In the spring of 2007, Justin Moschelle and Chris Merritt led a small crew of archaeology students to do preliminary testing of Big Timber's Chinatown. Most of Chinatown has now been erased by urban renewal and the growth of businesses in the area. The only tangible remains of Big Timber's Chinatown now lies underneath feet of soil on a patchwork of private land holdings. Using Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, census records, Ground Penetrating Radar, and detailed surface mapping, Moschelle and crew determined the potential locations of subsurface Chinese features.

Moschelle and crew determined that a Chinese business, that existed from 1883 to the 1930s, was potentially accessible in the modern landscape through a gravel parking lot. After receiving permission from the private landowner, the archaeologists excavated a single test unit to determine if there were any lingering physical remains of the Big Timber Chinese left in the ground. Within in the first few inches of soil, archaeologists discovered dozens of Chinese artifacts, animal bones, a piece of decorative moulding, and assorted other materials.

Chinese cup from Big Timber, MT.

It appears that the remains of the Chinese business, lie fairly undisturbed under inches of gravel in Big Timber's downtown. According to Sanborn Insurance maps, the recovered artifacts relate to a Chinese laundry and restaurant that operated from the 1890s to the 1940s. The building first appears on the Sanborn insurance maps during the year of 1896 and was deemed a laundry facility. A change occurs between the years of 1896 and 1907, when the same facility becomes a restaurant. Between the years of 1907 to 1938, the restaurant turns back into a laundry facility, it is unclear why these changes occur.