Resenting the Chinese

White workers massacred Chinese at a Wyoming mining camp.

American labor troubles turned inward at Rock Springs, Wyoming on September 2, 1885. The White miners were angry, suspecting that their wages were being kept low by the hiring of Chinese workers. The unrest had been building for some time. By that September, Chinese outnumbered Whites 2 to 1. Armed White miners attacked the Chinatown part of Rock Springs that day. Up to 50 Chinese died, shot down or burned to death when their camp was set fire. Eventually, some 16 White workers were arrested, but a grand jury refused to indict them.