The Rock Springs massacre, also known as the Rock Springs riot, occurred on September 2, 1885, in the present-day United States city of Rock Springs in Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The riot, and resulting massacre of immigrant Chinese miners by European immigrant miners, was the result of racial prejudice toward the Chinese miners, who were perceived to be taking jobs from the existing miners. The Union Pacific Coal Department found it economically beneficial to give preference in hiring to Chinese miners, who were willing to work for lower wages than their European counterparts, which angered the existing miners. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were injured. Rioters burned 78 Chinese homes, resulting in approximately $150,000 in property damage. Despite the identification of the perpetrators, no individuals were prosecuted for the murders or property destruction.
An illustration of the massacre from an 1885 issue of Harper's Weekly
Chinese immigrants, including these bound for California in 1876, settled throughout the American west during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
A typical 19th-century Chinese American mining camp
Thomas Nast's 1885 editorial cartoon applies a detail from Goya's The Third of May 1808 to the Rock Springs riot. The cartoon's caption quotes The Mikado.
Rock Springs is a city in Sweetwater County, Wyoming, United States. The population was 23,526 at the 2020 census, making it the fifth most populous city in the state of Wyoming, and the most populous city in Sweetwater County. Rock Springs is the principal city of the Rock Springs micropolitan statistical area, which has a population of 37,975. Rock Springs is known as the Home of 56 Nationalities because of the influx of immigrants from all over the world who came to work in the coal mines that supplied the fuel to power the steam engines of the Union Pacific Railroad. The city's rich cultural heritage is celebrated each summer on International Day, a festival where the foods, costumes, and traditions of residents' ancestors are recreated and enjoyed at Bunning Park in downtown Rock Springs.
Panorama of downtown Rock Springs, looking southeast from grant Street
Wonder Bread store in Rock Springs, 2004
Rock Springs Coal sign
Western Wyoming Community College, December 2007