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NW China Council and PSU History Dept. presents

Massacred for Gold: the Chinese in Hells Canyon

R. Gregory Nokes

The Lecture

In 1887, more than thirty Chinese gold miners were massacred on the Oregon side of Hells Canyon, the deepest canyon in North America. In the book, Massacred for Gold, the first authoritative account of the unsolved crime, Gregory Nokes unearths the evidence that points to an improbable gang of rustlers and schoolboys.

Using a slide presentation and readings from his book, Mr. Nokes will trace his long personal journey to expose details of the massacre and its aftermath and to understand how one of the worst of the many crimes committed by whites against Chinese laborers in the American West was for so long lost to history.

The Speaker

Nokes retired in 2003 after 43 years in journalism, including 25 years with The Associated Press and 15 years with The Oregonian in Portland. While with The AP, he was stationed in New York, San Juan, Buenos Aires and Washington, D.C., where he served as both an economics and diplomatic correspondent. He traveled to more than 50 countries during his career. Nokes graduated from Willamette University and attended Harvard University as a 1972 Nieman Fellow. Since retiring, he has embarked on a second career as a writer and lecturer on the experience of immigrant Chinese in the Pacific Northwest. He lives with his wife, Candise, in West Linn, Oregon.