ecological art
theatrical design
installation & studio art
slithering brush, hissing creek
nature’s play
about
Welcome to the Chinese Tribute Bridge! Can you find the tail, belly, and head of the snake as she slithers across the ravine?
The Deer Creek Tribute Trail illuminates the challenging histories of the Nisenan and Chinese who lived in this region. A symbol of rebirth and wisdom, this Chinese zodiac year (2025) celebrates the Snake. Kingsnakes and Rattlesnakes are key species within this extraordinary ecotonal site. The snake sculpture slithers through arid south-facing shrubs, mossy north-facing conifer forest, and a deep pool opening to the mouth of a wide floodplain. All is healing from the massive disruption of gold mining and logging along Deer Creek.
What people and plants are out of place here? The serpent installation is made of native Manzanita removed from a new trail on Sugarloaf Mountain, and invasive Scotch Broom and Tree of Heaven harvested onsite. It plunges through a patch of Himalayan Blackberries that will be a delicious treat later this summer. How can we adapt to appreciate the plants that have made this land home?
This installation is on Nisenan land. Please be sure to visit the Angkula Seo Nisenan Tribute Bridge on your way back to Nevada City, and support the California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project (CHIRP). CHIRP oversees the rebirth of the land through the wisdom of native stewardship.
This project was funded by the Arts in California Parks Local Parks Grant Program, administered by Parks California. For more information on the Art in Nature Installations commissioned by the Bear Yuba Land Trust, see: https://www.bylt.org/events/event/art-in-nature-installations/
Join us at the installation for a potluck picnic with celebratory stories, featuring members of the Community Asian Theater of the Sierras (CATS), on the solstice: Saturday, June 21st 2025, at 10 AM!
DIRECTIONS
Click for navigation to the Chinese Tribute Bridge. Public parking along Champion Mine Road.
- 2.2 Miles from Nevada City.
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1.4 Miles from the Tribute Trailhead on Old Downieville Hwy. (30 - 40 mins by foot).
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0.7 Miles from the closest parking on Champion Mine Road (15 mins by foot)
CHINESE ARTIFACTS & INFLUENCES IN NEVADA CITY
Courtesy of the Nevada County Historical Society Firehouse No. 1 Museum.
The Hou Wang Temple Altar (1874). Dragons snake their way through the clouds. The text reads, “The Temple of Many Saints.”
Chinese immigrants sustained a mining culture distinct from white American life. This included bringing religion, medicines, and entertainment from China. The Hou Wang Temple Altar from the Grass Valley Chinatown is preserved today in the Firehouse No. 1 Museum in Nevada City. Featured on a front panel is a wood carving of two dragons. Seeing this carving, I was reminded of classic ink paintings depicting serpentine forms plunging through clouds. The title “Slithering Brush” refers to this motif. In China, the snake is referred to as the “little dragon.”
CHINESE ALONG DEER CREEK
Upstream of the Chinese Tribute Bridge was a hub of hydraulic mining. The traces can be seen in smooth bedrock worn by tons of constant sand and gravel tailings sent downstream: the equivalent of millions of years of erosion. Though the Champion, Mountaineer, and Providence mines were most prominent, independent Chinese miners were present in the area between American Hill and the creek, where the Tribute Trail passes. White diggers would follow gold “booms” and abandon claims after roughly mining the largest deposits. The Chinese would buy up these leases. They perfected a niche through diligent hydroblasting of abandoned claims: destructively carving out entire hills under water pressure, then meticulously sluicing the runoff for leftover gold.
The Chinese initially came to California as refugees from worsening conditions in the 1840’s-60’s, including the Opium Wars, famines, and economic depressions. In 1849, only 791 Chinese were recorded as California residents. When California became known as the “Gold Mountain,” it attracted Chinese workers. By 1852, 25,000 had emigrated. Despite opposition by the white press and public, many mine owners saw selling to the Chinese as a means of making a quick profit. By 1869, the majority of river mining operations in California were owned by the Chinese. After the completion of the Central Pacific Railroad in 1869, over 10,000 laborers joined the workforce. They were hired out in groups by Chinatown general stores to dig ditches, build roads, and farm in the region. Most Chinese in the Nevada City area were still engaged in mining. The 1860 census records 355 miners, 17 merchants, 13 laundrymen, and a few individuals in other occupations. The 1880 census records 428 miners, followed by 85 laundrymen, and other miscellaneous jobs.
Chinatowns across California served as self-sustaining bubbles. Merchant supply chains back to China supplied arts, technologies, and foods. Meals were often healthier than their white counterparts. Gambling, opium, and prostitution businesses faced scrutiny by white Californians and became the core excuse for discrimination. The value of imported traditions in craft, medicine, and engineering was largely overlooked. Before the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Chinese were the largest demographic mining population in the state. The Act was the only federal bill targeting a specific race, banning all Chinese except for academics, businessmen, and diplomats until 1943. By the early 1900’s, the Chinese prospectors faced the difficulty reality of being a generation of “aging bachelors:” lifelong laborers who typically lived insularly dedicated to work. Most considered themselves “sojourners” — just passing through.
The Deer Creek Tribute Trail was dedicated in 2011, with the new Nisenan section completed in December 2024. A new trail will connect the Nisenan Trail on the south side of the creek with the Chinese Bridge Loop. I had the good fortune to walk with anthropologist Hank Meals, who was responsible for the original Deer Creek archeological survey in 2008. Please visit his blog, especially this post on Chinese gold mining. The previous information paraphrases our conversation and refers to his research, which contains citations for the specific statistics listed.
THE TREE OF HEAVEN
In addition to Manzanita, the installation employs two invasive species: Scotch Broom (Cytisus Scoparius, a European species) and Tree of Heaven (Ailanthus Altissima, a Chinese species). The Tree of Heaven was likely planted by Chinese miners for its medicinal properties and rapid growth. Its branches snap quickly to gather as firewood. It is popular in herbal remedies as a source of Quassin, a bittering agent with several health benefits. Tree of Heaven infusions were used to treat fevers and regulate secretion to settle the stomach. It stimulates the liver, kidneys, gall bladder, and intestines. Decoctions were consumed as laxatives or applied topically to combat lice. It could be applied in various forms to treat hemorrhoids and promote menstruation. Its bitter extract was used in tonics, wines, ales, and desserts. It is an insecticide that can deter or kill most birds and insects, excluding ladybugs and bees. Source: Wallace Hagaman Chinese Collection at the Doris Searls Historical Library.
ARCHIVAL NEWSPAPERS
I have compiled articles from the Nevada City Daily Transcript, a white newspaper, that exemplify the varying attitudes toward Chinese residents. These articles were retrieved from the extensive Wallace Hagaman Chinese Archive at the Nevada County Historical Society Doris Searls Historical Library.
PDF: Chinese Newspaper Articles
THE MANZANITA
Peeling mahogany skin and twisting growth cast Whiteleaf Manzanita’s (Arctostaphylos Viscida) as the perfect material for a serpentine sculpture. Its methods of survival are extraordinary examples of evolutionary adaptation. When the thin bark sustains an injury or the leaves of a branch stop receiving light, almost entire limbs seem to succumb to a petrified death. Yet these frozen forms remain alive, supporting just a tendril of living red bough leading to a flourish of leaves. These adaptations cause it to reach and fuse around each other in sinewy gnarls that look almost fleshy. As a dominant chaparral species, there are over 100 cultivars of the manzanita in California. Slow-growing in arid conditions, new shoots rebound quickly to renewal by fire. The berries dry and burst into sugar-like powder which tastes like tart apples (hence the Spanish name, “little apple”). Producing masses of winter flowers and summer berries, every part of the manzanita was used medicinally by native Nisenan.
NISENAN USES
Moḱoṡ is the Nisenan word for Manzanita. See CHIRP’s beautiful encapsulation of Moḱoṡ. As we admire the sculptural beauty of the material, I encourage you to consider the traditional uses of the plant. Manzanita were cared for as providers of medicine and material for tools. To read about traditional uses of manzanita in Nisenan culture, follow this link:
PDF: Nisenan Uses of Manzanita
Please read this Nisenan Land Acknowledgement. At one time, there were more than 14 Nisenan villages within a 2-mile radius of Nevada City. Before their genocidal erasure and the forced end to native land stewardship, the Nisenan valued preserving the biodiverse meadows along creeks. Stocking’s Flat, just below the Chinese Tribute Bridge, was once bordered by grassy knolls before prospectors tore them apart and dumped endless gravel tailings that changed the course of the stream. The deep pools and waterfalls of the Deer Creek inspired supernatural legends.
LOCAL MANZANITA ANECDOTES
It has been a true pleasure to get to know Nevada City residents through this project. I wanted to share a few anecdotes about Manzanita paraphrased from conversations I had on the trails.
- I was carving wood at a bench right here at the creek with my legs wide apart and my back to the hill. I looked down and there was a huge black and white striped kingsnake slithering between my legs! I froze and waited until it slithered right over the embankment and disappeared into the manzanita bush. (Bob, an artist who hikes down to the Chinese Bridge weekly)
- Manzanita is one of the earliest plants in the region to flower, erupting in a huge volume of delightful pink blossoms. Because they’re one of the only flowers to bloom in winter, hummingbirds rely on them to survive. (Bill, who swims in the creek under the Chinese Bridge)
- There’s a drop of honey in each flower bell! Try tasting them next winter. (Hank, local archaeologist)
- Manzanita is a type of blueberry! I like how people relate to it when they understand that. One time I tried to make a large play tree for my friend’s cats out of a big one that was removed by road workers. But it dried out and completely cracked! I’d stick to madrones for sculpture. (A biologist who came down to the Chinese Bridge on her mountain bike)
- I’ve noticed manzanita receding from some hillsides over the last decade. (Richard, local landscaper)
- The bark peels and twists like a snake. I remember eating the sugar berries off the ground. (Theo, grew up in Nevada City)
- I love those berries! My mom told me not to eat too many or I’d get a stomachache. I never got a stomachache, but maybe it’s because it’s difficult to gather that many. (Hiker on Sugarloaf Mountain)
- I bought a gorgeous manzanita trunk in Arizona decades ago, and brought it all the way to Oahu as my wall sculpture. Then I brought it here -- imagine my surprise when I realized it was native to the region! (Hiker at Chinese Bridge)
THANKS TO:
- Theo Black and Annette Muller for guiding this project
- Hank Meals for his archaeological expertise along Deer Creek
- Emma and the volunteers at the Bear Yuba Land Trust
- Iona at ‘Uba Seo and Saxon at CHIRP (California Heritage: Indigenous Research Project)
- Pat at the Nevada County Historical Society Searls Library, and Cathy and Mick at the Firehouse No. 1 Museum
- The Hunt, Stanger, Jacobson, and Soderstrom families for their hospitality
- Bill, Bob, Richard, and all other hikers with whom I spoke at the project site
- Jeannie and the Community Asian Theatre of the Sierras
murky pool in the little gorge behind my apartment