Wyoming city honors Chinese massacre victims 140 years later

Descendants of Chinese miners killed in an infamous massacre in Rock Springs, Wyoming, in 1885 joined archaeologists this summer to excavate a site where their ancestors once lived. Last week, their efforts culminated in a memorial ceremony that honored the victims of one of America’s most violent anti-Chinese attacks.

What happened: A mob of white miners and railroad workers converged on Rock Springs’ Chinatown on Sept. 2, 1885, killing 28 Chinese migrant workers and burning tens of homes to the ground. The violence stemmed from labor tensions in Union Pacific Railroad’s coal mines, where the company had hired Chinese workers as strike-breakers after European miners walked off the job. This occurred three years after the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act had restricted Chinese immigration and fueled anti-Chinese sentiment nationwide.

“It was instigated,” Laura Ng, an Iowa-based archaeology professor who led the dig, told the Cowboy State Daily last month. “It started as a fight in the coal mine, but it was pre-planned by two white coal miners.” Despite the mob’s actions being widely known, no one was ever indicted.

New discoveries: Grinnell College researchers excavated a distinctive “burn layer” where Chinatown once stood, seeking to uncover the daily lives of the Chinese miners. The team found evidence that the miners ate both traditional foods like pork and fish, as well as “American butchered bones, like T-bone steak,” Ng said, using a mixture of Chinese ceramics and cheap white American plates that revealed their “spending power.”

Grace and Ricky Leo, descendants who grew up in Rock Springs but only learned of their family’s massacre ties as adults, organized the week-long commemoration. Meanwhile, other descendants discovered their family connections through the researchers’ efforts. The dig also attracted donations from local residents who found artifacts on their properties.

Why this matters: The excavation gave voice to a historically silenced community while connecting Asian American families to their heritage. Ng told the Rocket Miner in July, “We are also here to show the important contributions Chinese people made in the mining industry and to the community, such as their restaurants and businesses.”

Interestingly, the research has highlighted parallels between historical and contemporary immigration tensions. Speaking to KHOL, Rock Springs Mayor Max Mickelson noted the irony that his town still relies on migrant labor while Sweetwater County has strengthened partnerships with ICE under the current administration. “As someone who is a descendant of immigrants that came to this country from Europe, I find it very frustrating that as a country we have decided to take an anti-immigrant stance,” he said.

The Sept. 2 ceremony featured the unveiling of “Requiem,” a seven-foot bronze sculpture showing a Chinese miner clutching torn dragon flag remnants.