The United States had passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 [2] to slow immigration, and mend Sinophobia in the west.
In the mid-1850s when finding gold in California became harder, many Chinese immigrants moved to new territories.
[6] Anti-Chinese sentiments in Oregon developed as early as 1857, where EuroAmericans adopted similar discriminatory laws against Chinese miners to that of California and Nevada.
[5] Article XV, Section 8 of the Oregon Constitution stated that "No Chinaman, not a resident of the state at the adoption of this constitution, shall ever hold any real estate or mining claim, or work any mining claim therein.
Chinese were also banned from attending in public schools, entering professions, and were discriminated against in housing.
[8] Essentially, Chinese laborers were often subject of scrutiny because they were hired as union breakers.
[6] These Anti-Chinese discriminatory laws highly affected the Chinese population in Oregon, decreasing its numbers to 2,102 by 1950.
The discovery of gold in the rivers of Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia prompted many Chinese to migrate to the Pacific Northwest.
[11] Chinese immigrants first started as domestic servants and service workers (cooks, laundry men).
Nearly 17,000 Chinese also helped build the Northern Pacific Railroad transcontinental line in Washington State.
[10] There was a large Anti-Chinese sentiment in Washington during the early years of it being a territory and its statehood.
Like in California, Chinese faced many discriminatory laws in Washington such as special taxes, prohibition against marrying whites, and owning land.
Earlier signs of an outbreak was accentuated in 1884, when a water company hired Chinese workers to lay pipe.
[13] Precursors began when the Seattle City Council passed a number of ordinances directly aimed against its Chinese residents.
On February 7, many "committees" demanded Chinese to leave Seattle by the ship Queen of the Pacific.
[15] Unlike Washington and Oregon however, Chinese residents in Idaho had more freedom in a number of entities.