Rock Springs massacre
The Rock Springs Massacre, also known as the Rock Springs Riot, occurred on September 2, 1885, in the Wyoming Territory. This tragic event stemmed from labor disputes between white and Chinese coal miners, with tensions escalating due to economic pressures and competition for jobs. White miners, fearing job loss to Chinese workers who accepted lower wages, initiated violence after their demands for higher wages were ignored. The confrontation led to a brutal attack on Chinese miners, resulting in the deaths of twenty-eight individuals and injuries to fifteen others. Additionally, white miners set fire to nearly eighty homes in the Chinese community, effectively decimating Chinatown. Despite the severity of the violence, legal repercussions for the perpetrators were minimal, with few facing charges or significant consequences. The massacre exemplified the rampant racism of the era and highlighted broader patterns of violence against Chinese immigrants in the United States. Following the event, federal troops were stationed in the area to prevent further violence, and President Grover Cleveland authorized restitution for the survivors. The Rock Springs Massacre stands as a somber reminder of the racial tensions and injustices faced by immigrant communities in American history.
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Rock Springs massacre
The Rock Springs Massacre, also called the Rock Springs Riot, occurred on September 2, 1885. Prior to the massacre, a labor dispute commenced between white and Chinese coal miners in what was then the Wyoming Territory. The white miners believed that the Chinese miners were taking their jobs because the Chinese miners were willing to work for a lower wage. Roughly seven days after the labor dispute, the Chinese miners were put onto trains and told they were being relocated from Evanston to San Francisco. The miners were not being relocated, however. When the train stopped, they were in Rock Springs, where federal officials escorted them back into the mines where they were attacked by white miners. Twenty-eight Chinese miners died and fifteen were injured. The abuse did not end there, however. The white miners also set fire to nearly eighty homes, flattening the Chinatown neighborhood. However, they faced little, if any, legal repercussions. The next day, the remaining Chinese residents in the area were driven from town. Ultimately, sixteen white miners were arrested and released on bail for their participation in the riot. Charges were not filed because no white person in the area would testify against the miners.
Background
In the late-1800s, Chinese workers began settling around Rock Springs (in the Wyoming Territory) hoping to work on the Union Pacific Railroad. Nearly three hundred white miners settled in Rock Springs proper, while approximately six hundred Chinese miners settled Chinatown in the northeast section of Rock Springs. Though the workers shared the same town, they did not socialize beyond the mines. With so many Chinese miners willing to work cheaply, Union Pacific was able to offer low salaries to all its employees, yet it still found itself in financial trouble. The white miners decided that it was time to seek a higher wage for their work. They had already formed the Knights of Labor union and reached out to their Chinese counterparts to see if they, too, would be interested in joining and seeking higher wages with them. If their demands were not met, the white miners said they would strike. The Chinese miners declined to join the fight, and the white miners responded in 1883 by creating the group, “Whiteman’s Town.” Though small strikes occurred from time to time, without the support of the Chinese miners, the strikes were moot. Mine owners could continue to offer low wages because enough Chinese laborers were available to fill all the vacancies. After one of the 1884 strikes, mine foremen were told to only hire Chinese miners.
Not surprising, the purpose of “Whiteman’s Town” was to drive the Chinese miners from Rock Springs. The group met on September 1, 1885, and the following morning, the fighting began. The massacre began with a verbal dispute; one miner was killed by a pick to the head, and another was severely beaten. The fight was broken up, and the white miners went home to gather more weapons. When they returned to the mine, the fighting erupted again and ended with nearly fifty people dead or injured. When no more Chinese miners were left to fight, the white miners began to rob and destroy the houses. After nearly a week of living in Evanston, a nearby town, the Chinese miners were gathered and placed on trains. Although they were told they were being transported to San Francisco, they were returned to Rock Springs and forced back into the mines.
The Chinese miners wrote tributes to the dead that served as cries for help from the Chinese Counsel in New York. The tributes recounted stories of what was one of the bloodiest race-massacres against Chinese immigrants in the United States. Although none of the white miners faced charges for the murders or the destruction, then-President Grover Cleveland ordered Congress to pay the surviving Chinese miners $150,000 in restitution. In the following decades, the Chinese people left the Wyoming area. Federal troops also set up a camp near Rock Springs and Chinatown to discourage more violence.
Overview
The Rock Springs Massacre was not an isolated event but rather an example of the violent racism that existed at the time, specifically against the Chinese. Some newspapers criticized not only the men directly responsible for the massacre, but also the people who stood by and allowed the massacre to occur. Others took a more sympathetic approach to the white miners who felt as if their jobs were being lost to immigrants willing to work for next to nothing. Incidents similar to the one in Rock Springs occurred in the Washington Territory, as well as in parts of Oregon and other areas along the Puget Sound of Months after Rock Springs. In Tacoma, Washington, Chinese immigrants were told to leave the city. About 150 did as they were told, but several hundred were taken out by force and their towns burned. Like the Rock Springs Massacre, their homes were looted and destroyed. The white individuals who participated were indicted and sent to Vancouver for sentencing but were ultimately set free and returned home to a parade. More than one hundred years later, Tacoma’s City Council members passed a resolution formally apologizing for their ancestor’s actions. A Reconciliation Foundation was formed to promote peace within a multicultural community. In 2022, the foundation promoted harmony through the Tacoma Chinese Garden and Reconciliation Park.
Bibliography
Long, Priscilla. “Tacoma Expels the Entire Chinese Community on November 3, 1885.” HistoryLink.org, 17 Jan. 2013, www.historylink.org/file/5063. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
Rea, Tom. “The Rock Springs Massacre.” WyoHistory.org, 8 Nov. 2014, www.wyohistory.org/encyclopedia/rock-springs-massacre. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“Rock Springs Massacre: Topics in Chronicling America.” Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/chronicling-america-rock-springs-massacre. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The Rock Springs Massacre.” History.com, 13 Apr. 2021, www.history.com/topics/immigration/rock-springs-massacre-wyoming. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.
“The Rock Springs Massacre,” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/september-02/. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.