The Mass Departure of Chinese Laborers
After the completion of the Cedar River extension, the Oregon Improvement Company arranged for the mass transport of 1,700 Chinese workers out of Seattle.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Under the contract that the Oregon Improvement Company had with the Chinese contractors, the company agreed to furnish the Chinese laborers employed on the Cedar River extension free transportation between Seattle and Portland. A few days since, when the 1,700 Chinese laborers were discharged, Chief Engineer Milner wrote to Mr. Buckley for transportation rates over the Northern Pacific. Mr. Buckley replied that he saw no reason why these men should not be charged full rates. Mr. Milner wrote back that the proposition was satisfactory, but as the Northern Pacific Company exacted full rates, he should demand from the company first-class accommodations and asked that a sufficient number of Pullman couches be put in readiness. Mr. Buckley saw the point, and at once submitted a satisfactory transportation contract, which was accepted. The scene on the wharf yesterday, when the Chinese laborers were getting ready to take their departure, beggars description. They were all excited and were talking and yelling at once as they rushed about the dock with their loads. They all got aboard without accident and were packed away on the lower deck like a band of sheep.
“They all got aboard, however, without accident, and were packed away on the lower deck like a band of sheep.”
This article highlights the climate of 1886, a year of violent anti-Chinese expulsions in the Pacific Northwest. While the text portrays the workers' departure with a dehumanizing tone, the event marks a pivotal moment in the displacement of Chinese laborers who built much of the region's early infrastructure, only to be forced out by organized xenophobia.
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