Hells Canyon Massacre

The Hell Canyon Massacre was a massacre where thirty four Chinese goldminers were ambushed and murdered in May 1887. In 2005, the area was renamed Chinese Massacre Cove, and a memorial was placed there in 2012 in three languages.^[1]

During 1887 in Oregon's Hells Canyon on the Snake River, in what came to be known as the Snake River Massacre, a gang of four to six white men robbed, murdered, and mutilated between 10 and 34 Chinese workers, reportedly for their gold.^[2] Three people were brought to trial but none were convicted.^[3][4]

The five acre site was named Chinese Massacre Cove in 2005.^[5]

Deep Creek, an account of the massacre written by William Howarth and Anne Matthews under the pen name "Dana Hand",^[6] was selected by the Washington Post as one of the best novels of 2010.^[7]

See also

• Anti-Chinese violence in Washington
• Rock Springs Massacre

References

1. Nokes, R. Gregory (Fall 2006). "A Most Daring Outrage: Murders at Chinese Massacre Cove, 1887". Oregon Historical Quarterly. 107 (3). Archived from the original on 28 January 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2007.
2. "Next stop Qochyax Island". KGW-TV. Portland, Oregon. Associated Press. 12 October 2005. Archived from the original on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
3. "Lesson Fifteen: Industrialization, Class, and Race: Chinese and the Anti-Chinese Movement in the Late 19th-Century Northwest," History of Washington State & the Pacific Northwest, Center for Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
4. Nokes, R. Gregory. 2009. Massacred for Gold. Corvallis, Oregon: Oregon State University Press, pp. 179-181.
5. Committee meeting minutes - October 12, 2005, (PDF), U.S. Board on Geographic Names, Domestic Names Committee, U.S. Geological Survey, October 12, 2005. Retrieved 12 March 2007.
6. "Authors | Dana Hand".
7. "The best novels of 2010".

External links

• Article at the Oregon Encyclopedia

Coordinates: 45°46′48″N 116°39′18″W / 45.780°N 116.655°W