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A 400' aerial view overlooking China Gulch south of Rome, Oregon. From a website:
In 1865 gold was discovered in huge deposits in Idaho and in Montana. As soon as the word of these discoveries reached California, Chinese miners in that state started heading north in hopes of getting their own shares of the riches. At first a few small bands of individuals headed out, but by the following year groups of as many as 50 were traveling up through Nevada and into Oregon on their way to Idaho.
In May of 1866 word reached other travelers that a series of Chinese miner wagon trains had been attacked by Indians just over the Nevada-Oregon border near the Owyhee River. Reports in local newspapers stated that at least three separate groups of Chinese were involved, one of 50 men, another of 80 and a third allegedly made up of nearly 300 men. In all three cases almost of the Chinese were killed; only one Chinese survivor was reported to have gotten away.
The stories about these incidents come entirely from local newspapers and from some military reports by the Army commanders in charge of finding the Indian perpetrators. There was widespread general assumption that the attackers were Indians, but the military at the time used any excuse it could find to justify its continued efforts to wipe out most of the Indians in the West.
Historian Elmer Rusco, who wrote at length about these massacres, found that there is no firm evidence to blame the Indians for these attacks. He noted that at the time there was a proliferation of white outlaw gangs composed of white desperados, and that given widespread hated of the Chinese at the time it is very plausible that white men killed the Chinese and blamed the Indians on the attacks. He also found evidence in at least two military reports from the region that indicated white men were collaborating with or perhaps leading Indians on attacks against wagons trains and other travelers.
https://www.noplaceproject.com/china-gulch
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The United States is one of the most diverse countries on earth, jam packed full of amazing sights from St. Patrick's cathedral in New York to Mount Hollywood California.The Northeast region is where it all started. Thirteen British colonies fought the American Revolution from here and won their independence in the first successful colonial rebellion in history. Take a look at these rolling hills carpeted with foliage along the Hudson river here, north of New York City.The American south is known for its polite people and slow pace of life. Probably they move slowly because it's so hot. Southerners tend not to trust people from "up north" because they talk too fast. Here's a cemetery in Georgia where you can find graves of soldiers from the Civil War.The West Coast is sort of like another country that exists to make the east coast jealous. California is full of nothing but grizzly old miners digging for gold, a few gangster rappers, and then actors. That is to say, the West Coast functions as the imagination of the US, like a weird little brother who teases everybody then gets famous for making freaky art.The central part of the country is flat farmland all the way over to the Rocky Mountains. Up in the northwest corner you can find creative people in places like Portland and Seattle, along with awesome snowboarding and good beer. Text by Steve Smith.
