In the summer of 1913 the union sent strike organizers in the southern fields and on September 23rd called a strike. The miners sought recognition of the union and a written contract providing an eight-hour day, strict enforcement of the State mining laws, a check weighman elected by themselves, and the right to board and buy goods where they pleased; almost all miners' communities were on company property. On the day of the strike, 8,000 to 10,000 miners packed their belongings on carts and wagons and, with their women and children, moved down the canyons through the snow, sleet, and drenching rain to tent colonies established by the union. Clashes between the strikers and the mine guards were frequent, and scarcely a week passed without fatalities. The militia was ordered into strike districts, and on April 20, 1914, an armed clash occurred between a militia company and strikers in a tent colony at Ludlow, near Trinidad. The tents caught fire, and two women and eleven children were suffocated or burned to death in a pit dug under the tents for protection. Altogether, the engagement cost twenty-one lives, including that of a militiaman. Enraged strikers took possession of the coal fields from Walsenburg to Trinidad; two counties were virtually under their control. On June 1st Federal troops marched in and fighting ceased. The Ludlow "massacre," widely and heatedly discussed, brought John D. Rockefeller Jr. to Colorado to institute his companies employee representation plan designed to afford miners easy access to company officials for redress of grievances. The plan was praised and copied by others, but in 1938 was outlawed as a "company union" under the Wagner Act by the National Labor Relations Board. [pg. 59]
[Tour 12] Right on this road to LUDLOW, 1 m., where a monument commemorates the strikers and their families who lost their lives in the so-called "Battle of Ludlow" during the Colorado coal strike of 1913-14. The strike was called on September 23, 1913, after mine operators had refused demands for an eight-hour day, a check weighman, the right to trade in other than company owned stores, a 10 per cent increase in wages, and recognition of the United Mine Workers of America. Here striking miners and their families, union officials, organizers, and sympathizers established a tent colony. At the request of county officials of Las Animas and Huerfano Counties, Governor Elias M. Ammons sent units of the Colorado National Guard to the scene and declared martial law. Ill feeling grew until a conflict precipitated between striking miners and the militia. During hostilities several strikers were killed; on April 20, 1914, the tents were burned, causing the deaths of two women and 11 children, probably from suffocation. The monument stands on the site of the "tent dugout" where the women and children died. The "Ludlow Massacre" was heatedly debated; while the strike was lost, the issue aroused public opinion and brought about improvement of working conditions and civil liberties in coal camps. [pgs. 375-75]
Colorado. A Guide to the Highest State, 1941
I have always been amazed and grateful for the work and sacrifice our ancestors made to make our workplace safer and more equitable. A good friend of mine, Mr. Tom Jenkins, was involved in organizing the miners and was, with his family, run out of Colorado to Wyoming for fear of harm or death. The Ludlow Tent Colony site was purchased by the union in 1916. A monument was erected in 1918 at the site of the covered pit where the women and children died. The monument was vandalized by unknown(s) in May 2003. Money was provided by the UMWA to repair the monument. Between 1997 and 2002, archeologists completed studies at the site and their finding corroborated the miners stories of the hardship and violence by the Mine Guards and Colorado Militia.
The area is rather flat with no natural shelter. Winter cold would have been biting. The monument has a simple notebook with photocopy pictures of some of the miners and their families who lived at the Ludlow Tent Colony. I was surprised to discover many of the miners were Black, Hispanic and Asian. The covered pit where the women and children died is accesible, though I chose not to enter since I was alone that day. My photos do not do justice to the education material presented by the UMWA, but I hope people will be encouraged to visit. More information may be found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre , http://www.rebelgraphics.org/ludlow.html and http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/us/sp000937.txt .