Portal:Wyoming/Selected article/3

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An illustration of the massacre from an 1885 issue of Harper's Weekly

The Rock Springs massacre (also known as the Rock Springs riot) occurred on September 2, 1885 in the present-day United States (U.S.) city of Rock Springs, Wyoming, in Sweetwater County. The riot, between Chinese immigrant miners and white, mostly immigrant, miners, was the result of racial tensions and an ongoing labor dispute over the Union Pacific Coal Department's policy of paying Chinese miners lower wages than white miners. When the rioting ended, at least 28 Chinese miners were dead and 15 were wounded. Rioters burned 75 Chinese homes resulting in approximately US$150,000 in property damage.