Log Cabin Island in 1887: Third Chinese Massacre victim found at Lower Granite dam site

Location of Log Cabin Island, the second known site in Washington Territory where a victim of the 1887 Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon was found, is easy to pinpoint on the Snake River. The island site, which was more like a bar during low water months, was where Lower Granite Dam now stands.

Accounts of the Chinese Massacre were related two weeks ago at the fifth annual Chinese Remembering conference in Lewiston. The story of the massacre of what is believed to be 34 Chinese gold miners by a group of suspected cattle rustlers from the Wallowa Valley area of Oregon was detailed in a 2009 book, “Massacred for Gold,” by Gregory Nokes. He was one of the speakers at the conference June 21 at Lewis Clark State College.

The horror of the massacre at the Deep Creek placer mine, 65 miles upstream from Lewiston, became known when bodies of the victims began to appear downstream along the Snake.

Accounts at the time reported one body was discovered at Penawawa bar below Colfax. The Gazette last week reported on news accounts in the Palouse Gazette in June of that year from Almota and Uniontown that the body of the unidentified Chinese male was put back into the river at Penawawa and believed to have been found at The Dalles, Ore., where he was given a “decent” burial.

According to Nokes’ book, the first reported body discovery was on the Snake at Lime Kiln, about 30 miles upstream from Lewiston.

The second body was found at Penawawa. That victim was shot just below the heart.

The third known discovery of a body was found at Log Cabin Island.

June Batty Critchfield, who now resides in Clarkston, featured a picture of Log Cabin Island in her 1964 book, “Of Yesterday and the River.”

She noted at the time that the island, which created rapids that for years were a concern for riverboat pilots, was awaiting construction to begin on the dam.

Nokes in his book notes discovery of the victim was logged by Judge Joseph Vincent, who served as justice of the peace and U.S. commissioner at Lewiston.

Vincent’s written accounts of the body discoveries were sent to the Chinese Consulate in San Francisco. The report said some of the people participating in the recovery recognized the victim as Ah Yow. Nokes added that in his research he was unable to find any additional information on Ah Yow, who was the first victim of the tragedy to be identified.

His body was found in a driftwood pile on Log Cabin Island, a place where wood collected in a downstream back eddy. The massacre victim was found with two bullet holes in his back. His left arm and head appeared to have been chopped off and placed inside his coat which was fastened with a belt around the waist.

Accounts in the Palouse Gazette reported Vincent made his way downstream from Lewiston in a small boat to pick up the victims. He is believed to have been accompanied by an investigator, possibly Lee Loi, who was sent by the Sam Yup Company which was based at San Francisco. The company had a financial interest in the mining operation and offered Vincent $1,000 to find the killers who also took gold from the mining operation, according to Nokes’ book.

Amount stolen by the murderers was said at the time to be $5,000 or more.

Vincent and others in his group went as far downstream as Riparia. They then caught a boat to return upstream to Lewiston with one body. That victim was probably Ah Yow, who was found on Log Cabin Island, because the other Washington Territory victim, the Penawawa victim, was known to have been placed back in the river and buried at The Dalles. Source of that report in the Palouse Gazette was an account in the Times-Mountaineer, the Wasco County weekly at The Dalles.

Charles Oldenburg of Pullman, who was raised on the Garfield County side of the river across from Log Cabin Island, notes his grandfather, Herman O. Oldenburg, at one time farmed on the island.

The log cabin structure was used by his grandfather as a barn for horses and to store hay. Logs for the structure probably came out of the driftwood stack.

The Chinese victims were first buried in Lewiston at Prospect Point that overlooks the confluence of the Snake and Clearwater rivers at Lewiston. Nokes pointed out the Prospect Point site was sold by the Chinese in 1891 to the City of Lewiston for the eventual development of the park, and graves were moved to the Chinese section of the Normal Hill Cemetery.

Whether or not the massacre graves were moved is also unknown. Also, some of the Chinese followed practice of sending the deceased back to China, and this might have involved some of the victims from Deep Creek.