Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Who’s been workin’ on the railroad?: An examination of the construction, distribution, and ethnic origins of domed rock ovens on railroad-related sites

  • Article
  • Published:
Historical Archaeology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years small domed rock structures have been recorded throughout western North America; others are located in Australia. Those that occur on railroad-related sites are mainly associated with railroad construction camps; a few are known to have been built by later section gang workers. Still others have been found in mining regions, particularly in California. While folklore has often referred to them as “Chinese ovens,” no archaeological or documentary evidence has yet been found that would definitely support a Chinese association with either their manufacture or use in the United States. Instead, there is reason to believe that they were built and used mainly by Italian immigrants who brought with them a familiarity with the construction and use of such ovens for baking bread. In Canada and Australia, however, domed rock structures have occasionally been found on sites apparently coinciding with Chinese occupation. This paper surveys rock oven construction techniques, distribution, ethnic associations, dating, and related literature; it provides a starting point for more intensive, localized studies of such structures.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Allen, Edward 1969 Stone Shelters. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Adrienne B. 1983 Ancillary Construction on Promontory Summit, Utah: Those Domestic Structures Built by Railroad Workers. In Forgotten Places and Things: Archaeological Perspectives on American History, compiled and edited by Albert E. Ward, pp. 225–238. Center for Anthropological Studies, Albuquerque.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, E. N. 1988 The Food of China. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, E. N., Jr., and Marja L. Anderson 1977 Modern China: South. In Food in Chinese Culture: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives, edited by K. C. Chang, pp. 316–382. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Athearn, Robert G. 1962 Rebel of the Rockies: A History of the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Yale University Press, New Haven and London.

    Google Scholar 

  • Atkins, Alex 1987 Site Lead No. D-1-43, Kootenai National Forest. Ms. on file, Kootenai National Forest, Libby, Montana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker, Herbert C. 1950 Natron Cut-off Makes Eugene a Rail Center. Register-Guard, 23 July 1950. Eugene, Oregon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beebe, Lucius, and Charles Clegg 1958 Narrow Gauge in the Rockies. Howell-North, Berkeley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berton, Pierre 1971 The Last Spike: The Great Railway 1881–1885. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1972 The Great Railway Illustrated. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bilger, Harry Edward 1969 A History of Railroads in Idaho. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of History, University of Idaho, Moscow.

  • Blonk, Hu 1983 Are Those Mystery Mounds Dotting Trinidad Hillside Huts or Ovens? Wenatchee World 79(76):3.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boily, Lise, and Jean-Francois Blanchette 1979 The Bread Ovens of Quebec. Canadian Centre for Folk Culture Studies, National Museum of Man, National Museums of Canada, Ottawa.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolton, G. C. 1972 A Thousand Miles Away: A History of North Queensland to 1920. Australian National University Press, Canberra.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bonners Ferry Herald 1905 Various issues. Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1987 Up Front, The Mystery of the “Chinese Ovens.” Bonners Ferry Herald (22 July) 97(3): 1. Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Briggs, Alton King 1974 The Archeology of 1882 Labor Camps on the Southern Pacific Railroad, Val Verde County, Texas. Unpublished M.A. thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Texas, Austin.

  • Briley, Ann 1989 Stone Oven—Recipe for Mystery. Wenatchee World 85(77): 12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckles, William G. 1976 Investigations of Historic Communities in Tenmile Canyon Summit County, Colorado, Report submitted to the Colorado Department of Highways, Denver. Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1983 Models for Railroad Construction Related Sites in the West. In Forgotten Places and Things: Archaeological Perspectives on American History, compiled and edited by Albert E. Ward, pp. 213–223. Center for Anthropological Studies, Albuquerque.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chance, David H. 1967 Archaeological Survey of Coulee Dam National Recreation Area. Part 2: Spring Draw-Down of 1967. Report of Investigations, No. 42. Washington State University Laboratory of Anthropology, Pullman.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1970 Archaeological Survey of Coulee Dam National Recreation Area: Spring and Summer, 1970. University of Idaho Archaeological Research Manuscript Series, No. 2. Department of Sociology/Anthropology, University of Idaho, Moscow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Choquette, Wayne, and Craig Holstine 1980 Cultural Resource Overview of the Bonneville Power Administration’s Proposed Transmission Line from Libby Dam, Montana, to Rathdrum, Idaho. Washington Archaeological Research Center Project Report, No. 100. Pullman.

  • Ciolli, Dominic T. 1916 The “Wop” in the Track Gang. The Immigrants in America Review 2:61–64.

    Google Scholar 

  • Collins, Susan M., Jonathon C. Horn, Nancy B. Lamm, Stan A. McDonald, and Meredith H. Matthews 1986 Preliminary Report of the 1985 and 1986 Survey Cultural Resources Inventory for the Colorado-Ute Electric Association Rifle to San Juan Transmission Line Project Rifle-San Juan Report No. 19: P.I. 41 to Highway 160. Nickens and Associates, Montrose, Colorado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cork, Marylyn n.d. The Settlement—The Italians at Priest River. In History of Bonner County, edited by Lori Mitchell et al. pp. 54–56. N. p., [Sandpoint, Idaho].

  • Cornhill Magazine 1888 Section Life in the North-West. Cornhill Magazine (January): 273–284.

  • Costello, Julia G. 1980 Regional Ethnic Settlement or “Birds of a Feather.” Paper Presented at the 13th Annual Meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology, Albuquerque.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1981 Gold Rush Archaeology: Excavating the Mother Lode. Archaeology 34(2):18–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crithfield, June 1964 Of Yesterday and the River. General Extension Services, Washington State University, Pullman.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1968 Of Yesterday and the River. Reprinted with addendum. C. W. Hill Printing, Spokane, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crum, Josie Moore 1961 The Rio Grande Southern Railroad. San Juan History, Durango.

    Google Scholar 

  • Culbertson, John Newton 1966 A Pennsylvania Boyhood. American Heritage 18(1): 80–88.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farr, William E., and K. Ross Toole 1978 Montana: Images of the Past. Pruett Publishing, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiester, Mark 1973 Blasted Beloved Breckenridge. Pruett Publishing, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flory, Alvin J. 1987 Forests. In History of Boundary County, Idaho, pp. 18–22. Boundary County Historical Society, Bonners Ferry, Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foerster, Robert F. 1919 The Italian Emigration of Our Times. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fredlund, D., and L. Fredlund 1974 Archaeological Site Form, Chinese Diggings. Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology, Butte.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frierman, Jay 1983 History before 1849. In New Melones Archeological Project, California: Review and Synthesis of Research at Historical Sites. Final Report of the New Melones Archeological Project, Vol. 7, by Roberta S. Greenwood and Laurence H. Shoup, pp. 227–229. Infotec, Huntington Beach.

    Google Scholar 

  • Glassie, Henry 1968 Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Roberta S. 1982 New Melones Archeological Project, California: Data Recovery from Historical Sites. Final Report of the New Melones Archeological Project, Vol. 5. Infotec, Sonora, California.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenwood, Roberta S., and Laurence H. Shoup 1983 Domed Stone Ovens. In New Melones Archeological Project, California: Review and Synthesis of Research at Historical Sites. Final Report of the New Melones Archeological Project, Vol. 7, pp. 225–232. Submitted to National Park Service, Washington, D.C. Infotec, Huntington Beach.

    Google Scholar 

  • Griswold, Don L., and Jean Griswold 1958 Colorado’s Century of “Cities.” Smith-Brooks Printing, n.p.

  • Hardesty, Donald L. 1988 The Archaeology of Mining and Miners: A View from the Silver State. Special Publication Series, No. 6. Society for Historical Archaeology, California, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardesty, Donald L., and Eugene M. Hattori 1982 Archaeological Studies in the Cortez Mining District 1981. Technical Report, No. 8. Bureau of Land Management, Reno.

    Google Scholar 

  • Haskett, Richard C. 1956 An Introductory Bibliography for the History of American Immigration, 1607–1955. In A Report on World Population Migrations as Related to the United States of America, pp. 85–295. George Washington University, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Havercroft, F., and C. Manning 1978 Cultural Site Record, File No. 24LN115. Kootenai National Forest, Libby, Montana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heberle, Rudolf, and Dudley S. Hall 1950 Displaced Persons in Louisiana and Mississippi. Displaced Persons Commission, Baton Rouge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Heritage Research Center 1984 Libby-Troy Highway Improvement Project (F 1-1[18]14) Impact upon Cultural Resources. Heritage Research Center, Missoula.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1986 Libby-Troy Highway Improvement Project Supplemental Report (F 1-1[18] 14) Archaeological Test Excavations. Heritage Research Center, Missoula.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hitchcock, Ripley 1889 At the Head of the Rails. The Chautauquan 9(9):540– 543.

    Google Scholar 

  • Holmes, Frederick Lionel 1944 Old World Wisconsin: Around Europe in the Badger State. Hale and Co., Eau Claire.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hommel, Rudolf P. 1937 China at Work: An Illustrated Record of the Primitive Industries of China’s Masses Whose Life Is Toil, And Thus an Account of Chinese Civilization. John Day, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iorizzo, Luciano J. 1970 The Padrone and Immigrant Distribution. In The Italian Experience in the United States, edited by Silvana M. Tomasi and Madeline H . Engel, pp. 43–75. Center for Migration Studies, Staten Island.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaekel, Frederick B. 1917 Squirrel-Tailed Bakeoven in Bucks County. In A Collection of Papers Read Before the Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. 4, pp. 579–586. Fackenthal Publication Fund for the Bucks County Historical Society, Easton and Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, Dorothy M. 1976 The Foreigners. Montana: The Magazine of Western History 23(3):62–67.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, Charles C. 1980 the (sic) World of the World, A History of Growth and Development in North Central Washington. Wenatchee World, Wenatchee.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kniffen, Fred 1960 The Outdoor Oven in Louisiana. Louisiana History 1(1):25–35, Figs. 4–12.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kranzush, Kris, Laura M. Viola, and Gail S. Firebaugh 1982 Final Cultural Resources Inventory Report: Azure Hydroelectric Project. Submitted to the Municipal Subdistrict, Northern Colorado Water Conservancy District, Loveland. Gordon and Kranzush, Boulder.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lakin, Ruth 1976 Kettle River Country: Early Days Along the Kettle River. Published by the author, Orient, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • La Sorte, Michael 1985 La Merica: Images of Italian Greenhorn Experience. Temple University Press, Philadelphia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lavallee, Omer 1974 Van Home’s Road: An Illustrated Account of the Construction and First Years of Operation of the Canadian Pacific Transcontinental Railway. Railfare Enterprises, Montreal.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewty, Peter J. 1987 To the Columbia Gateway: The Oregon Railway and the Northern Pacific, 1879–1884. Washington State University Press, Pullman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Long, Amos, Jr. 1962–1963 Outdoor Bakeovens in Berks. Historical Review of Berks County 38(1):11–14, 31–32.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1964 Bakeovens in the Pennsylvania Folk-Culture. Pennsylvania Folklife 14(2):16–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopreato, Joseph 1970 Italian Americans. Random House, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meade, Emily Fogg 1907 The Italian on the Land: A Study in Immigration. Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor, No. 70, pp. 473– 533. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mercier, Laurie 1983 “I Worked for the Railroad:” Oral Histories of Montana Railroaders, 1910–1950. Montana: The Magazine of Western History 33(3):35–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, David P. (editor) 1956 Union Pacific to Canada? Trains 16(6): 18–21.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) n.d. Inventory-Nomination Form. Italian Rock Ovens, Turnbull NW Refuge, Cheney, Washington.

  • Nelli, Humbert S. 1964 The Italian Padrone System in the United States. Labor History 5(2): 153–167.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicandri, David L. 1978 Italians in Washington State: Emigration 1853–1924. Washington State American Revolution Bicentennial Commission, n.p.

  • Nolan, Edward W. 1983 Northern Pacific Views: The Railroad Photography of F. Jay Haynes, 1876–1905. Montana Historical Society Press, Helena.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olmert, Michael 1989 Going Places: Winterthur’s Forgotten Treasures. Historic Preservation 41(1):64, 66–68.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ormes, Robert M. 1975 Tracking Ghost Railroads in Colorado: A Five-Part Guide to Abandoned and Scenic Lines. Century One, Colorado Springs.

    Google Scholar 

  • Patterson, Patience E. 1980 Relocation and Restoration of a Baking Oven (Site 41VV588) in Val Verde County, Texas. State Department of Highways and Public Transportation Publication in Archaeology, No. 18. Austin.

  • Perry, Madilane 1980 Survey-Inventory Form Community Cultural Resource Survey: The Italian Rock Ovens. Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pierce Mining District Records 1866 Book C. Clearwater County Historical Museum, Orofino, Idaho.

  • Poor, M. C. 1949 Denver, South Park and Pacific. Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, Denver.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1976 Denver, South Park and Pacific. Memorial Edition. Rocky Mountain Railroad Club, Denver.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pratt, Grace Roffey n.d. The Valley of Cocolalla. Ms. on file, University of Idaho Library, Special Collections, Moscow.

  • Rathdrum Tribune 1905 Riot on Corbin Line; Sheriff Doust Captures Six Desperate Dagoes. Rathdrum Tribune (29 December) 11(38):1. Rathdrum, Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, Anan S., and Richard E. Fike 1981 Rails East to Promontory: The Utah Stations. Cultural Resource Series, No. 8. Bureau of Land Management, Salt Lake City.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raymond, Eleanor 1931 Early Domestic Architecture of Pennsylvania. W. Helburn, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reinhardt, Richard (editor) 1970 Workin’ on the Railroad: Reminiscences from the Age of Steam. American West Publishing, Palo Alto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riegel, Robert Edgar 1964 The Story of the Western Railroads: From 1852 through the Reign of the Giants. Reprint of 1926 edition. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rolle, Andrew F. 1968 The Immigrant Upraised: Italian Adventurers and Colonists in an Expanding America. University of Oklahoma Press, Norman.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rosenberger, Jesse Leonard 1923 The Pennsylvania Germans: A Sketch of their History and Life, of the Mennonites, and of Side Lights from the Rosenberger Family. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossillon, Mary P. 1984 The Curecanti Archeological Project: The Archeology of Marion, an Historic Railroad Camp in Curecanti National Recreation Area, Colorado. Midwest Archaeological Center Occasional Studies in Anthropology, No. 9. Midwest Archaeological Center, National Park Service, Lincoln, Nebraska.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rossillon, Mitzi (editor) 1987 Stone Bread Ovens. Newsletter of the Klepetko (Montana) Chapter of the Society for Industrial Archeology 2(2):4.

  • Russell, Nancy 1984 Why We Must Protect the Columbia Gorge. Historic Preservation 36(3):18–23.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scheuermeier, Paul 1943 Bauernwerk in Italien: der Italienischen und Rätoromanischen Schweiz, Vol. 1. Eugen Rentsch Verlag, Erlenbach-Zürich.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1956 Bauernwerk in Italien: der Italienischen und Rätoromanischen Schweiz, Vol. 2. Verlag Stämpfli, Bern.

    Google Scholar 

  • Semi-weekly East Oregonian 1882 The Competing Road. Semi-Weekly East Oregonian (26 September) 7(84):3. Pendleton, Oregon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shea, Marie Cuffe 1977 Early Flathead and Tobacco Plains: A Narrative History of Northwestern Montana. Published by the author, n.p.

  • Sheridan, Frank J. 1907 Italian, Slavic, and Hungarian Unskilled Immigrant Laborers in the United States. Department of Commerce and Labor. Bulletin of the Bureau of Labor 15(72):403–486. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sismey, Eric 1972 Reminders of the Past—Rock Ovens. Wildlife Review 6(6):28.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sisson, David 1988 U. S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management Cultural Resource Inventory Record, 10 IH 1865. Ms. on file, Alfred W. Bowers Laboratory of Anthropology, University of Idaho, Moscow.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sonnichsen, Eric 1930 I Was Workin’ on the Railroad. American Mercury 20(78):218–222.

    Google Scholar 

  • Spokesman-Review 1905 Various issues. Spokane, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stotz, Charles Morse 1936 The Early Architecture of Western Pennsylvania. W. Helburn, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Thomas, Edith M. 1917 Old Dutch Bakeovens. In A Collection of Papers Read before the Bucks County Historical Society, Vol. 4, pp. 574–576. Fackenthal Publication Fund for the Bucks County Historical Society, Easton and Doylestown, Pennsylvania.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Bureau of the Census 1904 Occupations at the Twelfth Census. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Immigration Commission 1911 Immigrants in Industries. Part 22: The Floating Immigrant Labor Supply. Reports of the Immigration Commission. Senate Documents Vol. 80, 61st Congress, 2nd Session, S. Doc. 633, Serial Set No. 5679. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenbusche, Duane 1980 The Gunnison Country. B & B Printers, Gunnison, Colorado.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vandenbusche, Duane, and Walter R. Borneman 1979 (The D&RG) Lake City Branch (and a Galloping Goose). Colorado Rail Annual No. 14, edited by Gordon S. Chappell, pp. 25–109. Colorado Rail Museum, Golden.

    Google Scholar 

  • Van Kempen, E. 1987 Survey of Historic Chinese Sites in Queensland and the Northern Territory. N.p., n.p.

  • Währen, Max 1962 Backen und Backhäuser in Berner Gebeiten. Schweizer Volkskunde 52(2): 17–22.

    Google Scholar 

  • Washington Archaeological Research Center (WARC) n.d. Photographs of rock oven, File nos. 5–9 through 5–11. On file, Washington Archaeological Research Center, Pullman, Washington.

  • 1975 Master Site File, 45-BN-190. On file, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1977 Master Site File, 45-BN-244. On file, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1983a Washington Archaeological Site Inventory Form, 45WT63. On file, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1983b Washington Archaeological Site Inventory Form, 45WT64. On file, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • 1985 Washington Archaeological Site Inventory Form, 450K414. On file, Office of Archaeology and Historic Preservation, Olympia, Washington.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wegars, Priscilla (preparer) 1988 National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form for Spokane and International Railroad Construction Camp. Draft on file, Idaho State Historic Preservation Office, Boise.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wegars, Priscilla, and Roderick Sprague 1981 Archaeological Salvage of the Joso Trestle Construction Camp, 45-FR-51 Lower Monumental Project. University of Idaho Anthropological Research Manuscript Series, No. 65. Moscow.

  • Williams, Phyllis 1969 South Italian Folkways in Europe and America: A Handbook for Social Workers, Visiting Nurses, School Teachers, and Physicians. Reprint of 1938 edition. Russell & Russell, New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, Charles R. 1968 The Northern Pacific: Main Street of the Northwest. Superior Publishing, Seattle.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wood, John V. 1983 Railroads through the Coeur d’Alenes. The Caxton Printers, Caldwell, Idaho.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wright, Richard, and Rochelle Wright 1970 The Naramata Ovens. B. C. Motorist (April): 18–19.

  • Zinsli, P. 1941 Vom Brotbacken in Safien. Schweizer Volkskunde 31(1):2–5.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Alfred W. Bowers Laboratory Of Anthropology, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho, USA, 83843

    Priscilla Wegars

Authors
  1. Priscilla Wegars
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wegars, P. Who’s been workin’ on the railroad?: An examination of the construction, distribution, and ethnic origins of domed rock ovens on railroad-related sites. Hist Arch 25, 37–65 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373504

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03373504

Search

Navigation