Chinese camp, once a booming town with over 10,000 residents during the Gold Rush, is a small community today next to Highway 120, near the junction of Highway 120 and 49. We’ve passed by it numerous times but never gave a second thought about it. On the way back from Eastern Sierra two weeks ago, when spotting the sign of it, the impulsive nerve hit us. So we decided to have quick stop to explore it.
It turned out that, to this day, the community is having only about 120 residents, of which most are farmers. No gold is mined today. It still has a USPS office. However, the Main Street is largely abandoned, with deserted buildings slowly turning into ruins. The owner of the Chinese Camp Store & Tavern was kind to give us a brief history lesson of the town.
All photos here were taken with Fomapan 100 B&W films, which seem to be an appropriate media to record this out-of-fashion place.
