By Dr. Rhonda T. Davis
Users described opium as the perfect drug. Westerners often called it the celestial drug and hailed it as a cure-all. In small doses added to a cup of tea, opium combatted the many pains that plagued people who lived with irregular medical treatment on the frontier. In medium doses, it was effective in easing insomnia. Opium was used by frontier households as a tranquilizer, analgesic, to treat fatigue, depression, the ague, and malaria. A wide range of patent medications including laudanum contained opium.
The opium smoked in Prescott’s opium dens, however, was used for recreational purposes. At higher doses, opium produces euphoria and a sense of peace. The Chinese in Territorial Prescott enjoyed the same amusements as other frontiersmen including drinking, gambling, prostitutes, and opium smoking. The opium dens in Prescott were located at Chinese owned businesses. The most basic equipment used by opium smokers was a Yen Tshung (pipe), Yen Dong (a spirit lamp), and Noen Kun Yen (a box of opium paste). Other items commonly provided in the opium dens included sponges, bowls, and head rests. There were a large number of opium artifacts found in the 2006 archeological excavation of Prescott’s Chinatown; in fact, so many that it appears Prescott had a higher than usual percentage of opium users.
While many non-Chinese Prescottonians joined their Chinese neighbors in a friendly smoke of opium, and as much as people enjoyed an alcoholic drink, others ascribed depravity, sloth, and immorality to opium use. The fact that men and women smoked opium together was shocking to the more refined of the Prescott establishment, as well as the Temperance League, missionaries and moral reformers. These good people had already succeeded in making it illegal for women to drink alcohol in public, but opium was harder to regulate. It was legal even though many considered it immoral.
Most of Prescott’s opium dens were located along Granite Street. One of the most popular opium dens was at the corner of Goodwin and Granite and was open around the clock. Men and women from all walks of life frequented the opium dens. The mixing of prostitutes and miners was less of a problem than was the mixing of otherwise respectable men and women in this regard. Opium pipes were the most common way to smoke opium. These pipes were elaborately fashioned from wood, ivory, jade, silver, cloisonné, and porcelain.
Many non-Chinese people assumed that most or all Chinese were opium addicts. In fact, opium users were in the minority among the Chinese. Because the Chinese used long pipes to smoke tobacco, regular smokers were often mistaken for opium users. The characterization of Chinese as carousing, gambling, and smoking opium gained popularity as the Chinese population increased. Moreover, the frontier really was a rough place in those decades. An excavation of Prescott’s Chinatown reveals massive quantities of alcohol containers along with opium paraphernalia.
Opium was a serious business that became a serious problem. In 1908, President Roosevelt bowed to pressure from Chinese officials to stop US importation of opium. On February 9, 1909, Congress passed the Opium Exclusion Act that outlawed opium for smoking purposes and caused years of violent Tong battles, an unprecedented crime wave, and corruption as the drug went underground. Opium dens vanished from Prescott as they did from other Chinatowns around the west.
Rhonda Davis, PhD., has researched the Chinese diaspora in Arizona extensively at the National Archives. Her main field of expertise is the Qing Dynasty. Dr. Davis will be presenting some of her archival research, including photographs of Prescott’s Chinese Pioneers, at the Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives at 2:00 pm on Saturday, April 19th 2014. This presentation is free and open to the public. Dr. Davis is a National Merit Scholar; she holds degrees from San Diego State University, California State University, Los Angeles, USC, OSU, and Mecheng College in China. She is certified in Ethics by the National Science Foundation and National Institute for Health.
Days Past is a collaborative project of the Sharlot Hall Museum and the Prescott Corral of Westerners, International (www.prescottcorral.org). The public is encouraged to submit articles for consideration. Please contact SHM Library & Archives reference desk at 928-445-3122 Ext. 14, or via email at dayspastprescott@gmail.com for information.