Japanese Make Railroads Possible in Idaho

Japanese Make Railroad Possible in Idaho

By: Charlotte Wells, BA Anthropology

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons, in Utah, were one of the promoters of a new railroad that would go north from Utah. This new endeavor would benefit them because they would have a monopoly on all the freight going to and from the gold fields in Montana and because they could sell all of their surplus crops to the miners in the North. This Mormon owned railroad was known as the Utah Northern Railroad. The project began in 1871 and by 1878 the Utah Northern was bankrupt. After this the Union Pacific bought the Utah Northern Railroad and changed the name to Utah & Northern Railway. The railroad finally made its way to Butte by 1881.

In 1882 Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act that severely limited Chinese immigration(2). The railroads of the Pacific Northwest still needed labor so they turned to the Japanese workforce. The Union Pacific also wanted to build a railway that went east and west. This would become the Oregon Shortline and would go from Granger, Wyoming to Huntington, Oregon and then connect with Portland. In general this railroad route followed the Oregon Trail and cut across Southern Idaho. In his April 15, 2017 article, Arthur Hart writes for the Idaho Statesman, that by July 1892, carloads of Japanese workers began to arrive in Idaho regularly. On July 2 of that year the Statesman noted that “194 direct from Japan” got off at Nampa and most of these men came here to work on Idaho railroads (3).

These were some of the first Japanese people to come to Idaho. Many of the Japanese men who came to Idaho planned to return to Japan after their contracts with the railroad were finished but many of them turned to farming to make a living after the railroads were finished.

Charlotte Wells received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Anthropology with an emphasis on Faunal Analysis from Idaho State University in 2015. She is currently pursuing as Masters of Arts degree in History at Idaho State University. Her interests are in the history and culture of the people of Southeast Idaho and surrounding regions dating from prehistorical to early 20th century.