| What makes it historical? |
On September 17, 1913, the miners of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I), owned by J.D. Rockefeller, Jr., went on strike! Led by John R. Lawson, they were protesting the usual mix of low pay, unsustainable hours, and corrupt management, but they had the additional grievance of not being allowed to live or trade outside the company town, even though this was required by Colorado law! In response, the company evicted the miners from their homes, leading them to set up tent colonies like this one in Ludlow.
As the strike dragged on, management hired the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency from Texas to maintain order. These “detectives” brought, and used, their gatling guns and rifles for good measure. One group brought an armored vehicle and shot up the tent colony of Forbes on October 7, 1913, killing one miner, and that brought a cascading effect! Because of this shooting, the miners started arming themselves. Because the miners were arming themselves, Colorado deployed the National Guard to keep them under control. It’s not clear which side fired the first shot on April 20, 1914!
What was clear is that, 14 hours later, twenty people had been killed, 408 strikers were arrested, and 22 National Guardsmen were court-martialed. The National Guard burned the tent city, accidentally killing 11 women and children hiding in cellars below. Outrage over this led to the Ten Day War and the coining of the phrase “Ludlow Massacre!”
At the end of the day, the union ran out of money and called off the strike on December 10, 1914. None of their demands got met right away, but the public outrage led Mr. Rockefeller to enact some reforms within his mining operations. Today, the site is one of the best preserved archaeological remnants of a Colorado tent colony! |
