This blog post is part of RBSC’s new series spotlighting items in the Phil Lind Klondike Gold Rush Collection and the Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection. This Part One of two long-form blogs.
Thank you to Kelly Attrell and Kathleen East from the Grand Coteau Heritage & Cultural Centre for helping share this story.
Often when people ask me about doing archival historical work, they think that it involves sifting through boring stacks of musty papers for hours on end, just cataloging, sorting and writing dates down. While this can sometimes be part of the work, the core of archives are the people and memories they hold. The papers, photos, and artifacts within these collections allow us a window into individual lives, a glimpse of our shared humanity.
One of the great gifts of the Dr. Wallace B. and Madeline H. Chung Collection is that there is an abundance of opportunities to have these personal encounters, with countless stories from around the world found in the over 25,000 materials stored. While some of our greatest treasures are currently on display at the Chung | Lind Gallery, I wanted to allow you a peek into the vaults with a humble letter that captures the intimacy of archival encounters.
Crystal Bakery. 1940. “[Letter and Envelope Sent from Crystal Bakery in Shaunavon, Saskatechwan to Mar Long & Co. of Seattle, Washington].” C. Chung Textual Materials. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0363223.
This letter, posted in 1940 from the town of Shaunavon, Saskatchewan, the “Oasis of the Prairies,” challenges the idea that the Chung Collection is only a BC collection, and that Chinese Canadian history is only about big cities. While we cannot identify the sender, it was mailed to Mr. Harry K. Mar Dong in Seattle, most likely a relative or clansmen, showing how interconnected these networks of migration and business were. The letter itself concerns money, which was always a pressing concern, especially in a society still dealing with the aftermath of the Great Depression, and particularly for Chinese migrants living under the oppressive 1923 Chinese Exclusion Act. But this made me wonder, what is this Crystal Bakery, and who are some of the men behind this letter?
Crystal Bakery above 2nd car on the right “Post Office Blk, Shaunavon Sask.” 1930, Photographic print, 1988.16.167, Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre, https://saskcollections.org/grandcoteau/Detail/objects/13014
The Men of the Crystal Bakery
I began my exploration at the online resources of the Grand Couteau Heritage and Cultural Centre in Shaunavon, cross referencing them with digitized documents from Canada’s vast Chinese immigration surveillance apparatus. I came to discover that Crystal Bakery was opened on November 6, 1930, by Mah Yock Cheong 馬毓祥 and Mah Ark Shim 馬德深, who had been in the Shaunavon area since the 1920s.[i] Both journeyed from the same village in Toisan county in Southern China, to Canada in 1918 and 1921 respectively.[ii] There were many men from the Mah clan employed or share owners in the Crystal Bakery throughout its history. From the 1920s-50s, Shaunavon’s Chinese men worked in industries common to bachelor men on the prairies: Chinese Canadian cafes and restaurants.[iii]
Mah Yock Cheong “Records of entry and other records” 1933-12-14/1935-10-31, Microfilm, Canadian Immigration Service, RG 76, T-16609, Image 1474, CI 9 #83571, Library and Archives Canada.
Mah Ark Shim “Records of entry and other records”1935-10-31/1938-06-21, Microfilm, Canadian Immigration Service, RG 76, T-16610, Image 501, CI 9 #85447, Library and Archives Canada.
Other businesses in Shaunavon run by Chinese people included tailors, laundries, hotels, and of course special stores like confectionaries and bakeries. Most of the Chinese men in the town came from regions that sent a lot of their sons to North America, such as Toisan 台山, Hoiping 開平, and Hoksan 鶴山 counties. They were well connected to other men in the towns and cities of the region, many of them being village cousins and relatives, often meeting for special holidays, recreation, and to share a meal. These networks were critical in that harsh Prairie winters, as well as keeping folks connected to major Chinatowns across Canada. People, goods, and services were facilitated by the ties of shared town of origin, clan, schoolmates, sworn brotherhood, business partnership, and friendship.[iv]
In April 1940, the same spring our letter was written, a glowing column was written about the Crystal Bakery in the local Shaunavon Standard Newspaper:
“During the winter, the Crystal’s modern equipment turns out an average of 500 loaves per day…In hot weather the daily output of the bakery rises to an average of 700 and more loaves per day. Capacity of the steam-heated oven is 210 loaves at a time and the bread is baked at a temperature of 350 degrees F. Alongside the oven is a warming oven where the bread rises and in a separate room are the cooling racks where the product cools for market. An average of 400 lbs. flour per day or 300 sacks per week is used. Bread is baked six days per week, the idle day being Saturday since there are no trains on Sunday. Modern, electric, machinery is used for mixing, etc. Bread from the Crystal is shipped as far east as Meyronne and Assiniboia, west as far as Senate and Manyberries and all intermediate points, as well as to towns on the southline.”[v]
Many men across Canada thought about their hometowns and families with significant fear and anxiety during World War Two. The men of the Crystal Bakery collected $10 dollars to be donated to the Chinese War Relief Fund drive that was organized in nearby Swift Current, SK, in 1943, most likely sending more donations on other occasions.[vi] As the War continued, Chinese community leaders, working alongside allies across Canada, began to advocate for the end of the Exclusion Act and for civil rights for all. They were later joined by some Chinese Canadian veterans, who took the fight to Ottawa.
In 1949, after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947, Mah Yock Cheong was one of four Chinese men to be the first Chinese granted Canadian citizenship in the Shaunavon region. That cold February day they braved snow-blocked roads to finally be recognized as equals in a country that had been their home for so long.[vii] Now the men of Crystal Bakery entered a new era, the period of family reunification after the repeal of the cruel separating provisions of the Exclusion Act.
Despite the act’s demise, Canada still maintained a system of race and nation-based quotas that kept Chinese families trapped in a web of paperwork, delays, and even invasive interrogations and medical examinations in order to come together again. For Mah Yock Cheong, the same year he got his citizenship, he was able to bring his wife May and teenage son Danny through the maze of regulations to join him in Shaunavon after thirteen years of separation. He had left China four months before his son was born, not uncommon for many bachelor men, and had not seen them since. He explained to The Standard’s reporter that “he was very happy that when the opportunity came for them to sail to San Francisco, their passports were in perfect order and all other details had been attended to. ‘There is too much trouble in China, Mr. Mah said, ‘this country will be a lot better for them.’”[viii]
Demand for baked goods was booming in those post-war years, especially for staples like bread. The Crystal Bakery also became famous for its donuts and cream puffs. Sweet treats that had once been unaffordable luxuries during the Depression, became weekly indulgences for those who benefited from Post-War prosperity. With new help from his son Danny and Mah relatives who had also reunified with their families, Yock Cheong was able to install new modern equipment in 1953, like a slicer that cut 400 loaves an hour, and a fully automatic bread wrapper that could package over 800 loaves per hour.[ix] Responding to increased demand, the Crystal Bakery extended family of workers and partners still had to work extremely hard. Sadly, Yock Cheong would pass away suddenly of a heart attack in 1958.[x] He had been in Canada for forty of his sixty years on earth and was sorely missed by his community of Shaunavon that he had supported through the hard Depression years.
Danny Mah and Unidentified Man, most likely a Crystal Bakery partner or employee, c.1950s. “Crystal Bakery Men,” Unknown, Photographic print, 1986.6.18, Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre
The bakery was put up for sale in 1958, after his death but was purchased and operated by longtime partner King Yee 余景, who had known Yock Cheong since the 1920s.[xi] After the passing of Yee and later Chan Wah Sen 陳華銓 , another partner in the bakery for many years, the bakery was closed permanently in 1970 (Shaunavon Standard, October 7, 1964, and July 22, 1970).[xii] It became an appliance store, and then was vacant for a time, before being torn down at the end of August in 1986. The Chan, Mah, and Yee families remained in Shaunavon and in Saskatchewan for years to come, continuing to participate in many businesses and community-oriented activities.[xiii]
“The old Crystal Bakery is due for demolisation [sic] at the end of August,” July 15 1986, Photographic print, 2004.13.168, Grand Coteau Heritage and Cultural Centre
Please join us for part two of this blog exploring Harry K. Mar Dong, the letter’s recipient, and connections to Seattle’s rich Chinese American history.
Footnotes and References
[i] “Chinese C.I. 44 forms and index cards” 1923-1946, Microfilm, Canadian Immigration Service, RG76-D-27, T-16181, Image 163, CI 44#46558.
“Chinese C.I. 44 forms and index cards” 1923-1946, Microfilm, Canadian Immigration Service, RG76-D-27, T-16181, Image 468, CI44#46860
[ii] Their hometown: Taishan (Toisan) County 台山 Sanhe (Samhop) Town 三合鄉 Lidong (Laitung) Township 黎洞鄉新華里 Xinhua (Sunwah) Hamlet
[iii] Details about aforementioned: Mah Ark Shim “Sam” 馬德深 also known as 馬世孚 (Grave Name) born in the town above, Ark Shim immigrated in 1921, and spent time in the Frontier, SK and Shaunavon area before opening the Crystal Bakery. He lived in Halifax in 1949, according to immigration documents, and then moved to Calgary in 1955. Was later reunited with his wife Mah Fung Siu 馬余鳳秀; his wife and three children, William, Helen, and Anne all lived in Canada when he passed. Mah died in Calgary in 1977, and was buried in Queen’s Park Cemetery.
[iv] Marshall, Alison R. 2014. Cultivating Connections : The Making of Chinese Prairie Canada UBC Press., Cheung, Helen Kwan Yee. 2022 Mercantile Mobility: Chinese Merchants in Western Canada University of Alberta Library.
[v] Unknown. 1940. “The Crystal Bakery Supplies Large Area.” The Shaunavon Standard, Apr 10.
[vi] Unknown. 1943. “China Fund Going Up.” The Regina Leader-Post, Sep 9, 11.
[vii] Unknown. 1949. “Chinese Receive Citizenship.” The Shaunavon Standard, Feb 24.
[viii] Unknown. 1949. “Three Chinese Families are Re-united Here.” The Shaunavon Standard, Dec 15.
[ix] Unknown. 1953. “Crystal Bakery Instals [sic] New Equipment.” The Shaunavon Standard, Oct 15
[x] Unknown. 1958. “Rites for ‘Slim’ Mah Tomorrow.” The Shaunavon Standard, Mar 19
Posthumous (Gravestone) name is 馬世纘
[xi] Unknown. 1958 “Crystal Bakery Sale.” The Regina Leader-Post, Sept 25, 36.
Yue King “E.King” Yee King 余景 Imm. Docs. CI 44#8593, CI 36#15858, multiple CI 9s. From Sanhe Township 三合鄉 Taishan County 台山. Born in 1889, Yee arrived in Canada in 1911. He worked as a farm hand in the Steveston, BC area, contracted through the famous Lee Yune/Yuen Co. before coming to Shaunavon to work at the Royal Cafe alongside Yock Cheong, then becoming a owner-partner at the Crystal Bakery. Ran the bakery after Yock Cheong’s death. Brought part of the family over after repeal, and was related to Mr. Mah Poy who worked at the Ohio Café in town, and who had himself brought his wife back from China in 1955 to Shaunavon. Yee King died in 1961.
[xii] Unknown. 1964 “Services Held for Joe Chan.” The Shaunavon Standard, Aug 12, Unknown. 1970 “Announcement: Crystal Bakery Now Closed.” The Shaunavon Standard, Oct 7 1964
Chan Wah Sen “Joe” 陳華銓, Imm. Docs. CI 44#3340, CI5#88604. Born in Taishan County 台山 Sanhe Township 三合鄉 Gangmei Village 崗美村 in 1901 and immigrated to Canada in 1918. Worked in the Weyburn district of Saskatchewan, operating cafes in Ponteix, Orkney, and Limerick SK before coming to Shaunavon and working at the Crystal Bakery in 1942. Married in 1924 in China, after he traveled back during the year of Exclusion Act registration. He returned to China in 1947, the year of repeal. He got citizenship in 1949, reunified with wife and one year old son the same year, and worked at Crystal Bakery, most likely until his death in 1964.
[xiii] This is further reinforced by volunteer Kathleen and materials in the GCHCC Archives.
