Hells Canyon & the Middle Snake River by Carole-Simon Smolinksi Edited by Dr Hepworth. Capter 8 thoughts

As a young child, I would travel with my grandparents across the country during the summers. My grandfather was a tall man with a deep voice and a commanding presence. He would discuss politics and history with me as I had shown interest in it. It was at this time he talked about how many different immigrants helped to build the infrastructure of the United States. He himself was a son of German immigrants. My grandfather spent his entire life working as a railroad conductor. When I read chapter eight, I could not help but think of my grandfather and how he would talk about how Chinese immigrants built many of the modern railways, his values on immigrants from many countries, and how they contributed to the United States economy, culture and society. Today, this country is having a passionate debate about immigration and our society as a whole seems to have a short memory about how our nation was built. Increased education and a sense of history are now more important in American than ever.

The tragedy of the Chinese mining massacre at Deep Creek in 1887 was a culmination of greed and jealousy. In the post Civil War era, many settlers came to the Hells Canyon area in Idaho and Washington to seek land and economic gains from mining and other commerce. Having driven most Native Americans onto reservations, many settlers felt increased Chinese immigration came at their expense, and they were another problem that had to be resolved. They were concerned about the Chinese working for lower wages, and jealous of the financial gains some Chinese had received from very hard work. In the end, it was tolerance from local and federal authorities for such prejudice to allow the massacre to go all but unpunished.

Today we have a chance to learn from our own history. We much teach our children about the contribution of all immigrants, and our leaders need to take a close look at current immigration debates and how our nation came to this point in anti-immigration rhetoric. It is through increased education and a sense of history that these problems will be solved. Resources that are available now were not available to most when the tragedy of Deep Creek in 1887 occurred.