Anti-Chinese movements flared up in the west In 1880s, because of the economic depression in the United States. Anti-Chinese riots occurred in Tacoma and Seattle.
In November 1885, a mob in Tacoma made a surprise attacked on Chinatown. They forced 700 Chinese immigrants to deport to Portland and burned Tacoma’s Chinatown. In February of 1886, the Chinese immigrants were attacked by a group of whites in Seattle. More than 350 Chinese people were deported to San Francisco.

Many Chinese immigrants from Seattle and Tacoma filtered into Olympia after the riots in their home cities. The residents of Olympia felt uneasy, and they put pressure on the city to prohibit further employment of Chinese in road construction. The depression also made the jobs they were legally allowed to have enviable, because white labors felt it was unfair that they didn’t have the first opportunities to get jobs over Chinese immigrants.