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"Chinese Massacre Memorial Project"
A memorial to the nearly three-dozen Chinese gold miners massacred in Hells Canyon on the border between Idaho and Oregon in 1887. Our Chinese Massacre Memorial Committee plans to have the memorial in place to dedicate at the next Chinese Remembering Conference in Lewiston, Idaho, June 21-22, 2012. It is well past the time to honor the victims. Nothing can fully compensate for such a heinous crime, but we can remember those who perished. We need your help.
Chinese Massacre Memorial
THE PROJECT
A marker of native Snake River granite will be placed at the site of the 1887 massacre at Chinese Massacre Cove, near stone walls built by the Chinese miners who lived, worked, and were murdered there.
The granite marker will be transported to the site overlooking the cove. It will be approximately four by five feet, with the following inscription in three languages, Chinese, English, and Nez Perce:
Chinese Massacre Cove
Site of the 1887 massacre of
as many as 34 Chinese gold miners
No one was held accountable
Chinese Massacre Cove is a five-acre federally designated site at Deep Creek on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, sixty-five miles south of Lewiston, Idaho. This is where a gang of northeastern Oregon horse thieves ambushed and killed as many as thirty-four defenseless Chinese miners and threw their bodies into the Snake River. Some of the bodies floated north to Lewiston where the crime was discovered.
The area was part of the traditional homeland of the Nez Perce until Chief Joseph and his Wallowa band were forced out in 1877.
The massacre in the remote canyon was the worst of the many crimes committed by whites against the Chinese immigrants who came to this country in the latter decades of the 19th century to work as miners, railroad-builders, and at other pursuits.
However, the crime was little known until two authors wrote about it: Craig Lesley in River Song in 1999, and R. Gregory Nokes in Massacred for Gold: The Chinese in Hells Canyon in 2009.
The crime was more than just a robbery. The killers could easily have taken the gold without the slaughter. But the fact they killed the Chinese made it also a savage act of racial hatred.
No one was ever held accountable for this grave injustice. While some of the alleged killers were put on trial, a jury let them go.
Many of the hundreds of people who have attended our Chinese Remembering conferences in Lewiston—which have included a trip to the massacre site—have urged us to develop a memorial. Now is the time.
We will be doing fund-raising for this project, and will need your help. Our goal is to have the memorial in place to dedicate at the next Chinese Remembering conference in Lewiston June 21-22 in 2012. Be sure to check this site for updates.
Background on past Chinese Remembering conferences can be found on the Chinese Remembering page at www.massacredforgold.com The primary sponsor of Chinese Remembering is Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston.
Map
Youtube summary
Chinese Remembering Conference 2012
On-line registration at www.lcsc.edu/ce, Registration Info: 208-792-2447
Schedule:
June 21 – 22, 2012
Lectures
Catered Reception
Jet Boat Trip into Hells Canyon Visit to Chinese Massacre Cove Site
Lectures & Reception
THURSDAY JUNE 21
William’s Conference Center • Lewis-Clark State College
500 8th Avenue • Lewiston, Idaho
$30/ Person
12:00 to 1:00 p.m. – Williams Conference Center opens
1:00 – 1:15 — Welcome & introductions
1:15 – 2:00 — “Beuk Aie, the North God, and the Massacre: A Protective Deity for Lewiston’s Chinese.”
Dr. Chuimei Ho, Co-Director, Chinese in Northwest America Research Committee
2:00 – 2:45 — “Prelude to the Massacre: Where the Miners Came From and How They Got to the Snake River.”
Dr. Bennet Bronson, Co-Director, Chinese in Northwest America Research Committee
2:45 – 3:00 — Break
3:00 – 4:00 — “A Most Daring Outrage: Murders at Chinese Massacre Cove.”
R. Gregory Nokes
4:00 – 4:45 — “A River of Reconciliation: All My Relations Are Here.”
Dr. Janis Johnson, Assistant Professor of English and Coodinator, American Indian Studies Program, University of Idaho
4:45 – 5:30 — “Lewiston’s Beuk Aie Temple.”
Dr. Priscilla Wegars, Curator, Asian American Comparative Collection, University of Idaho
6:00 to 9:00 p.m. – (at LCSC Center for Arts & History) Exhibits & Beuk Aie Temple; Catered reception & No Host Bar
Jet Boat Trip into Hells Canyon
FRIDAY JUNE 22
A historically interpreted jet boat trip into Hells Canyon with River Quest Excursions. We will visit sites once thought to have been occupied by the Chinese. The dedication of a granite memorial at Chinese Massacre Cove will highlight the trip. A site guide with maps will be available. Limited to 100 people. Includes box lunch at China Garden Creek and refreshments during the day.
$135 / Person
8:00 to 8:30 a.m. — Meet at Hells Gate Marina, 4832 Hells Gate Road, Lewiston. Jet boats depart marina at 8:30 a.m. sharp; return at 6:00 pm
11:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. — “Nez Perce and the Chinese.”
Allen Pinkham, Nez Perce Historian
1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. — Dedication of Memorial at Chinese Massacre Cove.
Conference Sponsors: Monastery of St. Gertrude, Lewis-Clark State College, LCSC Center for Arts & History, Idaho Humanities Council, Paul & Deanna Stewart, River Quest Excursions, Hells Canyon Visitors Bureau, Lewiston Clarkston Chamber of Commerce, Mandarin Pine Restaurant, Lewis-Clark XEROgraphiX
MORE INFO Lyle Wirtanen 208-816-8600
ACT NOW Attendance on Jet Boat Trip Limited to 100