In those days, the white prospectors mainly lived in the area around Canyon City. The US Government would not allow a Chinatown to be set up there, and so the 600 or so Chinese prospectors settled by the John Day Creek a few miles out of town. The settlement was first known as the Lower Town, but was later named John Day after the creek.
當年白人淘金客多住在峽谷市一帶，美國政府不准在當地建立中國城，因此約有六百多名華人淘金客就在離市區幾英里外的強地溪邊聚居，稱為下城，隨後才以溪流命名，改叫強地市。