Chinese immigration to the United States at…

Chinese immigration to the United States at this time is neither uniform nor widespread.

The vast majority of the nearly one hundred thousand Chinese immigrants reside within the American West: California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington Territory, as stated by the U.S. Minister to China, George Seward, in Scribner's Magazine ("Seward's 'Chinese Immigration'," Scribner's Monthly, April, 1881, no. 6.)

The first jobs Chinese laborers had taken in Wyoming were on the railroad, working for the Union Pacific company (UP) as maintenance-of-way workers.

Chinese workers had soon become an asset to Union Pacific and work along UP lines and in UP coal mines from Laramie to Evanston.

Most Chinese workers in Wyoming end up working in Sweetwater County, but a large number settle in Carbon County and Uinta counties.

Most Chinese people in the area are men working in the mine.

Racism against Chinese immigrants is widespread and largely uncontroversial at this time.

In 1874–75, after labor unrest had disrupted coal production, the Union Pacific Coal Department had hired Chinese laborers to work in their coal mines throughout southern Wyoming.

Even so, Chinese population had risen slowly at first; however, where there are Chinese immigrants, they are generally concentrated in one area.

At Red Desert, a remote section camp in Sweetwater County, there are 20 inhabitants, of whom 12 are Chinese.

All 12 are laborers who work under an American foreman.

To the east of Red Desert is another remote section camp, Washakie.

An American section foreman lives there among 23 others, including 13 Chinese laborers and an Irish crew foreman.

In the various section camps along the main line of the Union Pacific Railroad, Chinese workers far outnumber any other nationality.

Though the 79 Chinese in Sweetwater County in 1870 represented only 4% of the total population, they were, again, concentrated.

In Rock Springs and Green River, the largest towns along the UP line, there were no Chinese residents reported in 1870.

Throughout the 1870s, the Chinese population in Sweetwater County and all of Wyoming had steadily increased.

During the decade, Wyoming's total population had risen from nine thousand one hundred and eighteen to twenty thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine.

In the 1870 U.S. Census, what the government today calls "Asian and Pacific Islander" had represented only one hundred and forty-three members of the population of Wyoming.

The increase during the 1870s is the largest percentage increase in the Asian population of Wyoming of any decade since; the increase represents a five hundred and thirty-nine percent jump in the Asian population.

By 1880, most Chinese residents in Sweetwater County lived in Rock Springs.

At this time, Wyoming is home to mine hundred and fourteen "Asians”.

Although most Chinese workers in 1880 are employed in the coal mines around Wyoming and Sweetwater County, the Chinese in Rock Springs work mostly in occupations outside of mining.

In addition to Chinese laborers and miners, a professional gambler, a priest, a cook, and a barber reside in the city.

In Green River, Wyoming, there is a Chinese doctor.

Chinese servants and waiters find work in Green River and in Fort Washakie.

In Atlantic City, Miner's Delight, and Red Canyon, Wyoming, Chinese gold miners are employed.

However, the majority of the one hundred and ninety-three Chinese residing in Sweetwater County by 1880 work in the coal mines or on the railroad.