Abstract
Life was hard for Chinese laborers in the American West, and many smoked opium to forget their troubles. When this habit arrived in the Utah Territory in 1869, it alarmed and offended Victorian values and religiously-based moral sensibilities, and even worse, non-Chinese residents began adopting the habit. This article used traditional historical methods to identify and interpret newspaper articles published in Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah, about people smoking opium. The purpose of the study was to understand how editors and writers interpreted the growing habit and its affect on society, and hegemony theory, based on the writings of Antonio Gramsci, was used to interpret the findings. The article argues that newspapers discouraged opium use and pressured the government to suppress and control its sale in support of community values.
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