous naturalist, and Sierra Club founder in 1891, had begun exploring Yosemite and soon advocated conserving the natural beauty of the Sierra. In 1870, Muir was joined by University of California professor Joseph LeConte, Sr. on student expeditions to Yosemite. One of the Club’s first causes was successfully arguing for the outright ban on sheep raising. During these expeditions, both Muir and LeConte, and his son, met Charley Lee.  LeConte and Lee established a strong friendship and they met often on LeConte's expeditions. They spent long hours talking around a campfire, swapping stories about their adventures in the mountains, and LeConte made a point of bringing him a quart of whiskey during each of his visits.

Charley Lee Blasingame smoking outside his house at China Camp.

Lee’s ability to maintain the flocks of sheep he tended required skill navigating the delicate politics to ensure continued access to the reserve. This task entailed constant contact with not only other herders but also the Sierra rangers patrolling the forest.  Establishing good relationships was essential if the Blasingames were to continue receiving grazing permits and avoid harassment by the rangers. This was a world inhabited entirely by whites, and yet Lee was able to be successful in negotiating his way. The fact that LeConte named Chinese Peak in Lee’s honor, and that the name was allowed to remain despite controversies over Sierra naming conventions, reflected the reputation Lee enjoyed. 

 

On his deathbed in 1926, Lee insisted that his remains be returned to China although the Blasingame family had offered to bury him in their family plot. ‘‘Alive I’m Blasingame. Dead, I’m Chinaman. Put me in the China graveyard—already paid for when I come to Ame[r]ica,’’ he was reported as saying. Despite how the Blasingame family viewed him, Lee’s self-identification remained firmly Chinese.  Ignoring his wishes, Lee was buried in the Blasingame family plot instead. Although done without malice, this action, unfortunately, displayed a lack of cultural understanding.

"The Cowboy and the Mountain: Charley Lee Blasingame and Chinese American Interactions in the Sierra Nevada" 

Jeffery M. Der Torosian; Bradley W. Hart

Pacific Historical Review (2016) 85 (4): 506–531.

China Peak should not be confused with Sing Peak, which is also in Yosemite, and also named after a Chinese, Tie Sing, who was a revered cook for cartographers mapping the regions of Yosemite.

https://chineseamericanhistorian.blogspot.com/2012/07/yosemite-mountain-named-in-honor-of.html