Sorry I don't know any specifics about this massacre, but I do know about some general information on the Chinese miners. They were probably the best of the best at buildings walls, mines, and other structures using rocks without mortar. They would stay at mines after the others had given it up as a lost cause. Because of their skills with the stones they could shore up the ceilings of the caves and mines with much more stability than any other miners. By doing so they would be able to continue mining in places that the other miners had to give up on. They wouldn't have the proper timbers to shore up the mines and would leave out of fear of a cave in. The Chinese however would build their stone shoring and find a great deal of gold. This made the white miners angry because they felt they had been shown up by the Chinese. There was a lot of hate toward the Chnese as a result.
Most miners would go into town on the weekends and spend almost everything they had found during a week of mining on drinking and pursuing other things at the saloons and houses of ill repute (brothels). Occasionally they would decide to take out their anger on the Chinese by saddling up some horses and riding into the Chinese settlements. Because they thought of the Chinese as less than human and even below dogs, they had no problem shooting and killing men, women, and children in the Chinese communities. The Chinese knew this was always a possibility, so they would put their gold and money into tin cans or tin cups and bury them near their homes or in small stone vaults they had buried within their settlements. The white miners might take the families, but they weren't going to get their money.
This might sound callous, but having that history in mind, metal detectorists and treasure hunters like myself go to places on old maps that were identified as "Cooly Camps". We sometimes find those buried tin cups and when we do, they sometimes have gold coins and gold nuggets in them as well as other money and sometimes pieces of jewelry. Believe it or not, we make every effort possible to find the families of the Cooly Town victims whenever possible.
I am in Colorado and often see the remnants of the railroad beds and bridges leftover from the 1800's. They were so well built by the Chinese that they remain in usable condition even today. The rails may have been removed decades ago, but the roads are still used either as roads or paths through history such as bike paths or hiking paths. I am a gold prospector with 23 years of experience. I have studied a great deal over that time to better understand gold mining and the history of gold mining. There are so many ghost towns in Colorado and a lot of them are Cooly Towns, especially around old mining towns. Many of the gold pans and other items used today in mining were invented by the Chinese miners.
When people finally got over their ignorance and hatred and Chinese people were accepted into the communities, they often became important people in their town. The people that made the most money in mining towns were not the common miners, but the people who supplied the tools, food, and clothing the miners needed. The Chinese opened many shops and stores and became those suppliers. They were also hired by the railroads to build bridges and railroad beds.
People who are ignorant of history are destined to repeat the mistakes of history. Those who embrace history are able to exploit it. Be an exploiter.
