1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,080 --> 00:00:07,840 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hello, Welcome to this Dan History class, where 3 00:00:07,840 --> 00:00:11,080 Speaker 1: we dust off a little piece of history every day. 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:27,520 Speaker 1: Today is September two. The day was September two. White 5 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:33,000 Speaker 1: miners murdered Chinese miners in Rock Springs, Wyoming, after a 6 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 1: dispute over the location where they were working. Anti Chinese 7 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: sentiment was high in the US at the time, with 8 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:46,479 Speaker 1: the Rock Springs massacre occurring just three years after the 9 00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:50,640 Speaker 1: Chinese Exclusion Act put a ten year moratorium on Chinese 10 00:00:50,760 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 1: labor immigration. Though the Rock Springs massacre was not the 11 00:00:55,880 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: only instance of anti Chinese violence in this climate, it 12 00:00:59,880 --> 00:01:04,480 Speaker 1: was us one of the more brutal occurrences. Chinese miners 13 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,280 Speaker 1: had been in the United States at least since the 14 00:01:07,319 --> 00:01:11,640 Speaker 1: California Gold Rush in eighteen forty nine. Even though the 15 00:01:11,680 --> 00:01:15,440 Speaker 1: work they were doing, like farming and building railroads, was 16 00:01:15,480 --> 00:01:20,399 Speaker 1: physically demanding, difficult, and dangerous, they stayed because they could 17 00:01:20,440 --> 00:01:23,279 Speaker 1: make much more money in the US than they could 18 00:01:23,280 --> 00:01:27,560 Speaker 1: in China, and because they kept their expenses low. They 19 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:32,600 Speaker 1: often took low paying jobs. White workers began to view 20 00:01:32,720 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: Chinese immigrants as competitors who were taking their jobs, and 21 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 1: they made it clear that the Chinese were not welcome. 22 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: Violence against Chinese people was not uncommon in California, Arizona, 23 00:01:46,200 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: and Nevada. But even though Congress limited Chinese immigration into 24 00:01:50,760 --> 00:01:54,640 Speaker 1: the United States, Chinese people continued to work in the 25 00:01:54,720 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: Western US. The railroad company Union Pacific had at coal 26 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:05,320 Speaker 1: mines across Wyoming that provided the fuel for trains. When 27 00:02:05,320 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: it ran into financial trouble and needed to save money, 28 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:13,000 Speaker 1: the company cut miners pay. On top of this, Union 29 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:17,760 Speaker 1: Pacific required workers to shop for food, clothes, and tools 30 00:02:17,800 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: at the company's stores so it could pocket more money. 31 00:02:21,880 --> 00:02:25,440 Speaker 1: The company's miners went on strikes against these working conditions, 32 00:02:25,560 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: and they tried to unionize, but the company did not 33 00:02:29,080 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: concede to the strikers demands and even resorted to firing 34 00:02:33,639 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: strikers and hiring people who were more compliant. After one 35 00:02:38,639 --> 00:02:43,079 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy five strike, Union Pacific hired Chinese miners who 36 00:02:43,120 --> 00:02:47,639 Speaker 1: were willing to work for low wages. By five, there 37 00:02:47,639 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 1: were about six hundred Chinese miners and three hundred white 38 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 1: miners working at the coal mine in Rock Springs, Wyoming. 39 00:02:55,840 --> 00:03:01,080 Speaker 1: The white miners, largely Scandinavian, Welsh, and English immigrant lived 40 00:03:01,160 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: in downtown Rock Springs. The Chinese miners lived in what 41 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,480 Speaker 1: the white miners called Chinatown. Though the two groups worked 42 00:03:09,560 --> 00:03:13,600 Speaker 1: side by side, they maintained their own cultures and languages, 43 00:03:14,360 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: and white workers were still unhappy with their pay, which 44 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: remained low, so they joined a union called the Knights 45 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:26,560 Speaker 1: of Labor, where they could voice their grievances. Many white 46 00:03:26,560 --> 00:03:30,440 Speaker 1: miners wanted to send the Chinese out of Wyoming territory. 47 00:03:30,639 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: Threats and violence against Chinese workers in Wyoming were an issue. 48 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:38,920 Speaker 1: This tension was the backdrop for a fight that broke 49 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,920 Speaker 1: out between Chinese and white miners in the Number six 50 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,640 Speaker 1: mine in Rock Springs on the morning of September two. 51 00:03:48,040 --> 00:03:51,040 Speaker 1: It was a high yield mine and getting a good 52 00:03:51,080 --> 00:03:54,080 Speaker 1: part of the mind was important for miners since they 53 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: were paid by the ton. One Chinese miner was hit 54 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,160 Speaker 1: in the head with a pick and died in the fight. 55 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:04,640 Speaker 1: A foreman broke up the violence, but the white miners 56 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: escalated the fight, getting weapons and gathering in the nights 57 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:12,560 Speaker 1: of Labor Hall. As miners from other minds joined the 58 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 1: commotion and it became clear that violence was imminent. Saloons 59 00:04:16,880 --> 00:04:21,440 Speaker 1: closed for the day by that afternoon, between a hundred 60 00:04:21,480 --> 00:04:24,920 Speaker 1: and a hundred and fifty armed white men, mainly miners 61 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:29,000 Speaker 1: and railroad workers, had assembled near the Number six mine. 62 00:04:30,200 --> 00:04:36,080 Speaker 1: Women and children joined them. The mob surrounded Chinatown. The 63 00:04:36,160 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: mob shot and killed Chinese people and looted and burned 64 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: their houses. They went to their Union Pacific bosses and 65 00:04:44,560 --> 00:04:50,400 Speaker 1: demanded they leave town. Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren called 66 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 1: for federal troops and told Union Pacific to run a 67 00:04:54,240 --> 00:04:58,000 Speaker 1: slow train that would pick up stranded Chinese miners and 68 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,920 Speaker 1: give them food, water, and blankets. Many Chinese people who 69 00:05:02,960 --> 00:05:06,600 Speaker 1: had been threatened or faced violence were sent to Evanston, 70 00:05:07,080 --> 00:05:11,200 Speaker 1: west of Rock Springs. When some of the Chinese workers 71 00:05:11,279 --> 00:05:14,720 Speaker 1: requested railroad tickets out of Wyoming and the back pay 72 00:05:14,800 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 1: they were owed, the company refused. Union Pacific even refused 73 00:05:19,839 --> 00:05:23,440 Speaker 1: when white residents in Evanston requested the Chinese be paid 74 00:05:23,440 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: off so they could leave Wyoming. On September nine, the 75 00:05:27,440 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: Chinese people in Evanston were put on box cars and 76 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: told they were headed to safety in San Francisco. Instead, 77 00:05:35,200 --> 00:05:37,760 Speaker 1: they were taken back to Rock Springs so they could 78 00:05:37,760 --> 00:05:42,280 Speaker 1: go back to work. Of course, they met more antagonism 79 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:45,640 Speaker 1: from white miners. Who blocked them from entering the mines, 80 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:50,919 Speaker 1: and many Chinese people left Rock Springs, but Union Pacific 81 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:54,240 Speaker 1: declared that they would fire anyone who was not back 82 00:05:54,279 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: to work by one, and so the miners went back 83 00:05:58,480 --> 00:06:03,360 Speaker 1: to work. Sixteen white miners were arrested and released on bail. 84 00:06:04,000 --> 00:06:08,799 Speaker 1: People cheered for them upon their release. Union Pacific fired 85 00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:11,320 Speaker 1: some of the white miners who took part in the massacre, 86 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:16,880 Speaker 1: but no one was convicted of robbery, rioting, arson or murder. 87 00:06:17,920 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: In the end, twenty eight Chinese people were killed, fifteen 88 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 1: were wounded. In all, seventy nine of the shacks and 89 00:06:24,560 --> 00:06:30,040 Speaker 1: houses in Rock Springs Chinatown were looted and burned. Damages 90 00:06:30,080 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 1: were estimated at about a hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 91 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:37,479 Speaker 1: which is the equivalent of about four million dollars today, 92 00:06:37,640 --> 00:06:40,960 Speaker 1: and Congress ended up compensating the miners for their loss. 93 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,919 Speaker 1: Federal troops built Camp Pilot Butte between downtown Rock Springs 94 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:49,560 Speaker 1: in Chinatown to prevent further violence, and they stayed there 95 00:06:49,640 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: until the Spanish American War broke out in eight I'm 96 00:06:54,880 --> 00:06:57,559 Speaker 1: Eve jeffco and hopefully you know a little more about 97 00:06:57,600 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: history today than you did yesterday. 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