EXHIBITS
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Union Pacific
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John Wesley Powell
Coal & Trona Mining
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Mormon War of
1857
Chinese
Massacre
U.S. Army in Wyoming
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Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Big Nose George
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Lincoln Highway
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Amelia
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Women's History
Wyoming General Hospital
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Rialto Theater
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Offsite Exhibits
Chinese Dragon
Parade
CHINESE MASSACRE
Chinese migration
to the United
States began with
the 1849 Gold
Rush when
laborers were
imported to
perform menial
tasks in the
California gold
fields. In 1868,
the Central
Pacific hired
large numbers of
Chinese laborers
to build a
railroad eastward
from California
to Utah. The
1868 Burlingame
Treaty allowed
Chinese
immigrants to
come to America
to work, but they
were denied the
right of
naturalization.
Tax records show
that Chinese were
working in Green
River in 1870 as
servants and
sheep herders.
In 1874, large
numbers of
Chinese started
arriving in Rock
Springs and
Evanston as
contract labor to
work in the Union
Pacific Coal
Company’s mines.
The company was
pleased with the
Asians because
they would work
for lower wages
than Americans
and were not
interested in
joining labor
unions. By 1885,
there were
between 700 to
900 Chinese in
Rock Springs --
over 65 percent
of the
population.
However, as the
numbers of
Chinese increased
in the West, so
did resentment
against
them.
On September 2,
1885, two whites
got into a fight
with two Chinese
miners over a
work assignment
in Union Pacific
Coal Company’s
mine number six.
The fight spread
rapidly; soon,
several Chinese
had been killed,
and the others
driven out of the
mine. As word of
the melee reached
the other mines,
white miners put
down their tools
and headed to the
saloons. A
meeting to
discuss the issue
was scheduled at
the Knights of
Labor Hall at 6
o’clock that
night. It was
decided in the
meeting that the
Chinese must be
driven out of
town. About 150
armed men,
followed by women
and children,
went to Chinatown
to enforce the
decision. When
the crowd got
there, they sent
a committee of
three to warn the
Chinese that they
must leave in an
hour. Word was
sent back by the
Chinese that they
would go.
However, the
whites grew
impatient and,
thinking the
Chinese too slow
and possibly
preparing to
defend their
position, they
charged into
Chinatown
shooting and
shouting.
Offering no
resistance, the
Chinese fled.
Some were
bare-headed and
some,
bare-footed;
others carried
small bundles of
possessions in
handkerchiefs;
others rolls of
bedding. They
scrambled and
stumbled down the
steep banks of
Bitter Creek,
through the
sagebrush, over
the railroad
tracks and into
the hills. One
observer wrote,
“The
Chinamen that
were fleeing were
like a herd of
antelope, making
no resistance.
Volley upon
volley was fired
after the
fugitives. In a
few minutes, the
hill east of the
town was
literally blue
with hunted
Chinamen.” The
crowd then set
the Chinese homes
and businesses on
fire while
shooting the
remaining Asians
as they tried to
escape. Sheriff
Joe Young arrived
from Green River
with guards to
protect the
property of the
whites; however,
he made no
attempt to
interfere with
the riot. All
night long, the
shooting
continued amid
the flickering
light of the
burning buildings
in Chinatown. The
next morning saw
men and boys
pillaging the
ruined houses
for
cash and
valuables. The
final death toll
was put at 51.
Over 40 houses
were burned.
The Union Pacific
Railroad sent a
special train
from Rock Springs
to pick up the
fleeing Chinese.
The Union Pacific
Coal Company
appealed to the
governor for
help, who, in
turn, requested
help from the
federal
government.
President
Cleveland ordered
the army to
intervene. On
September 8,
General McCook,
commander of the
6th Infantry,
received the
order to send six
companies from
Camp Murray, Utah
Territory, to
Wyoming to
restore order.
Two companies
were stationed at
Evanston and four
in Rock Springs.
With
over 500 armed
troops in
southwest
Wyoming, peace
was quickly
restored but the
underlying causes
of the riot were
not so easily
resolved. The
army set up Camp
Pilot Butte and
began marking off
the lots for
construction of a
new Chinatown.
Seventy houses,
each 12 feet by
20 feet, were
built. Each
house would hold
ten miners.
White miners
continued to
harass and
intimidate the
Chinese even
though soldiers
escorted them to
and from the coal
mines. D. O.
Clark,
superintendent of
the Union Pacific
Coal Company,
considered hiring
Pinkerton
Detective Agency
guards to protect
the Chinese after
he heard army
troops “curse the
duty which
compels
them to sustain
the alien against
the American.”
Backed up by the
army, Sheriff
Young arrested 16
miners for
murder, robbery,
and arson. The
Green River trial
of the miners was
a farce. The
judge ruled that
Chinese could not
testify as they
were “unworthy
witnesses.”
Additionally,
Reverend Timothy
Thirloway
testified that he
saw the Chinese
burn down their
own homes. No
other witnesses
could be found
and the miners
were released
when the grand
jury found that
“no one has been
able to testify
to a single
criminal act
committed by any
known white
person that
day.” President
Cleveland said it
“was a ghastly
mockery of
justice.” The
Union Pacific
appealed to the
President of the
Church of
Latter-day Saints
in Salt Lake City
for help and
Mormon engineers
and miners were
dispatched to
Wyoming to work
with the
Chinese.
However, tensions
between the races
continued to run
high and
anti-Chinese
riots occurred
all over the
West.
Cheng Tsao Ju, the Chinese minister to the United States, protested to the President that “the persons guilty of this murder, robbery and arson be brought to punishment, that the Chinese subjects be fully indemnified for all losses ... and that suitable measures be adopted to protect the Chinese residents in Wyoming Territory and elsewhere in the United States from similar attacks.” As news of the riots reached China, the Chinese government warned that they could no longer guarantee the safety of Americans living in China. The threat of retaliation caught the US government’s attention. Thus, in August 1888, a gunboat was sent to Hong Kong to protect Americans, and Congress passed a law prohibiting Chinese from immigrating to America and barring those out of the country from returning. However, Congress also agreed to pay $147,748.74 in compensation for damage to Chinese property and an international treaty post was set up to protect the Chinese in Rock Springs. Moreover, the Union Pacific leadership considered the situation and decided that it could not defy public opinion. The company began replacing Chinese railroad section gangs with whites, and orders were issued to phase out all Chinese workers in Rock Springs over a 15-year period.
The army stayed on at Camp Pilot Butte for the next 13 years, leaving in 1898 for service in the Spanish-American War. Rock Springs was the only American city outside of the post Civil War South to be occupied by army troops. As the last of the Rock Springs Chinese miners retired in the 1920s and 30s, they were given a farewell dinner by the United Mine Workers of America and the Union Pacific Coal Company and sent back to China. It was not until after the end of World War II (1945) that immigrants from China were allowed to become naturalized United States citizens.
Gary Perkins, Exhibits Coordinator, April 2000.
Sources:
Chadey, Henry. The Chinese Story and Rock Springs, Wyoming. Diss. Sweetwater County Historical Museum, 1985.
Cullen, Thomas, ed. Rock Springs -- A Look Back. Portland, 1991.
History of the Union Pacific Coal Mines 1868 to 1940. 1940. Omaha: Colonial, 1977.
Rock Springs Historical Board. Rock Springs Historic Downtown Walking Tour. 1996.
Storti, Craig. Incident at Bitter Creek: the story of the Chinese Massacre. Ames: Iowa State UP, 1991.
Chinese Dragon Parade
Chinese Dragon photos
“The Chinese New Year, a religious rite, was celebrated in February. This was a gala day. The mines were idle at these times to allow all the Chinese to participate in the ceremony. The houses were decorated with gay silks, bunting, flags, peacock feathers and Chinese lanterns. The sacred dragon was paraded and this, in itself, was a gigantic undertaking. The dragon was made entirely of silk which was draped over a frame of bamboo. It was about 140 feet in length with a curl or kink in the body. The head was a hideous affair about five feet wide with a huge tongue lolling out and a bell dangling on the end of the tongue. It took four men to carry the monster; as they walked, they zig-zagged snake fashion, giving it a writhing effect. The head was thrown from side to side and a man with a spear ran along pretending to fight the dragon, making jabs at it with the spear as fast as he could. Chinese men stood in the front yards holding a vessel in their hands and other men ran beside the monster, carrying long sticks of incense, resembling punk. Every time the dragon’s head nodded toward a house, one of the men put two sticks of incense into the vessel held by the Chinamen in the yard. These were lighted and the burning incense scented the whole street.
“The Chinese band accompanied the dragon. The band consisted of drums and instruments resembling flutes in appearance, but sounding much like bag pipes. Behind the band was a wagon loaded with roasted hogs and other Chinese viands for the men who carried the dragon to feast on after the parade.”
Webb, G. “Rock Springs Chinatown.” Rock Springs -- A Look Back. Ed. Thomas Cullen, Portland, 1991.
The Dragon