A Dark Day in the Colorado Coal Mines…
To day I am departing from Ireland – not literally of course, as I am not there in any case, but figuratively speaking only. This posting is about a period of shame in the Colorado Coal Mining area in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
May I suggest that before going any further you listen to Tennessee Ernie Ford singing about Coal Mining on the following link, which will set part of the scene:
Mining attracted a large many immigrants who were poorly educated and who had arrived in America with little or no money and even less skills. The large companies kept them in check by ensuring that different nationalities worked together in the mines, thus avoiding sedition and joint complaints. There was also the anomaly as seen by the miners whereby they were only paid for the actual coal produced and not the laying of rails, the clearing of rubbish and spoils but in particular the shoring up of the tunnels and other safety aspects. This was known as ‘dead work’ and regularly led to dangerous working conditions. Over 1,700 miners died in Colorado between 1884 and 1912.
The Unions saw the miners as being a particular target for organisation. The mine owners, some very important and wealthy individuals included, were of course against such unionisation. Union attempts had begun around 1880 with a strike in 1883.
Another serious complaint by the miners was that the scales for weighing their coal mined was never correct thereby resulting in less pay. Oddly enough, the same scales were not used for coal customers. Any miner who challenged the weights was either sacked or demoted.
The biggest complaint of all was that most miners were obliged to live in ‘company towns’ where homes, schools, doctors, clergy and law enforcement were provided by the company. The owners used a strong hand to ensure that there were no meetings or any other potential union activity. When the price of coal was low, the prices at the company store increased and conditions worsened. The companies had their own currency called ‘scrip’ with which the miners paid for food and other goods at the store.
Colorado’s lawmakers passed laws to improve conditions for the miners and outlawed the use of the ‘scrip’. However, such laws were poorly enforced.
Away from the company towns secret meeting were being held by the United Mine Workers of America (UMWA) and miners from several coalmines. In 1913 after much preparation a list of seven demands were put to the companies
.
They could nowadays be classed mostly as ‘basic human rights’. The demands were:
1. Recognition of the union as bargaining agent.
2. An increase in tonnage rates – equal to a 10% wage increase.
3. Enforcement of the eight-hour work day law.
4. Payment for ‘dead work’ – laying rails, handling impurities, safety etc.
5. Weight-checkmen elected by the workers to ensure company honestly.
6. The right to use any store, boarding houses and doctors.
7. Enforcement of Colorado’s laws – mine safety rules, abolition of scrip and an end to the hated company guard system.
The major mining companies immediately rejected the demands and in September 1913, the UMWA called a strike. Those miners who joined in were immediately evicted from their company homes. Those evicted moved to some land purchased in anticipation by the Union where tent villages had been erected. Generally they were situated close to the roads leading to the coal camps where the strikers began to harass any replacement workers known as ‘scabs’. Confrontations regularly occurred and often got out of control resulting in deaths and serious injury.
The companies hired Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to help break the strike and protect the replacement workers.
The Baldwin-Felts men were known as aggressive strikebreakers. They would shine searchlights on the tent villages at night and randomly fire into the tents often maiming and killing people. They had an improvised armoured car with a machine gun mounted on top which became known by the strikers as the ‘Death Special’. This regularly patrolled the camp’s perimeters. Because of this, the strikers dug protective pits inside and under the tents where they and their families could have some shelter from the shootings.
On 10th March 1914 when the body of a replacement worker was found on the rail tracks near Forbes he believed that the strikers had murdered him. Chase ordered that the tent village at Forbes be destroyed in retaliation. Fortunately, all the Forbes inhabitants were attending a funeral for infants who had died a few days earlier.
Later, but still in the spring of 1914, the state ran out of money to finance the guard and they were withdrawn. The coal companies were allowed to finance a militia who were company guards but allowed to wear National Guard uniforms.
On the morning of 20th April, three such guards appeared at the Ludlow tent village. They demanded the release of a man whom they claimed was being held there against his will. While the camp leader was having a meeting with the militia leader half-a-mile away, other guards set up a machine gun above the village. When the leader saw this happen, he ran back to the village, armed some of his men and tried to outflank the machine gun post. A gunfight ensued.
The ‘war’ raged all day with more company guards (not in uniform) arriving to help the militia. A passing freight train stopped in front of the machine gun placement, which allowed many women and children from the camp to escape to the hills. By 7pm the tent village was torched and well ablaze. The militia then entered the camp and began looting the burnt-out tents. Some of the strikers were captured by the militia and were later found shot dead. Their bodies were left by the side of the rail tracks for several days in full view of passing train passengers. They were not removed until complaints were received from the local rail union.
During the days fighting, two women and eleven children who had been hiding in a pit inside one of the tents were burned/suffocated to death when their tent was set alight. Two other women with them survived. Three company guards and one militiaman were also killed that day.
This episode in Colorado mining history became known as the ‘Ludlow Massacre’ and was part of what is known as the ‘Colorado Coalfield War’, the most violent labour conflict in US history.
Ironically, the UMWA ran out of money and the strike was called off on 10th December 1914. However, as a result of their actions many laws were passed and enforced that saved thousands of miners lives over the coming years. Conditions improved and safety became a priority. In 1916, the mining Union purchased the site of the Ludlow tent village and erected the Ludlow Monument in memory of those who died during the strike.
--------Mike------------
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