Polly Bemis

Polly Bemis (September 11, 1853 – November 6, 1933) was a Chinese American pioneer who lived in Idaho in the late 19th and early 20th century. Her story became a biographical novel titled Thousand Pieces of Gold, which was adapted into a 1991 film.

Early life

On September 11, 1853, Polly was born in rural northern China, near one of the upper villages. As a child, Polly had bound feet, which were later unbound. When she was eighteen, there was a prolonged drought, during which her father sold her to bandits for two much-needed bags of seed.

In 1872, Polly was smuggled into the United States and sold as a slave in San Francisco, California, for $2,500. An intermediary took her from San Francisco via Portland, Oregon, to Idaho, where her buyer, a wealthy Chinese man, possibly named Hong King, ran a saloon in a mining camp in Warrens, Idaho Territory, now Warren, Idaho. She arrived in Warrens on July 8, 1872. Polly was tall.

How Polly gained her freedom from her Chinese captor is uncertain. According to academic Priscilla Wegars, her Chinese owner helped her gain her freedom. Together, Charlie and Polly Bemis filed a mining claim, becoming among the first pioneers to settle along the Salmon River (The River of No Return), only several yards from the riverside. Polly gave the photo of herself in her wedding dress to a young schoolgirl, Gay Carrey, who boarded with her during the academic year during this time. After Klinkhammer's death in 1970, his sister bought a marker for Polly's grave.

Legacy

In 1987, the cabin, known as Polly Bemis House, was restored. Polly's body was reburied on the grounds by the cabin, which is located 17 miles north of Warren, Idaho. The cabin became a museum, and in 1988, it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. In 1987, a dedication ceremony was held and Idaho Governor Cecil Andrus stated, "The history of Polly Bemis is a great part of the legacy of central Idaho. She is the foremost pioneer on the rugged Salmon River." The University of Idaho has described her as "Idaho's most famous Chinese woman," and offered an anthropology course called "The World of Polly Bemis".

In 2023 the Lost Apple Project re-discovered a variety of apple on the Bemis' ranch, which has been named the 'Polly Bemis' apple.

Ongoing biographical debates

Current biographers continue to debate the details of Polly Bemis' life. For example, there is little evidence that she was ever actually known as "Lalu" or that "Hong King" was really her owner's name. Also, there is no evidence that Polly was actually a prostitute; from a cultural standpoint, it is more likely that Polly was a concubine. One National Park Service site claims she was an indentured dance hostess. Finally, as she neared death, Polly denied the long-standing public belief that she was "won in a poker game."

Books and films about her life A biography was written in the 1970s – see Idaho County's Most Romantic Character: Polly Bemis by Sister M Alfreda Elsensohn (published by Benedictine Sisters; Second Printing in 1987). Thousand Pieces of Gold is a 1981 biographical historical novel about Lalu Nathoy/Polly Bemis and includes an essay in which the author, Ruthanne Lum McCunn, documents her research for the book and her discoveries in the years since Polly's death. This novel was later adapted into the 1991 film Thousand Pieces of Gold, starring Rosalind Chao (as Polly) and Chris Cooper (as Charlie). Polly Bemis: A Chinese American Pioneer, written by Priscilla Wegars and published in 2003, is a noted elementary classroom history book. The Poker Bride: The First Chinese in the Wild West, by Christopher Corbett (2010). Wild Women of the Old West, pp. 45–68, 200–203, edited by Glenda Riley and Richard W. Etulain, Golden, CO: Fulcrum (2003).