Republican Francis E. Warren (1844-1929) received an appointment as Wyoming Territorial Governor in February 1885. He was not new to politics. He had served as mayor of Cheyenne, as a member of the territorial senate, and as territorial treasurer. He had also rapidly risen to a successful business position in Wyoming, having acquired control of great areas of land and an important voice in the all-powerful Wyoming Stock Grower's Association. Notwithstanding his prominence, when Democrat Grover Cleveland assumed office as U.S. President in March 1885, Warren’s position as governor became precarious. Bitter enemies Warren had accrued over the years made every effort to have him removed from office. It was within this atmosphere that Warren was forced to confront the crisis that became known as the Rock Springs Massacre. When Warren was informed of the rioting in Rock Springs, he arrived by train to the town the next morning to personally handle the tense situation. He asked President Cleveland to dispatch federal troops to calm the situation and, despite the political tensions, the president complied. The perception that Warren protected the Chinese miners met with wrath by white miners and his political enemies. Fortunately for Warren, Union Pacific officials were grateful for his response to the crisis and its president, Charles Francis Adams, Jr., among others, supported him remaining in office. Warren went on to serve as governor again when Wyoming gained statehood and then spent nearly 40 years in the U.S. Senate where he quietly became one of the most powerful men in America. He died in office in 1929. He stayed a close friend of the Union Pacific throughout.
Additional content for this collection can be found in the "Inventory for Collection."
Letter from Union Pacific Railway Company President Charles F. Adams, Jr. to U.S. Secretary of War William C. Endicott, September 3, 1885
In support for Warren's requests for troops, Adams asks for "prompt and decisive action" to deal with the situation at Rock Springs.
Letter from Union Pacific Railway Company 2nd Vice President and General Manager S.R. Callaway to Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren, September 8, 1885
Samuel R. Callaway expresses thanks on behalf of UP for Warren's handling of the "recent difficulties in Wyoming Territory."
Letter from Union Pacific Railway Company President Charles F. Adams, Jr. to Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren, September 14, 1885
Adams expresses thanks to Warren for his handling of the Rock Springs incident.
Letter from S.R. Callaway to to Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren, September 24, 1885
Callaway writes: "I am very much obliged to you for your favor of the 21st inst. The labor problem is now one of the most serious with which we have to deal. You have rendered us very material aid in helping us to solve it. I trust we may hereafter have less difficulty than we have been having. I enclose you the latest [illegible] this end of the route."
Copy of letter from the Union Pacific Railway Company Directors to U.S. President Grover Cleveland, October 14, 1885
The UP Government Directors indicate support for Warren's retention as Wyoming Territorial Governor despite petitions that have been circulating calling for his removal from office. Remainder of letter missing.
Letter from Jack Savage, a Union Pacific Railway Company Government Director, to Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren, October 14, 1885
Transcription: I don't suppose you care to retain your office, but I consider the present no time for your dismissal. I therefore telegraphed yesterday to the President asking that action be delayed until a letter from the Government Directors could reach him + have just sent the enclosed signed by me to be signed by Messrs Hanna + Alexander + transmitted to the President. From their conversation while here I have no doubt both will sign it. I hope this course will not be distasteful to you.
Letter from Union Pacific Railway Company President Charles F. Adams, Jr. to William C. Endicott, October 17, 1885
Adams writes to U.S. Secretary of War Endicott that if Warren is removed as Wyoming's Territorial Governor "it would mean complete immunity [for] anti-Chinese rioters and murderers, and encouragement to do [it] again."
Letter from Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren to the Commanding Officer, Camp Pilot Butte, Rock Springs, Wyoming, August 5, 1886
Transcription: I am in receipt of the following telegram from the Hon. Secretary of State: Honorable the Governor of Wyoming Territory, Cheyenne, Wyo. - Chinese Consul General, San Francisco, send Chong Pang Chung, interpreter of consulate, and Yew Che Chi, attache of Chinese Legation to Rock Springs to relieve Chinese sufferers there. Chinese minister solicits kind reception by territorial authorities and due protection in their mission [signed by U.S. Secretary of State T.F. Bayard]. Will you kindly inform me if the parties named in telegram have arrived in Rock Springs?
Cartoon titled "F.E. Warren, The Chinese Protector. "Pack the Jury, They Must Be Convicted." (Copyrighted by the Evanston Register.)
After the riot, Evanston residents handed Wyoming Territorial Governor Francis E. Warren a petition asking that the Chinese be paid off so they’d have enough money to leave. But the governor refused to do anything saying the matter was between the company and its workers and none of his business. There was a sizeable population of Chinese residents in Evanston and prejudice was high after the Rock Springs Massacre. This poster was published in the Evanston Register during Warren's gubernatorial campaign of 1890.