China Camp

https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=466 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Camp_State_Park China Camp State Park is surrounds a historic Chinese American shrimp-fishing village and a salt marsh. The park is located in San Rafael, California, on the shore of San Pablo Bay. It is known for its hiking and mountain biking trails, scenic views, and open spaces.

Our Mission China Camp State Park The mission of California State Parks is to provide for the health, inspiration and education of the people of California by helping to preserve the state’s extraordinary biological diversity, protecting its most valued natural and cultural resources, and creating opportunities for high-quality outdoor recreation. San Pablo Bay’s intertidal salt marshlands provide ideal habitat for grass shrimp and shorebirds near the remnants of a former California State Parks supports equal access. Prior to arrival, visitors with disabilities who need assistance should contact the park at (415) 456-0766. If you need this publication in an alternate format, contact interp@parks.ca.gov. CALIFORNIA STATE PARKS P.O. Box 942896 Sacramento, CA 94296-0001 For information call: (800) 777-0369 (916) 653-6995, outside the U.S. 711, TTY relay service www.parks.ca.gov China Camp State Park 101 Peacock Gap Trail San Rafael, CA 94901 (415) 456-0766 www.parks.ca.gov/chinacamp © 2010 California State Parks (Rev. 2015) Chinese fishing village. M agnificent panoramic views and miles of multi-use trails greet visitors to China Camp State Park. History buffs, water enthusiasts, hikers, cyclists, and equestrians will all find unforgettable experiences here. Park History Native People The indigenous Coast Miwok people first settled in what is now Marin County thousands of years ago. Each village had dome-shaped pole homes thatched with grass and tule, with eight to ten people living in each home. Larger settlements also had a sweathouse and a dance house. The Miwok hunted and fished only for what they consumed. Coast Miwok baskets and clamshell disk beads were traded with other tribes for needed items, such as volcanic obsidian from the Southern Pomo to make sharp tools. The Coast Miwok land at Point San Pedro was eventually taken from them through a Spanish land grant called Rancho San Pedro, Santa Margarita y las Gallinas. The grant was given to Timothy Murphy. After Murphy’s death in 1850, that land was divided and sold to the McNear family, the owners until the mid-1900s. A portion of the property that is now the park’s Back Ranch Meadows area was used as the McNear family’s dairy and grazing land. Chinese Fishing Village After the gold rush and the completion of the transcontinental railroad, demand for Chinese laborers abated. The Chinese had to find other work. The McNears leased some land to a man who sublet it to Chinese shrimp fishermen. Most of these fishermen had come from Canton in the maritime province of Kwantung, China. By the early 1880s, China Camp was one European Settlement of many coastal fishing villages in the bay Explorer Sir Francis Drake called the Miwok area, with nearly 500 residents. San Pablo “peaceful and loving” when he met them Bay’s mud flats provided an ideal grassin 1579. The Miwok population declined shrimping location. Nearly three million after Mission San Francisco de Asís was pounds of shrimp were caught each year, established in nearby San dried, and exported to China. Francisco in 1776; its sister Despite its successes, China mission, San Rafael Arcangel, Camp’s population began to decline was built in 1817. The mission after the Chinese Exclusion Act of system drastically changed the 1882, which forbade new Chinese traditional lifestyle of the native laborers to come to the U.S. Perhaps people. By 1900, few were left the population loss was influenced of an estimated 2,000 Miwok by the eventual outlawing of shrimp just a century earlier. Today export and the type of nets used some Miwok descendants still by the Chinese. A few Chinese live in the area. The Grace Quan were able to continue harvesting shrimp, aided by a new net designed in 1924 by Berkeley restaurateur Frank Spenger. Villager Quan Hock Quock Frank Quan mending a had come fish net, 1941 from San Francisco to run a seaside general store here; his sons Henry and George Quan were the last fishermen left at China Camp. Quan Hock Quock’s grandson, Frank Quan, still lives here. The redwood and fir reproduction Chinese junk Grace Quan, named after Frank’s mother, was built in 2003 by the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park and dedicated volunteers, with support from China Camp State Park staff. natural History More than 100 acres of tidal marsh at China Camp represent transitional wetlands at the edge of San Francisco Bay. Brackish seawater marsh makes up the park’s marine habitat, home to the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse and California clapper rail. Surrounding the marsh are several other habitats. Native grassland, mixed evergreen forest, oak woodland, and chaparral lead to a ridge dotted with coast live oak, California black oak, manzanita, and madrone trees. Spring brings profuse wildflowers. Broad meadows fill with lupine, blue-eyed grass, and Indian paintbrush. California milkwort, buckeye, and orange sticky monkeyflower bloom on hillsides in summertime. Birders may see chi