Massacre in Rock Springs

IvoShandor — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 07:52:01 -0800

September 2, 1885, Rock Springs, Wyoming (horrible music warning). A mining town on the frontier, the Rock Springs of 1885 was consumed with race and labor tensions, and witnessed an unparalleled event during the history of Chinese-Americans in the U.S. west. The little known Rock Springs Massacre, was perpetuated by white miners on Chinese miners and left at least 28 of the latter dead and dismembered. The slaughter was fueled mostly by racial prejudice but an ongoing labor dispute involving Union Pacific's coal company also played a significant role. The Chinese miners that survived described a harrowing scene:

"Some of the Chinese were killed at the bank of Bitter Creek, some near the railroad bridge, and some in “Chinatown.” After having been killed, the dead bodies of some were carried to the burning buildings and thrown into the flames. Some of the Chinese who had hid themselves in the houses were killed and their bodies burned; some, who on account of sickness could not run, were burned alive in the houses. One Chinese was killed in “Whitemen’s Town” in a laundry house, and his house demolished. The whole number of Chinese killed was twenty-eight and those wounded fifteen."

The massacre was big news, even then, coverage appeared in the New York Times a few days later. Notably, the local paper, the Rock Springs Independent, essentially endorsed the outcome of the murders in Rock Springs. The literature on the massacre is pretty sparse, even behind database walls like JSTOR. There have been some works done on it though, Craig Storti's 1990 book comes to mind. The massacre receives passing mention here, here, and here, among other places. There are a few other works on the subject, including older ones. Wikipedia has some good info too.

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Massacre in Rock Springs