In 1870 Chinese made up 1/3 of Idaho's population.

[Jara sang]

By 1910, there were none. Forced to leave through racist policies. "Thanks for mining all that shit! Now get the fuck out!" Damn, but this country has a disgusting past that nobody wants to address.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town

[Cleita]

1. Idaho is pretty white all around.

They still allow native Americans but I really had a hard time finding any ethnic minorities in Idaho besides the local tribes. I did find one lone Mexican who worked as a gardner in one of the places I worked in. It turns out there were more besides him, but they really kept to themselves.

It struck me wierd because the local Idahoans didn't seem to be bigoted. Maybe it was their grandparents who ran out the Chinese and then they never taught their hatred to their progency because they weren't around anymore.

I did find a Chinese American, who ran a hardware store, across the border in Washington near the Canadian border. He was very much included in the community though as one of them.

:shrug:

[NanciNice]

2. Chinese in Idaho...

Were they there to build the railroad and then moved on as might be expected?

And I know southern Idaho is heavily Mormon--that might have more to do with their insularity than anything else; the Mormons are a pretty cohesive group.

[BrotherBuzz]

4. They moved there AFTER completing the RR in 1869

They worked the placer or loose gold that paid less then 2 bucks a day; slim pickings a white man would not work. According to the 1870 census, Idaho had 3,853 Chinese miners and only 2,719 white miners.

[NanciNice]

5. Thanks!

I wasn't sure--I just remembered they worked on the rairoard around that time.

[leftofthedial]

3. this country has a disgusting present

that nobody wants to address

[Jara sang]

6. Too true

Denial is a river that flows through America's heartland.

[leftofthedial]

7. but the OP is right.

our treatment of immigrants has always been shameful, but never moreso than our treatment of Asians, especially Chinese, in the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

[formernaderite]

8. I hate to disappoint you ..but the whole world

has a disgusting past. There probably isn't one tribe of people who haven't done something to someone in the past.

[applegrove]

9. Yup. Apparently anyone who had money in California or Nevada

was hunted down and had it confiscated.