Chinese began to develop the abalone industry in Monterey, California in 1853. As the industry developed, Chinese merchant/labor contractors using junks working out of Santa Barbara, controlled the Chinese fishery.
As squatters on the Channel Islands, they built camps on the offshore islands where they would fish from skiffs, prying the mollusks from the rocks of shallow waters. Using a long pole with a wedge on one end, they would knock an abalone off a rock and then draw it up with a boat hook. Onshore, after removing the meat from the shell, the abalone was pounded and then boiled in a large kettle and then placed on racks in the sun to dry. When the meat was thoroughly dry, it was packed in sacks for shipment to San Francisco where it was sold both to China as well as to the large Chinese community in San Francisco. The meat was considered a great luxury and was consumed primarily by the more affluent Chinese.
The Chinese abalone industry peaked on Anacapa, Santa Cruz, Santa Rosa, San Miguel and San Clemente islands from 1892 to 1895. In 1900, however, county ordinances were passed that made it illegal to gather abalones from less than twenty feet of water. The regulations completely halted their commercial abalone operations. As the shallow water abalone populations were depleted, Japanese divers moved in and took over the industry.
Seven of the eight California Channel Islands have “Chinese” places names, including Chinese Harbor, China Camp, Chinese Point, and China Canyon, names that may have originated from days when Yankee clippers landed Chinese on the islands awaiting a chance to smuggle them over to the mainland.
There was ongoing suspicion that the islands were used as stations for smuggling illegal Chinese immigrants. An immigration inspector would travel to the Channel Islands to conduct interviews with Chinese working at abalone camps.
February 1857 [Hutchings Illustrated California Magazine]: “Captain C. J. W Russell notes “At the present time there are no less than twelve schooners and sloops chartered by Chinamen; besides several hundred of Chinese laborers engaged in this business, as they are an important article of consumption to Chinamen in California, in addition to the vast quantities exported by them to their native land. In flavor, these are said to be fully equal to the oyster, especially in soup, and could be introduced advantageously for our own use, and we would suggest to epicures here, to give this dish of ‘John’s’ a trial, for it may be possible that although we might not relish cooked rats, the abalone may be one of the greatest of delicacies to our own people…
June 5, 1885 [SBDI]: “The Chinese merchants are experiencing quiet times in their branches of trade. The merchants during the past year, however, have shipped hundreds of dollars worth of abalone shells, to say nothing of the dried fish that has been shipped to San Francisco and thence forwarded to the ‘flowery kingdom.’ Sing Chung and Co. have a number of men constantly employed in hunting, fishing, and gathering shells in and around the several islands that are within a few hours sail of Santa Barbara. They own their own boats, and in fact everything that pertains to the business in which they pursue. Their Chinese junks are commanded by Mongolians, who have been brought up on their own water, and can reef and furl with true American style…”
June 22, 1885 [SBDI]: “Misconceptions as to the sailing qualities of a Chinese junk. Yesterday the reporter of this paper, in company with contractor Mix and others, visited the Chinese junk, a frail-looking vessel that is moored in our harbor, having not long since arrived from the lower coast, where she has been engaged in the hunting trade. A sunburned Chinaman, wearing loose pants made out of canvas duck, hatless, unbleached cotton shirt unbuttoned down the front, greeted us upon the arrival of our boat, and in pigeon English extended our crowd a hearty welcome, and assisted us over the bulwarks of the vessel. He afterwards proved to be the captain… The boat is a veritable Chinese junk, built and manned by Chinamen, and from her mast floats the emblem of their country, which affords a striking contrast with the hull of the boat which is painted black… she smells very strong of fish. Her capacity is not great, owing to her peculiar shape, as she appears narrow and her stern runs forward in such angle that it leaves but little of the boat to rest upon the water. Her cabin is dark, dingy, and uninviting. No windows nor means of ventilation of any kind except a small aperture, just large enough to permit a man’s body to pass through, and through this hole, you have to pass in order to reach the cabin. Here we found a man at work netting seines and nets which they use in their business. The meshes were not quite an inch square and the work was systematically performed. The crew seemed pleased at our coming aboard, and in order to show their appreciation, they treated us to brandy, cigars, and fresh-made tea. They carry no nautical instruments, not even a compass, and their navigation is entirely done by landmarks, as they seldom go out of sight of land…”
August 29, 1885 [SBDP]: “A new Santa Barbara industry is the drying of abalone meat for shipment to San Francisco and export to China where it is regarded as a delicacy by the natives. Sing Chung and Sing Hop, Chinese merchants engaged in the trade, have sent for exhibition several specimens of the dried meat, as well as a number of handsomely polished abalone shells.”
August 28, 1887 [SBDI]: “Protect the fish. Considerable interest is manifested in the efforts of the State Board of Fish Commissioners to suppress the destruction of immature fish in the bays of the Northern Coast. Chinese fishermen are said to use nets of illegal size with very small meshes…
September 18, 1891 [VSFP]: “Recent developments indicate that the gang of opium smugglers, known to be strung on the Pacific Coast, has found a new field of operations along the shores of the Santa Barbara Channel, and, all things considered, the wonder is that the field was not found long ago. Possibly, indeed it was… those islands themselves, several of them deserted rocks inhabited only during a part of the year by Chinese fishermen, and honey-combed with wave-worn caves, afford a thousand hiding places for the drug.
July 7, 1892 [CDT]: “Attempt to smuggle Chinamen. British Columbian schooner, the Eliza Edwards, is hovering off the California coast with a cargo of Chinese immigrants which it is trying to land on United States soil… The attempt to land coolies is likely to be made, it is thought, near Santa Barbara…”
December 2, 1892 [SBMP]: “The government agent for registering Chinese of this place has not been able to secure any names up to date. This registration is a formality that John Chinamen can’t exactly ‘savey.’”
May 22, 1894 [SBDI]: “The Abalone Trade. Anyone who has ever tasted abalone soup when it was fixed ‘just right,’ has never forgotten how good it was, and often longs for another chance. But the abalone consumed by the local trade is insignificant compared to the vast quantity shipped annually to San Francisco and the Chinese, and they prepare it in various ways, making it almost as edible as the rat when properly cooked. Unlike the rat, however, abalone can be eaten raw, and anyone stranded on an isle of the Santa Barbara group need not suffer for lack of food. There the abalone abounds, and its favorite lurking place is around the edges where the water comes up and cools them off. There is no time that parties of Chinamen are not on some places on the islands, gathering these shellfish from the rocks, and schooner load after sloop load are landed at the wharf every year. The shell forms a valuable commodity, also, being used extensively for mother-of-pearl inlaid work, and also for buttons. The price of shells is low at present, owing to dull times and the decreasing demand for buttons. But abalone itself is always in demand, so much so that there is a fear of the race becoming extinct. The legislature should include the abalone in the fish and game laws, and pass an amendment that only the old tough ones should be picked for a few years, until a generation or two can gain a foothold.”
1892-1895 U.S. Commission of Fish & Fisheries Report: “The Chinese have a monopoly in the abalone fishery, and in preparing, eating, and marketing of the dried abalones. The meat and shells are handled by a Chinese merchant at Santa Barbara and by him forwarded to other Chinese at San Francisco, where, having supplied any local demand for dried abalone from the islands of Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, San Miguel and San Clemente.”
May 31, 1898 [LAT/SD]: “Will Gerrull, well-known as a skipper of vessels of the guano fleet, was arrested this evening on a charge of smuggling Chinese into the United States. Francisco Reyes, who is accused of a like offense, was also taken into custody at the same time. Chinese Inspector Putnam of Los Angeles has been anxious to obtain the arrests of these men for the past two months.”
April 15, 1899 [SBMP]: “The Chinamen who own the abalone shells which have been stored on the wharf for several weeks, are shipping them out of the country before the ordinance prohibiting the shipment of abalones out of the country goes into effect.”
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