Conditions for Chinese miners in the Boise area were extremely harsh. Setting aside the nature of the job itself, there was extreme prejudice against Chinese miners in Idaho, and the American west. However, mining communities were shaped by these immigrants, and the Chinese were some of the most productive miners in the west. When word got out that there were lucrative mines in Idaho Territory, there was a tremendous gold rush to Idaho and specifically the Boise Basin, and along the Snake River. In the 1870's census, 28% of the population of Idaho Territory was Chinese and of the nearly 7,000 miners accounted for, over half were Chinese.  But the work was hard and often veins of ore would not sustain an individual for very long. If one area did not prove particularly productive it was commonly abandoned and the prospector would move on.

 The Chinese however, were known to take less productive areas and generate great profit from them through their hard work and determination. Their productivity was envied and there was an increasing prejudice against the Chinese miners. They were seen as thieves of a sort, even though many of the mines they operated were actually abandoned by Euroamericans. Bans were placed on Chinese miners which would not allow them to open new mines, and in some counties they were not allowed to mine at all. The goal of this exclusion was to stop the Chinese from immigrating to America in the first place, and to discourage those Chinese already in the country to choose a different occupation, or leave altogether. But it was soon apparent that Chinese miners had a particular acumen for turning lackluster mines into profit in a way that many Euroamericans could not. In the 1870's, several of Idaho's counties lifted bans on Chinese miners and a dearth of mines were transferred from Euroamerican miners to Chinese miners. Some Euroamerican miners would hire Chinese to work the mines as well, but there was considerable ownership of the mines by the growing Chinese population. Some of the white residents of the mining towns in Idaho were suspicious of the Chinese, seeing them as interlopers, but others saw the Chinese as productive and honest workers who could be trusted and relied upon. It was the substantial presence of Chinese miners that brought men such as C.K. Ah Fong to Boise. 

Regardless of the beneficial attributes Chinese miners brought to Idaho and to Boise specifically, the anti-Chinese sentiment was very intense and lead to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Idaho governor, Edward Stevenson supported the exclusion of the Chinese from the state in 1885 and 1888. A combination of this prejudice and a general closing of what was known as the "Frontier Period" lead to the return of many Chinese to their homeland and lead to others retreating from the mines and into the more established cities. Many who left the mines would set up shop as Chinese Launderers who looked after the clothing of both the white and Chinese population of Boise and other towns throughout the west, others turned to becoming the servants of those Euroamericans who could afford their services. 

For an in depth look at the life of Chinese miners in Idaho, check out the book Ruins of a World: Chinese Gold Mining at the Mon-Tung Site in the Snake River Canyon, issued by the US Department of the Interior, BLM.