Company
109-502: Louis Tikas (Organizer, UMWA) † James Fyler (Financial Secretary, UMWA) John R. Lawson Karl Linderfelt Patrick J. Hamrock Gen. John Chase John D. Rockefeller Jr. Company Government National Guard Events Locations Commemorations The Ludlow Massacre was a mass killing perpetrated by anti-striker militia during the Colorado Coalfield War . Soldiers from
218-482: A Republican, won the gubernatorial election of 1914, on December 10, 1914 the union called off the strike due to a depletion of strike funds. Costs to both mine operators and the union were high. Due to reduced demand for coal resulting from an economic downturn many of CF&I's coal mines never reopened and many men were thrown out of work. The union was forced to discontinue strike benefits in February, 1915. There
327-427: A YMCA Center, elementary school, and some small businesses, as well as a company store . However air pollution was a constant health threat and the houses lacked indoor plumbing. As demand for metallurgical coke declined, the mine laid off workers and Segundo's population declined. After a major fire in 1929, CF&I left and Segundo became practically a ghost town. The CF&I held pervasive spying on workers in
436-542: A cellar. Five strikers, two other youngsters, and at least four men associated with the militia also died. Though the Ludlow battle ended on the night of 20 April, 1914, sporadic violence continued for days after. Battles that took place at various coal camps claimed many more lives. In late April, federal troops moved into southern Colorado, almost immediately restoring peace. The strike, however, continued through early December, finally coming to an end without resolution. Despite
545-587: A controlling stake in the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company in 1902, and nine years later he turned over his controlling interest in the company to his son, John D. Rockefeller Jr. , who managed the company from his offices at 26 Broadway in New York . Mining was dangerous and difficult work. Colliers in Colorado were constantly threatened by explosions, suffocation, and collapsing mine walls. In 1912,
654-436: A housekeeper, then married a consultant whose work allowed them to travel the world. Daley died on March 14, 2019, at age 105. Several popular songs have been written and recorded about the events at Ludlow. American folk singer Woody Guthrie 's is " Ludlow Massacre ", Red Dirt country singer Jason Boland 's "Ludlow", and Irish musician Andy Irvine 's is "The Monument (Lest We Forget)". Upton Sinclair 's novel King Coal
763-466: A machine gun on a ridge near the camp and took positions along a rail route about half a mile south of Ludlow. Simultaneously, armed Greek miners began flanking to an arroyo. When two of the militias' dynamite explosions – detonated to draw support from the National Guard units at Berwind and Cedar Hill – alerted the Ludlow tent colony, the miners took up positions at the bottom of the hill. When
872-466: A machine gun. The spray from the gun drove armed strikers back toward the tents, and provided excellent coverage for guardsmen advancing toward the tents. Meanwhile, Company A reinforcements, along with Lt. Karl Linderfelt , arrived with another machine gun to offer support to Company B. The colonists now faced two automatic weapons and about 150 guardsmen. Machine gun and rifle fire forced women and children colonists to take refuge in storage cellars beneath
981-716: A month. Bomb plots continued throughout the rest of the year. Although the UMWA failed to win recognition from the company, the strike had a lasting effect both on conditions at the Colorado mines and on labor relations nationally. John D. Rockefeller Jr. engaged W. L. Mackenzie King , a labor relations expert and future Canadian Prime Minister, to help him develop reforms for the mines and towns. Improvements included paved roads and recreational facilities, as well as worker representation on committees dealing with working conditions , safety, health, and recreation. He prohibited discrimination against workers who had belonged to unions and ordered
1090-644: A need for substantially more funds which were provided in exchange for acquisition of CF&I's subsidiaries such as the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company, the Crystal River Railroad Company, and possibly the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Control was passed from the Iowa Group to Gould and Rockefeller interests in 1903 with Gould in control and Rockefeller and Gates representing a minority interests. Osgood left
1199-543: A perennial shortage of railway cars to ship coal. There was a series of disastrous explosions from 1904 to 1910 at the coal mines near Trinidad which resulted in substantial casualties. Attempts to prevent such disasters resulted in substantial improvements in mine safety techniques by the company and by the coal mining industry generally such as increased mine ventilation , sprinkler systems to keep coal dust wet, and liberal spreading of rockdust to dilute explosive coal dust. Concern over mine safety resulted in creation of
SECTION 10
#17327871392461308-579: A pit beneath one tent, where they were trapped when the tent above them was set on fire. Two of the women and all the children suffocated. These deaths became a rallying cry for the United Mine Workers of America, who called the incident the Ludlow Massacre. Julia May Courtney reported different numbers in her contemporaneous article "Remember Ludlow!" for the magazine Mother Earth . She said that, in addition to men who were killed,
1417-463: A railway stop north of Trinidad. Under the protection of the National Guard, some miners returned to work and some strikebreakers imported from the eastern coalfields joined them as Guard troops protected their movements. In February, 1914 a substantial portion of the troops were withdrawn, but a sizable contingent remained at Ludlow. On April 20, 1914 a general fire-fight occurred between strikers and troops. The camp burned, and 15 women and children in
1526-486: A reputation for aggressive strike breaking . Agents shone searchlights on the tent villages at night and fired bullets into the tents at random, occasionally killing and maiming people. They used an improvised armored car , mounted with a machine gun the union called the " Death Special ", to patrol the camp's perimeters. The steel-covered car was built at the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company plant in Pueblo, Colorado , from
1635-479: A rifle butt over his head. Tikas and the other two captured miners were later found shot dead. Tikas had been shot in the back. Their bodies lay along the Colorado and Southern Railway tracks for three days in full view of passing trains. The militia officers refused to allow them to be moved until a local of a railway union demanded they be taken away for burial. During the battle, four women and 11 children hid in
1744-439: A total of 55 women and children had died in the massacre. According to her account, the militia: Some reports say a second machine gun was brought in to support the estimated 200 Guardsmen who participated in the engagement, and that a Colorado and Southern train's operators purposely put their engine between a machine gun and the strikers as a shield against National Guard fire. A board of Colorado military officers described
1853-924: A wire mill, and supporting facilities. The mill was renamed the Minnequa Works in 1901. Early sources of iron ore were hematite from the Calumet Mine north of Salida, Colorado , limonite from the Orient Mine on the west slope of the Sangre de Cristo Range east of Villa Grove and iron and magnesium rich ore which was a byproduct of silver mining at Leadville . Additional iron ore was obtained from New Mexico and Wyoming and reserves purchased in Utah. Company towns were built at isolated facilities such as Orient and Calumet. Deeper ores from Calumet contained greater quantities of silicon, which interfered with
1962-476: Is loosely based on the origin and aftermath of the Ludlow Massacre. Thomas Pynchon 's 2006 novel Against the Day contains a chapter on the massacre. American writer and Colorado Poet Laureate David Mason wrote what he calls a verse-novel, Ludlow (2007), inspired by the labor dispute. Composer Lori Laitman 's opera Ludlow is based on Mason's book. The University of Colorado's New Opera Works presented Act I of
2071-410: Is now a ghost town . The massacre site is owned by the United Mine Workers of America, which erected a granite monument in memory of those who died that day. The Ludlow tent colony site was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 16, 2009, and dedicated on June 28, 2009. Subsequent investigations immediately following the massacre and modern archeological efforts largely support some of
2180-673: Is undoubtedly something wrong in reference to the management of its coal mines. Miners were generally paid according to tonnage of coal produced, but so-called "dead work", such as shoring up unstable roofs, was often unpaid. The tonnage system drove many poor and ambitious colliers to gamble with their lives by neglecting precautions and taking on risk, often with fatal consequences. Between 1884 and 1912, mining accidents killed more than 1,700 in Colorado. In 1913 alone, 110 men died in mine-related accidents. Colliers had little opportunity to air their grievances. Many resided in company towns , in which all land, real estate, and amenities were owned by
2289-561: The Colorado National Guard and private guards employed by Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) attacked a tent colony of roughly 1,200 striking coal miners and their families in Ludlow, Colorado , on April 20, 1914. Approximately 21 people were killed, including miners' wives and children. John D. Rockefeller Jr. was a part-owner of CF&I who had recently appeared before a United States congressional hearing on
SECTION 20
#17327871392462398-704: The Panic of 1907 his need for funds resulted in transfer of his interests to Rockefeller. Gates preferred Lamont M. Bowers, his aunt's husband, with extensive management experience. Welborn was advised to take guidance from Bowers, who was hired as Welborn's subordinate. Welborn had little choice but to defer to Bowers which resulted in Welborn, the president of the company, being only a figurehead and sometimes resulted in him having to make decisions he would not have made on his own motion. Effectively in charge from 1908 to early 1915, Bowers applied his managerial skills to making
2507-576: The Rockefeller Foundation and head of its Department of Industrial Research, introduced the Colorado Industrial Plan, an internal system of worker representation which included guarantees of basic decency in working conditions and in company towns. Segundo, Colorado , was an example of a company town where CF&I offered adequate housing for its workers and promoted upward mobility through its sponsorship of
2616-781: The United States Army were deployed to the coalfields. There was a substantial increase in coal production in succeeding months. Attempts at negotiating a settlement in November, 1913 had been unsuccessful due to the coal operators refusal to talk to union representatives or to consider recognition of the union. After the violence in the Spring of 1914, United States Secretary of Labor William Bauchop Wilson attempted mediation . Further efforts by state and federal officials and experienced third parties who were brought in were also unsuccessful. Finally after George Alfred Carlson ,
2725-566: The United States Bureau of Mines in 1907 and enactment of improved mine safety regulations in Colorado. CF&I's early labor relations were set in the context of the volatile and violent Colorado Labor Wars . Over the course of its history, the company has had numerous major labor disputes. CF&I was accused of brutality against the UMWA in a strike called by that organization in 1903-04. The best known strike culminated in
2834-405: The basic oxygen furnace (BOF) process for a number of years. This process was later replaced by electric arc furnaces (EAF). Currently, one EAF is used at the facility to convert over a million tons of scrap per year into steel billets of various sizes. The billets are then distributed to the three steel finishing facilities (rail mill, rod & bar mill, seamless tube mill) for processing into
2943-641: The gold and silver camps during the 1890s. Beginning in 1900, the United Mine Workers of America began organizing coal miners in the western states, including southern Colorado. The union decided to focus on the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company because of its harsh management tactics under the conservative and distant Rockefellers and other investors. To break or prevent strikes, the coal companies hired strike breakers , mainly from Mexico and southern and eastern Europe. The Colorado Fuel & Iron Company mixed immigrants of different nationalities in
3052-462: The "truly heroic behavior" of Linderfelt, the guardsmen, and the militia during the battle and blamed the strikers for any civilian casualties during the engagement, despite those killed being family members of the strikers. The report also blamed the looting that occurred afterward on "Troop 'A'", a unit composed largely of non-uniformed mine guards who had been integrated into the Guard. In addition to
3161-604: The 20th century." Historian Howard Zinn wrote his master's thesis and several book chapters on Ludlow. George McGovern wrote his doctoral dissertation on the subject. In 1972, the same year as his U.S. presidential campaign , he published this dissertation with the help of historian Leonard Guttridge under the title The Great Coalfield War . A United States Commission on Industrial Relations (CIR), headed by labor lawyer Frank Walsh , conducted hearings in Washington, DC, collecting information and taking testimony from all
3270-583: The 86, Jim Fair, and Union mines near Fierro and Hanover in Grant County, New Mexico . Substantial reserves were purchased near Cedar City in Iron County, Utah but remained unmined. Limestone was initially obtained from a quarry a few miles south of Pueblo at Lime near the St. Charles River and later from a high-grade low-phosphorus deposit of limestone and dolomite near Howard . In 1903 CF&I
3379-509: The Black Hills. By 7 p.m., the camp was in flames, and the militia descended on it and began to search and loot it. Tikas had remained in the camp the entire day and was still there when the fire started. He and two other men were captured by the militia. Tikas and Lt. Karl Linderfelt , commander of one of two Guard companies, had confronted each other several times in the previous months. While two militiamen held Tikas, Linderfelt broke
Ludlow Massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
3488-445: The Black Hills. Meanwhile, a deserted tent burst into flames and, within a short time, more tents began to burn. At the same time, the militiamen overran and took command of the colony site. By early morning, 21 April, 1914, the colony site––previously covered by hundreds of tents––revealed nothing more than charred rubble remains of the tents. The bodies of two women and eleven children––victims of asphyxiation––were found huddled within
3597-499: The Colorado National Guard on October 28. At first, the Guard's appearance calmed the situation, but the Guard leaders' sympathies lay with company management. Guard Adjutant-General John Chase , who had served during the violent Cripple Creek strike 10 years earlier, imposed a harsh regime. On March 10, 1914, a replacement worker's body was found on the railroad tracks near Forbes, Colorado. The National Guard said
3706-416: The Iowa Group in control. Often idle during the decades of the 1880s and 1890s due to stiff competition and the effects of the panic of 1893 , the steel mill at Pueblo was small and obsolete. Due to economic conditions it was not possible to modernize it until 1899 when substantial improvements were made. including a rolling mill, additional blast furnaces, a modern Bessemer converter, open hearth furnaces,
3815-488: The Ludlow Massacre, Ermenia "Marie" Padilla Daley, was 3 months old during the event. Her father was a miner and she was born in the camp. Her mother took her and her siblings away as violence escalated; they traveled by train to Trinidad, Colorado. The evacuation resulted in the family having to split up afterward. Daley was cared for by various families and also placed for a time in orphanages in Pueblo and Denver. She worked as
3924-517: The National Guard had largely broken the strike by helping the mine operators bring in non-union workers. The state had also run out of money to maintain the Guard, and Ammons decided to recall them. He and the mining companies, fearing a breakdown in order, left one company of Guardsmen in southern Colorado. They formed a new company called "Troop A", which consisted largely of Colorado Fuel & Iron Company mine camp guards and mine guards hired by Baldwin–Felts, who were given National Guard uniforms. On
4033-503: The Rockefellers and the coal industry. The United States Commission on Industrial Relations conducted extensive hearings singling out John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the Rockefellers' relationship with Bowers for special attention. Bower was relieved of duty and Welborn restored to control in 1915 and industrial relations improved. In October, 1915 John D. Rockefeller Jr. with the assistance of William Lyon Mackenzie King , director of
4142-813: The Rockefellers, especially in New York, where protesters demonstrated outside of the Rockefeller building in New York City. Protesters led by Ferrer Center anarchists Alexander Berkman and Carlo Tresca followed when Rockefeller Jr. fled 30 miles (48 km) upstate to the family estate near Tarrytown . In early July, a failed bomb plot on the Tarrytown estate ended with a dynamite explosion in East Harlem and three dead anarchists. The New York City Police Department inaugurated its bomb squad within
4251-490: The Sociological Department. Their main focus was to better the lives of the workers and their families and to shape their political and economic views. The Sociological Department began educating the miners through night school to teach them English. The Sociological Department began to set standards for education by regulating the curriculum and getting miners' children involved. Richard Corwin came up with
4360-525: The Sunrise Mine, much of the workforce was inexperienced and not fluent in English. This complicated communication of mine and industrial safety information. Due to their lack of sophistication it was possible to influence how the workers voted. Fraudulent voting of this nature was employed extensively by company operatives to accomplish various personal and company goals. Lamont M. Bowers, effectively
4469-480: The Ten Day War, part of the wider Colorado Coalfield War . As news of the deaths of women and children spread, the leaders of organized labor issued a call to arms. They urged union members to get "all the arms and ammunition legally available". Subsequently, the coal miners began a large-scale guerrilla war against the mine guards and facilities throughout Colorado's southern coalfields. In the town of Trinidad ,
Ludlow Massacre - Misplaced Pages Continue
4578-446: The United Mine Workers of America openly and officially distributed arms and ammunition to strikers at union headquarters. Over the next ten days, 700 to 1,000 strikers "attacked mine after mine, driving off or killing the guards and setting fire to the buildings." At least 50 people, including those at Ludlow, were killed during the ten days of fighting between the guards and miners. Hundreds of state militia reinforcements were rushed to
4687-589: The beginning of the Great Depression due to falling demand. Production, which began in 1899 at the Sunrise Mine in Wyoming, was initially by open-pit mining at a cost of 15 cents a ton. By 1900, daily production was 2,000 tons. Purchase of the property was completed in 1904. Shortages of ore continued to plague operations at the refurbished Minnequa Works in Pueblo and some ore was obtained from
4796-493: The camp and would not permit any miner to leave." Miners who came into conflict with the company were often summarily evicted from their homes. Frustrated by working conditions they found unsafe and unjust, colliers increasingly turned to unions . Nationwide, organized mines boasted 40% fewer fatalities than nonunion mines. Colorado miners repeatedly attempted to unionize after the state's first strike in 1883. The Western Federation of Miners organized primarily hard-rock miners in
4905-413: The camp were burned to death. In the aftermath of the battle, bands of miners attacked coal company facilities in the area. Lieutenant Governor of Colorado Stephen R. Fitzgarrald again ordered National Guard troops into the coal fields, but guerrilla warfare by the striking miners continued, and the government troops were beaten back. The governor requested assistance from Woodrow Wilson and units of
5014-502: The chassis of a large touring sedan . Confrontations between striking miners and working miners, whom the union called scabs, sometimes resulted in deaths. Frequent sniper attacks on the tent colonies drove the miners to dig pits beneath the tents to hide in. Armed battles also occurred between (mostly Greek) strikers and sheriffs recently deputized to suppress the strike: this was the Colorado Coalfield War . As strike-related violence mounted, Colorado governor Elias M. Ammons called in
5123-414: The chief executive officer of CF&I, in addition to his paternalistic concern regarding vices such as drinking, gambling, and prostitution which might affect the health of CF&I workers, and also company profits, and his efforts to clean up the mining towns and support enactment of prohibition in Colorado, was strongly anti-union and refused to recognize or negotiate with the United Mine Workers during
5232-412: The coalfields to regain control of the situation. The fighting ended only after President Woodrow Wilson sent in federal troops. The troops disarmed both sides, displacing and often arresting the militia in the process. The Colorado Coalfield War produced a total death toll of approximately 75. The United Mine Workers of America finally ran out of money, and called off the strike on December 10, 1914. In
5341-468: The company in 1904 and devoted his efforts to operating competing coal and coke operations. An experienced manager, Frank J. Hearne, retired president of National Tube Company, one of the predecessors of U.S. Steel was brought in September, 1903 to manage the enterprise. In 1904 the assets of the firm and its subsidiaries were consolidated as Colorado Industrial Company whose stock was wholly owned by
5450-413: The company profitable, reducing employment rolls, closing marginal operations, and reducing improvements and the companies sociological and medical programs. His efforts were successful; profits increased and dividends were paid. The steel mill operated at full capacity and was slightly expanded. Greater profits proved elusive, however, due to eastern competition and limited transportation facilities such as
5559-469: The contractor. The monument was damaged in May 2003 by unknown vandals. The repaired monument was unveiled on June 5, 2005, with slightly altered faces on the statues. Louis Tikas Government National Guard Events Locations Commemorations Louis Tikas ( Greek : Λούης Τίκας ), born Elias Anastasios Spantidakis (Greek: Ηλίας Αναστάσιος Σπαντιδάκης ; 13 March, 1886 – 20 April, 1914),
SECTION 50
#17327871392465668-647: The country, including E. G. Brooke in Birdsboro, Pennsylvania . The first, and only until World War II, integrated iron and steel mill west of St. Louis was built in 1881 in Pueblo on the south side of the Arkansas River by the Colorado Coal and Iron Company (CC&L), an affiliate of the narrow-gauge Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company (D&RG), controlled by General William Jackson Palmer and Dr. William Abraham Bell . Its purpose in part
5777-411: The day of the massacre in response to allegations of a man being held against his will in the camp. The militia placed machine guns on the hills and Tikas, anticipating trouble, ran back to camp. But fighting broke out lasting all day. By 7:00 pm, the camp was aflame. Tikas remained in the camp the entire day and was there when the fire started. Lieutenant Karl Linderfelt , a rival of Tikas' during much of
5886-482: The death rate in Colorado's mines was 7.06 per 1,000 employees, compared to a national rate of 3.15. In 1914, the United States House Committee on Mines and Mining reported: Colorado has good mining laws and such that ought to afford protection to the miners as to safety in the mine if they were enforced, yet in this State the percentage of fatalities is larger than any other, showing there
5995-399: The direction of Dr. Richard W. Corwin chief surgeon of CF&I. The facility operated a number of blast furnaces until 1982. The main blast furnace structures were torn down in 1989, but due to asbestos content many of the adjacent stoves and support buildings still remain. The stoves and foundations for some of the furnaces can be easily seen from Interstate 25 , which runs parallel to
6104-902: The early 1890s, demand for fuel fell, and the company faced stiff competition from the Colorado Fuel Company , which was closely associated with and provided coal to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad (CB&Q). John C. Osgood , who with other investors from Iowa and Colorado, the Iowa Group, had founded Colorado Fuel Company in 1883, which acquired substantial coal reserves in Las Animas and Garfield Counties by purchasing existing facilities. Other properties were acquired in Garfield, Huerfano, Las Animas, and Pitkin counties. On Osgood's initiative these two companies merged in 1892 to form Colorado Fuel and Iron with members of
6213-548: The end, the strikers' demands were not met, the union did not obtain recognition, and many striking workers were replaced. 408 strikers were arrested, 332 of whom were indicted for murder. Of those present at Ludlow during the massacre, only John R. Lawson , leader of the strike, was convicted of murder, and the Colorado Supreme Court eventually overturned the conviction. Twenty-two National Guardsmen, including 10 officers, were court-martialed . While Linderfelt
6322-467: The establishment of a company union . The miners voted to accept the Rockefeller plan. Rockefeller Jr. also brought in pioneer public relations expert Ivy Lee , who warned that the Rockefellers were losing public support and developed a strategy that Rockefeller followed to repair it. Rockefeller had to overcome his shyness, go to Colorado to meet the miners and their families, inspect the homes and
6431-557: The events as beginning with the killing of Tikas and other strikers in custody, with gunfire largely emanating from the southwestern corner of the Ludlow Colony. Guardsmen stationed on "Water Tank Hill"—the name for the machine gun position—fired into the camp. The Guardsmen reported having seen women and children withdrawing the morning before the battle and said they thought the strikers would not have begun firing if they had women still with them. The board's official report commended
6540-545: The extensive and coal rich lands of the Colorado portion of the Maxwell Land Grant near Trinidad in Las Animas County were purchased through its subsidiary, the Rocky Mountain Coal and Iron Company. Following this purchase mines and coking plants and railway connections were constructed by the Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company in 1901 and 1902 west of Trinidad, and facilities built for workers under
6649-420: The factories, attend social events, and listen closely to the grievances. This was novel advice, and attracted widespread media attention. The Rockefellers were able both to resolve the conflict, and present a more humanized version of their leaders. Over time, Ludlow has assumed "a striking centrality in the interpretation of the nation's history developed by several of the most important left-leaning thinkers of
SECTION 60
#17327871392466758-406: The heavy loss of lives and property, the strikers' efforts and losses weren't entirely in vain. The effects of the strike and the violence encouraged state and federal lawmakers to pass legislation that, in the long run, would help hasten improvements in conditions for working miners. The Ludlow Monument , erected by the United Mine Workers of America a couple years after the massacre, stands near
6867-638: The idea that Kindergarten would be the best way to help the immigrant children become better citizens. Through the Kindergarten program, children were taught English and the importance of industrial labor in hopes of making them good future employees. Also part of the multi-pronged efforts to promote support for the Company in the latter-half of 1914, several schools were constructed, including one in Primero . In 1900, anticipating high demand for coal,
6976-700: The infamous Ludlow Massacre at the Ludlow Depot, a stop on the Colorado and Southern Railroad which was near several coal mines, in 1914. Evidence from CF&I's archives reveals that the company infiltrated, propagandized against, and attempted to disrupt the Industrial Workers of the World . The labor force of CF&I was made up in large part of immigrants, many from eastern and southern Europe. Although experienced miners from Cornwall were encouraged to immigrate and were taken on particularly at
7085-456: The iron making process. Calumet was closed in 1899 and production shifted to the Sunrise Mine near Hartville, Wyoming about 100 miles north of Cheyenne which the company had leased in 1898. The Colorado and Wyoming Railway Company was organized as subsidiary to transport the ore. Orient was abandoned in 1905 but some ore continued to be mined and sold to the company by contractors until 1922 when it reopened, only to be permanently closed at
7194-523: The majority of CF&I's coal and coke production was located, and was fought by the coal mine operators association and its steering committee which included Welborn, president of CF&I, who was spokesman for the coal operators. Bowers, Rockefeller's man, remained in the background. Few of the miners actually belonged to the union or participated in the strike call, but the majority honored it. Scabs were threatened and sometimes attacked. Both sides purchased substantial arms and ammunition. Most dangerous on
7303-452: The militia opened fire, hundreds of miners and their families ran for cover. The fighting raged for the entire day. The militia was reinforced by non-uniformed mine guards later in the afternoon. At dusk a passing freight train stopped on the tracks in front of the Guards' machine-gun placements, allowing many of the miners and their families to escape to an outcrop of hills to the east called
7412-587: The mill had relied on the scant and variable flow of the St. Charles River, storing water in Lake Minnequa. Gates, Rockefeller's financial advisor, had little confidence in Jesse Floyd Welborn who had been elected by Gould and his allies to succeed Hearne as manager in 1907. Welborn had risen within the company from a clerk, knew the operation well, and had the confidence of the company's staff. When Gould suffered severe financial losses due to
7521-721: The mill in 1881-82 was 80 short tons (73 t) per year from the first blast furnace, while a second furnace was being built, and the mill employed 300-400. The first steel rails were produced in April 1882 for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad 's Silverton Branch . The market for steel was slow due to intense competition from eastern mills, and the mill was often idle. The company turned to production of coke and coal opening additional mines near Trinidad and others near Canon City , Walsenburg , and Crested Butte . Coke ovens were built at El Moro north of Trinidad and at Crested Butte. In
7630-435: The mine operator, and which were expressly designed to inculcate loyalty and squelch dissent. Welfare capitalists believed that anger and unrest among the workers could be placated by raising colliers' standard of living, while subsuming it under company management. Company towns indeed brought tangible improvements to many colliers' lives, including larger houses, better medical care, and broader access to education. But owning
7739-406: The miners and their family members, three regular members of the National Guard and one other militiaman were reported killed in the day's fighting by contemporary accounts. However, modern historians assert that only one of the militia's number, a private named Martin of the National Guard, was killed. Martin was fatally shot in the neck, presumably by strikers. In the aftermath of the massacre came
7848-506: The miners, was fought vigorously with strikebreakers and reduced steel production. The company was able to maintain coal inventory for sale to the company's customers, thus preventing state interference due to a shortage of coal. Following the strike substantial investments were made to the mill including purchase of water rights in the Arkansas River and a reservoir at the site of Sugar Loaf Dam west of Leadville . Previously
7957-510: The mines to discourage communication that might lead to organization. Suffering attempts to suppress union activity, the United Mine Workers of America secretly continued its unionization efforts in the years leading up to 1913. Eventually, the union presented a list of seven demands: The major coal companies rejected the demands. In September 1913, the United Mine Workers of America called a strike. Those who went on strike were evicted from their company homes and moved to tent villages prepared by
8066-430: The morning of April 20, the day after some in the tent colony celebrated Orthodox Easter, three Guardsmen appeared at the camp ordering the release of a man they claimed was being held against his will. The camp leader, Louis Tikas , left to meet with Major Patrick J. Hamrock at the train station in Ludlow village, 1 ⁄ 2 mile (800 m) from the colony. While this meeting was progressing, two militias installed
8175-557: The most violent struggle between corporate power and laboring men in American history". Congress responded to public outrage by directing the House Committee on Mines and Mining to investigate the events. Its report, published in 1915, was influential in promoting child labor laws and an eight-hour work day. The Ludlow townsite and the adjacent location of the tent colony, 18 miles (29 km) northwest of Trinidad, Colorado ,
8284-435: The new employer and the union. However, in September 2004, local unions 2102 and 3267 won both the strike and the unfair labor practice charges. All of the striking steel workers were returned to their jobs, and the company was forced to repay a record amount of back pay to all of the striking steel workers for the seven years of the strike. In addition to the blast furnace/open hearth steelmaking process, CF&I also used
8393-658: The opera in June 2012, directed by Beth Greenberg. In 1916, the United Mine Workers of America bought the site of the Ludlow tent colony. Two years later, they erected the Ludlow Monument to commemorate those who died during the strike. It was fabricated by the Jones Brothers Company of Barre, Vermont using local granite and was commissioned by Sam Falsetto, president of the United Mine Workers of Trinidad, Colorado. The Springfield Granite Company served as
8502-416: The original name for the steel producer: Colorado Coal and Steel Works —with excavation of the foundation for the first blast furnace in February 1880, on a prairie south of what would later become South Pueblo . A neighborhood of makeshift homes arose near the works, initially called Taylorville, then Steelworks, then, as more permanent dwellings were constructed, Bessemer in 1881. Initial capacity of
8611-487: The period leading up to the major strike of 1913-14. The effects of that prolonged and violent strike ended his career with the firm. Company Government National Guard Events Locations Commemorations The strike, called in September, 1913, by the United Mine Workers over the issue of union representation , was against coal mine operators in Huerfano and Las Animas counties in southern Colorado where
8720-522: The plant's west boundary. In 1902, facing cash flow problems, Osgood turned to George Jay Gould a principal stockholder of the Denver and Rio Grande for a loan. Gould, via Frederick Taylor Gates , Rockefeller's financial adviser, brought John D. Rockefeller , creator of the Standard Oil monopoly, in to help finance the loan. Analysis of the company's operations by John D. Rockefeller Jr. showed
8829-644: The precious metals smelting industry fell off as first silver production was impacted by the panic of 1893 and then gold production fell off in the first decade of the 20th century and used refining techniques which did not require large quantities of coke. The large copper smelting companies operating in the area, Phelps Dodge and The American Smelting and Refining Company , invested in their own coal mines and coking plants in Colfax County, New Mexico and Cokedale, Colorado . In 1901, in an effort to deal with its mostly immigrant workforce, CF&I formed
8938-428: The principals, including Rockefeller Sr., who testified that, even after knowing that guards in his pay had committed atrocities against the strikers, he "would have taken no action" to prevent his hirelings from attacking them. The commission's report endorsed many of the reforms the unions sought, and provided support for bills establishing a national eight-hour workday and a ban on child labor . The last survivor of
9047-564: The projects of the Central Colorado Improvement Company , founded by General William J. Palmer in 1872, with plans "to purchase lands, minerals springs, coal and iron and other mines and quarries in Colorado Territory, and the establishment and building up of colonies, towns, coal mining, iron making and manufacturing works, and to build canals and wagon roads." The work on the mill began—under
9156-486: The rest of Oregon Steel's holdings, were acquired by EVRAZ Group , a Russian steel corporation, for $ 2.3 billion. Through the process of vertical integration , the company came to own more than just the main steel plant. Over the course of a century, CF&I operated coal mines throughout southern Colorado, as well as iron mines in Wyoming and Utah , limestone quarries, smaller mines for other materials going into
9265-479: The shareholders of CF&I, mainly Gould and Rockefeller. This put all properties of the firm under a single management. Gross sales were substantially increased but increasing profit proved elusive due to competition from eastern produces. Income in 1907 was $ 1.07 million on sales of $ 23.8 million in 1907. In November, 1903 the United Mine Workers struck the coal mines near Walsenburg and Trinidad. The strike, which lasted 11 months, produced no gains and demoralized
9374-423: The site to commemorate the dead strikers and their families. Colorado Fuel and Iron The Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I) was a large steel conglomerate founded by the merger of previous business interests in 1892. By 1903 it was mainly owned and controlled by John D. Rockefeller and Jay Gould 's financial heirs. While it came to control many plants throughout the country, its main plant
9483-448: The steel making process, and the Colorado and Wyoming Railway . In Redstone, Colorado , hundreds of coking ovens converted coal into coke . The Mcnally, Cameron, Robinson and Walsen Mines located in the area of Walsenburg, Colorado , were just a few of the mines owned by the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company. The Colorado Supply company store was also owned and operated by CF&I. They also came to control many furnaces throughout
9592-519: The strike's beginning in September 1913 to intervention by federal soldiers under President Woodrow Wilson 's orders on April 29, 1914, an estimated 69 to 199 people were killed during the strike. Historian Thomas G. Andrews declared it the "deadliest strike in the history of the United States." The Ludlow Massacre was a watershed moment in American labor relations. Socialist historian Howard Zinn described it as "the culminating act of perhaps
9701-553: The strike, broke the butt of his gun over Tikas' head. Tikas was later found shot to death, one bullet through his back, another in his hip, a third glancing off his hip and traveling vertically through his body; it was determined that he bled to death. The film "Palikari" honours his death. A statue of Louis Tikas was dedicated at the Miner's Memorial on Mani Street in Trinidad, Colorado on June 23, 2018. On 20 April, 1914, while Tikas
9810-490: The strikers had murdered the man. In retaliation, Chase ordered the Forbes tent colony destroyed. The attack was launched while the residents were attending a funeral of two infants who had died a few days earlier. Photographer Lou Dold witnessed the attack, and his images of the destruction often appear in accounts of the strike. The strikers persevered until the spring of 1914. By then, according to historian Anthony DeStefanis,
9919-569: The strikers' accounts of the event. Areas of the Rocky Mountains have veins of coal close to the surface, providing significant and relatively accessible reserves. In 1867, these coal deposits caught the attention of William Jackson Palmer , then leading a survey team planning the route of the Kansas Pacific Railway . The rapid expansion of rail transport in the United States made coal a highly valued commodity, and it
10028-553: The strikes, and he was widely blamed for having orchestrated the massacre. The massacre was the seminal event of the 1913–1914 Colorado Coalfield War , which began with a general United Mine Workers of America strike against poor labor conditions in CF&;I's southern Colorado coal mines. The strike was organized by miners working for the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company and Victor-American Fuel Company . Ludlow
10137-413: The tents. This offered some protection but advancing guardsmen eventually forced the cellars' occupants to abandon the underground shelters and to evacuate to the east of the colony site to some hills locally called the "Black Hills" for protection. By late afternoon, it was clear that the militia would overrun the colony site, and everyone would have to abandon the site and join those who had already fled to
10246-482: The towns gave companies considerable control over all aspects of workers' lives, and they did not always use this power to augment public welfare. Historian Philip S. Foner has described company towns as " feudal domain[s], with the company acting as lord and master. ... The 'law' consisted of the company rules. Curfews were imposed. Company guards—brutal thugs armed with machine guns and rifles loaded with soft-point bullets —would not admit any 'suspicious' stranger into
10355-460: The union side were Greek immigrants who were experienced veterans of the Balkan Wars . On October 26, 1913, Elias M. Ammons , the democratic governor of Colorado, responded to the widespread violence by ordering out the Colorado National Guard . Striking miners were forced to abandon their homes in company towns and lived in tent cities erected by the union such as the tent city at Ludlow,
10464-504: The union. The tents were built on wood platforms and furnished with cast-iron stoves on land the union had leased in preparation for a strike. When leasing the sites, the union had selected locations near the mouths of canyons that led to the coal camps in order to block any strikebreakers' traffic. The company hired the Baldwin–Felts Detective Agency to protect the new workers and harass the strikers. Baldwin–Felts had
10573-464: The year Tikas filed his citizenship papers in the United States, he was part owner of a Greek coffeehouse on Market Street in Denver . By the end of 1912 he was an organizer for the United Mine Workers of America . In between he worked as a miner- strikebreaker in Colorado's Northern (Coal) Field but ended up leading a walkout by sixty-three fellow Greeks at the Frederick, Colorado mine. Tikas
10682-605: The years following up to and during the General Colorado coal strike of 1927, which remains one of the few historically persevered record of company spying on labor organizing, given the secretive nature and risk of bad publicity it brings. On November 7, 1990 CF&I filed for protection under Chapter 11 . In 1997, the steelworkers union in Pueblo voted to strike over alleged unfair labor practices . The old CF&I facility, under new ownership, hired permanent replacement workers , leading to further tension between
10791-607: Was a steel mill on the south side of Pueblo, Colorado , and was the city's main industry for most of its history. From 1901 to 1912, Colorado Fuel and Iron was one of the Dow Jones Industrials. The steel-market crash of 1982 led to the decline of the company. After going through several bankruptcies , the company was acquired by Oregon Steel Mills in 1993, and changed its name to Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. In January 2007, Rocky Mountain Steel Mills, along with
10900-401: Was awry and scurried about for cover. Suddenly the sound of rifle fire echoed through the nearby hills. Neither the militia nor the colonists knew who fired these shots, but an exchange of gunfire began, as both confused colonists and militiamen believed they were coming under attack. The militia were badly outnumbered by the colonists, but had certain advantages, including a choice location and
11009-658: Was chased from the northern field, shot and wounded by Baldwin-Felts detectives as he escaped through the back door of a boarding house in Lafayette, Colorado in January 1910. He was shot and killed during the Ludlow Massacre , the bloodiest event of the strike, on April 20, 1914, the day after (Greek Orthodox) Easter. Nineteen people were killed during the massacre, including two women and eleven children and one National Guardsman. Tikas met with Major Pat Hamrock on
11118-486: Was destitution in the coal fields. With the help of funds from the Rockefeller Foundation relief programs were organized by the Colorado Committee on Unemployment and Relief, a state agency created by Governor Carlson, offering work to unemployed miners building roads and doing other useful projects. The casualties suffered at Ludlow were successfully labeled a massacre and mobilized public opinion against
11227-538: Was found responsible for the deaths of Tikas and other strikers that exhibited execution-style injuries, he and all others were acquitted. An Episcopalian minister, Reverend John O. Ferris, pastored Trinity Church in Trinidad and another church in Aguilar . He was one of the few pastors in Trinidad permitted to search and provide Christian burials to the deceased victims of the Ludlow Massacre. Ηλίας Αναστασίου Σπαντιδάκης, The massacre sparked nationwide reproach for
11336-412: Was meeting with Major Patrick J. Hamrock , the militia commander in charge of Company B, troopers––as instructed by superiors––located themselves atop Water Tank Hill, just south of Ludlow in response to spotting armed Greek miners milling about. Many armed colonists spotted the militiamen and moved to key points where they could closely watch activities atop the small hill. Other colonists feared something
11445-450: Was rapidly commercialized. At its peak in 1910, the coal mining industry of Colorado employed 15,864 people, 10% of jobs in the state. Colorado's coal industry was dominated by a handful of operators. Colorado Fuel and Iron was the largest coal operator in the west and one of the nation's most powerful corporations, at one point employing 7,050 people and controlling 71,837 acres (290.71 km) of coal land. John D. Rockefeller purchased
11554-489: Was the deadliest single incident during the Colorado Coalfield War and spurred a ten-day period of heightened violence throughout Colorado. In retaliation for the massacre at Ludlow, bands of armed miners attacked dozens of anti-union establishments, destroying property and engaging in several skirmishes with the Colorado National Guard along a 225-mile (362 km) front from Trinidad to Louisville . From
11663-623: Was the largest producer of coal in the Rocky Mountain west with 23 mines in Las Animas , Huerfano , Fremont , Gunnison , Garfield , and Pitkin County, Colorado producing 53% of the coal mined in Colorado and its 9 coking plants producing 89% of its coke . Steam coal for use in boilers and locomotives was produced in the Huerfano district, coal for home heating in the Canon district, and anthracite at Crested Butte. Demand for coke by
11772-593: Was the main labor union organizer at the Ludlow camp during the 14-month strike known as the Colorado Coalfield War in southern Colorado , between September 1913 and December 1914; described as "the bloodiest civil insurrection in American history since the Civil War ". He was shot and killed during the Ludlow Massacre , the bloodiest event of the strike, on 20 April, 1914. Tikas was born Elias Anastasios Spantidakis in Loutra , Crete , on 13 March, 1886. In 1910,
11881-647: Was to manufacture rails for the railway. Local resources included water from the Arkansas River, coal from Trinidad , limestone from a few miles south of Pueblo, and iron ore from the San Luis Valley with rail transportation provided by the D&;RG. Manufacturing using blast furnaces and the Bessemer process began April 12, 1881. Products included rails, pig iron, iron and steel bars and plates, and cut nails and spikes. The original steel works were one of
#245754