In the last half of the 1800s there were two groups one would not necessarily thought to have a presence in the Lassen region–Chinese and Jews. In future posts we will explore both and their influence on the region.
Today, is the story of Chin Sin Yu, known to many as Chinaman Joe Folsom. Joe worked as the cook on the Folsom Ranch, in Willow Creek Valley, north of Susanville and now a State Wildlife Refuge. Joe possessed many skills. As Mary Dale Folsom recounted, “It amazes me how Joe found time to do all the things he did. Not only was he the cook, but he had a garden and raised chickens and ducks. He made feather pillows from the duck and goose down. When they were shorthanded he would also get on a horse and help cowboy.” However, he was also known for his skills as a telegraph/telephone operator. In the spring of 1892, Med Folsom had a telephone line constructed to the family ranch.
In 1902, the trade journal, Telephony published a profile concerning Chin Sin Yu: “Joe, as he is known by the operators, is well like by all who know him. He is accommodating and pleasant on the line, always willing to render any assistance possible and when the lines are working hard to do all in his power to get business along. Joe can read and write and can take any telegraphic message that is sent him. He, of course, is not familiar with all the words of our language, but will receive them as sent and copy them correctly delivering the message verbatim as transmitted. The Folsom ranch office is equipped with a set of Atkinson repeaters and it falls to Joe’s duty to attend them at times. These he understands thoroughly, and anyone operating them with him would be surprised (if they did not know) to learn that they were telegraphing with an ordinary Chinaman. One particular feature in Joe’s operating is that he has all the peculiarities of his teacher, Melvinna Folsom, in his sending, and it is hard to distinguish one from the other in writing. Chinamen are noted for their ability to imitate.
“Joe is just as good on the telephone and understands the working of the instruments, switches, etc. He built a local telephone line with two instruments connected and manipulates this entirely by himself. He is proficient in the manipulation of all instruments, batteries, switchboards, connected with the telegraph and the telephone.
“Melvinna Folsom, the manager of the Folsom ranch office, deserves the credit of being tutor of this remarkable Chinaman. When she started to teach him she thought it would be an impossibility to get him to distinguish the difference between sounds, more particularly when he began to learn the letters of the alphabet. He could distinguish no difference between the articulate sounds of the letter b and n. After he had overcome this difficulty to some extent it seemed almost an utter impossibility to get him distinguish between the sounds of the words horse and house. But she labored persistently until she brought him to the perfection he has now attained.”