The Shadowy Traffic of the Northern Coast
Authorities mobilize as reports emerge of a vessel smuggling Chinese nationals and opium into the Pacific Northwest.
News has been received here that the English steamship Cornelius, of Victoria, had sailed from the latter port with sixty Chinese and an immense cargo of opium. This is the third voyage with a similar cargo which the Cornelius has made within the last few months. Although the revenue officers have been on the alert, it is feared that she will land her cargo on the coast of Oregon or on the north coast of Washington. A revenue cutter from Astoria has been ordered by the treasury department to patrol that part of the coast.
“Although the revenue officers have been on the alert, it is feared that she will land her cargo on the coast of Oregon or on the north coast of Washington.”
This item documents the aggressive and exclusionary federal enforcement of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Today, the maritime routes mentioned remain central to the region’s economic and political identity, though the lens through which we view immigration and trade has shifted significantly.
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