* Sam Kee

Sam Kee Laundry with Quechan Indians sitting on ground. (click on the photo to see an larger view).

Sam Kee was the father of Mar Kim and Toy Hong, Louis’s mother. He was also Louis’ maternal grandfather. He arrived in Fort Huachuca in 1881 and opened The Army Post Café in 1882. His second wife bore him six children, one who is our beloved Q Gong who lives in Hong Kong. His name is Mar Tung Sheung.

Sam Kee had come to the West to work on the building of the Transcontinental Railroad. He spent some time in San Francisco, then went to Tombstone, Arizona (a mining town) where there were a couple of thousand Chinese were working in the silver or copper mines. Hard manual labor was not to his liking and he wanted to leave Tombstone to return to San Francisco. Through talking with the other Chinese people, he heard of another Chinese man who wanted to return to China to see his family. This gentleman needed someone to run his laundry business during his absence so Sam Kee offered to do so.

The Chinese gentleman never returned from China. The business was demanding for a single person, so Sam Kee asked his younger brother to join him in the laundry. Sam Kee knew hard manual labor was not for him. Sharing the work load of the laundry with his brother made it manageable and the brothers found they had spare time.

His brother had been a cook in San Francisco before he joined Sam Kee at the laundry and in his new found spare time, began baking pies. The brothers would sell the pies from the counter at the laundry to their customers. Many compliments were paid to which Sam Kee would respond ‘my brother is a good cook’. Eventually, an offer was made to Sam Kee from the commander at Fort Huachuca, inviting him to operate the dining facilities. The conditions were free rent and utilities, and whatever money he made was his to keep. The restaurant started out as the Sam Kee Restaurant in 1882, but later became ‘The Post Café’. When Mar Kim took it over, it was renamed the Mar Kim Café.

Fort Huachuca had been a cavalry post in earlier times. Arizona had only been admitted into the Union in 1912, one of the last states to join the Union. On one occasion in 1911, the money needed to pay the wages of the soldiers was delayed due to some congressional wrangling. The soldiers grew restless, and then became increasingly disgruntled and unruly.

Meanwhile, The Post Café had become empty and quiet. Without their pay, the soldiers could not dine there. Sam Kee went to the Colonel in command of Fort Huachuca. “The soldiers have no pay and don’t like it. They want money. I don’t have business but I have money” He offered to loan $ 8,000 in cash to pay the wages of the soldiers. The load was accepted by the Colonel, the soldiers were paid and business was back as usual at The Post Café.

Years later, the bureaucracy of the War Department become more sophisticated and an order was made that no civilians could operate a business within any Army post. The Colonel formerly stationed at Fort Huachuca had by this time become a Commanding General in the Philippines. When he read this order, he wired a message from the Philippines to the War Department’s bureaucrats in Washington DC. He implored them to make an exception to this order, as Sam Kee had enacted a great deed for the USA government by loaning the money for the soldiers’ wages. This transaction had been recorded within the bureaucracy and indeed, an exception was made for Sam Kee.

In 1919, he and his brother retired and he returned to China. (He was at Fort Huachuca from 1881-1919, about 38 years). He passed the business on to his son, Mar Kim and three other relatives (nephews). These four could not agree and frequently argued. When it became unbearable, Mar Kim left for Nogales where he opened a café. Business at the Post Café was poor, the three left behind could not manage and it was sold to Gin, who was the manager of the Café.

A few years later, during the Depression, the Café could barely survive. Mar Kim bought it back from Gin for even less money. During the Depression, Roosevelt allowed the sale of alcohol in the post. At that time there were mostly African American based at Fort Huachuca. The Army was losing money from the sale of the alcohol due to pilfering. To remedy this, Mar Kim was given the business of selling alcohol. This added further to his fortunes.

(transcribed from interviews with Louis G. Wong)