Monument dedicated to Chinese immigrants who built Delta levees

This honors the Chinese workers who helped build the area and made it possible for the area to prosper. DP

The Associated Press

mercurynews.com: LOCKE, Calif.—A new monument in this Northern California town honors the Chinese workers who helped build the vast levee system in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta.

Residents gathered Saturday for the unveiling of the 9-foot-tall granite and bronze tribute, which commemorates the contribution of the workers to the system that now protects acres of rich farmland and supplies two-thirds of the state's water.

The monument, designed by Stanford University sophomore Elyse Marr, is part of a larger effort to restore this small dilapidated town, founded about a century ago.

"Locke is a wooden town," said Marr, 19, who's father was born in Locke. "If it ever goes, we'll still have this monument."

After nearly being condemned two decades ago, Locke has been declared a national historic place, and the Locke Foundation was formed to offer tours and collect oral histories. Sacramento County and the Housing Authority invested money for sewers and sprinklers, and the state parks department renovated the boardinghouse on the north side of town.

Ping Lee, 90, attended Saturday's event to remember his father and town founder, "Charlie" Lee Bing, and honor the immigrants who panned the sludgy soil and built the muddy barriers when no white workers would do the job.

Lee said he's not sad that many Chinese left the area.

"They're doctors, senators and councilmen now," he said. "They've earned their place."