The word "settlers" evokes images of wagon trains from the East rolling over the Great Plains. But settlers also arrived from the other East--Far East. In 1870, Chinese made up ten percent of Montana's territorial population. And at the turn of the century, there were more than 2,000 Japanese living and working in the state. This film honors the settlers who came from the other East and made Montana their home. Using archival photographs, diaries, letters, and interviews with the few remaining descendants of these settlers, this film tells their stories.

From the Far East to the Old West: Chinese and Japanese Settlers in Montana

Murdo, Pat (producer) and Kathy Witowsky (writer, director)

The Mansfield Center for Pacific Affairs

1999

2003.500.3409