The coalfields were located in the foothills to the east of the Rocky Mountains, and the camps, situated in the narrow gorges and valleys, were shut in so closely by hills that often only two or three rows of houses could be erected. The principal towns were 10 to 30 miles from the mining camps, and could be reached only by branch railways.

In these isolated communities the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company, the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, the Victor-American Fuel Company, and a number of smaller operators furnished subsistence for 30,000 people, most of them Greeks, Italians, Slavs, and Mexicans. Since the 1880's and 1890's, when the development of the coal industry in southern Colorado began, the companies had performed all the functions of civil government and had regulated all social activities. Strikes of the miners in 1883, 1893, and 1903 had been quickly suppressed by the use of armed guards, the expulsion of strikers, and the importation of strike-breakers. That the working and living conditions in these isolated mining camps were the cause of the repeated strikes is supported by the fact that the strike-breakers of 1903 became, in large part, the strikers of 1913.

Isolation was only one factor in the economic and political oppression, in places approaching serfdom, which the miners suffered. More important was the ownership of the mining camps by the companies. Many villages and towns were owned outright by the companies; the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company alone owned at least 12. No land and no building could be occupied without the permission of the company. Not only the miners' dwellings, but the school and the church were the property of the company, with the result that teachers and ministers were supervised, if not openly selected, by the company.

The miner bought his food, clothing, and other supplies at the company store. There was ordinarily only one place of public entertainment, the company saloon, which was usually operated under a concession; at rare intervals there were brief visits by traveling evangelists or moving-picture shows. The houses, according to one observer, who served during part of the strike as a militiaman, were "shabby, ugly, and small." Most of them had only two or three rooms, although sheds constructed of boards and old sheet iron were added by the tenants. There were few provisions for sanitation: refuse was dumped without care in or near the camp, and the water supply was often pumped directly from the mines and used without filtration. As a result, diseases arose easily and spread rapidly. The miner who protested lost simultaneously his job, his dwelling, and his right to remain in the community.

The economic and political domination of the companies was rendered absolute by the use of the summary discharge. A system of espionage detected employees who, by word or deed, challenged the behavior of the companies, and the blacklist punished them. The rights of free speech, free press, and free assembly were arbitrarily suppressed: periodicals were censored, public speakers were expelled, and even the freedom of speech in informal gatherings was curtailed through the fear of spies....

A small army of deputy sheriffs, maintained by the companies, cooperated with the spies, the superintendents, and the camp marshals.

Nor could the miners appeal for protection to the civil authorities, since they were almost without exception in the control of the companies. With company officials acting as election judges, with large sums of money expended to buy votes, and with the polling places often located on company property where entrance could be denied objectionable voters, the political power of the companies was unlimited.  
 
 
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home