Protect Blair Mountain

The Battle of Blair Mountain was the largest armed insurrection in the U.S. following the Civil War. In 1921, 10,000 armed West Virginia coal miners marched against years of brutality and exploitation at the hands of mine owners and their lackey government officials.

After several days, the federal government intervened with disproportionate force, employing a bomber squadron commanded by Major General Billy Mitchell. Mitchell was eager to demonstrate the use of air power to quell domestic unrest.

The anti-union sheriff and state police reported over 30 dead while 50 -100 miners died in the conflict. Subsequently, 985 miners were indicted for "murder, conspiracy to commit murder, accessory to murder, and treason against the State of West Virginia."

Today the site of that famous battle is itself under threat. The same economic forces which drove the exploitation of West Virginia miners now decimates the landscape and poisons the ground water. The radical coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal also threatens to destroy the Blair Mountain battlefield and annihilate an important labor historical site.

In this short video, Kenny King of Friends of Blair Mountain details the threat to this national historic site.

There's a great organized effort to protect the Appalachian ecosystem. Through iLoveMountains.org, 7 grassroots organizations from 5 Appalachian states have come together to use cutting edge technology to inform and involve Americans in their efforts to save the mountains.

A common and false argument in favor of coal mining pits jobs and the local economy against environmental preservation. But as the web site Appalachian Voices points out, "According to the bureau of labor statistics, in the early 1950’s there were between 125,000 and 145,000 miners employed in West Virginia; in 2004 there were just over 16,000. During that time, coal production has increased."

The process to reduce the mining workforce has been ongoing for generations. Coal operators began to push labor-saving mechanization in the 1920's and today we see it in the industry's embrace of the mountaintop removal mining. Clearly job creation or preservation has nothing to mountaintop removal.

You can help today by writing to Congress in support of the Clean Water Protection Act. Across the Appalachian coalfields, more than 1200 miles of streams are now buried and destroyed by mountaintop removal. The Clean Water Protection Act is necessary to protect clean drinking water for many of our nation’s cities. The Clean Water Protection Act is also necessary to protect the quality of life for Appalachian coalfield residents who face frequent catastrophic flooding and pollution or loss of drinking water as a result of mountaintop removal.

You may also learn more about the famous labor uprising in Robert Shogan's 2004 book, The Battle of Blair Mountain: The Story of America's Largest Labor Uprising.

Save the Victor Miner's Union Hall

Here's a recent article from Colorado's Woodland Park Courier Gold Rush. It's a worthy effort to preserve a piece of working class history.

Miners Union Hall Revival

by Pat Hall

Bullet holes and history, the Miners' Union Hall in Victor harbors a story of glory and defeat. In its heyday the union hall was a gathering place for the city's miners, a time of peace between labor and management.

"You could almost see this as a symbol of the success of miners and miners' organizations, at least for the West, if not for the country and, to some extent, miners all over the world," said Katherine Sturdevant, a professor of history at Pikes Peak Community College who is leading a campaign to restore the crumbling hall.

Flyer from the Western Federation of Miners

"Is Colorado In America?"

An architectural gem built in 1901-1902, the hall on 4th Street in Victor was a source of pride for the miners as well as the city. Today the building shows little sign of its former majesty yet retains its hold on the imagination, the optimistic people like Sturdevant. Never mind that the cornices at the top of the building have disappeared. "We're hoping that, if someone has pieces of it, they may turn up," she said. "There's a lot to the exterior that would be brought back to this beautiful old building."

The story of Sturdevant's ancestors mirrors the history of the hall. Her great-grandfather, John Harper, followed the gold rush of 1894 to Victor where he joined the Western Federation of Miners. As a result, Harper was part of the union's first successful strike in the district.

"That gave the miners a position; it wasn't the kind of strike that was the uglier side of this industrial war. It was a success because they were able to negotiate," said Sturdevant, who is named for her great-grandmother Katherine Harper. "From 1894 through 1903 there was a balance of power when the miners could have their own homes," she said.

At one time, Harper managed the Gold Coin Mine and enjoyed the respect of the miners as well as the owners. The family lived on Lawrence Street in Victor.

From peacetime to the uglier side, the labor wars in the districtstarted with the strike of 1904-05 when the miners quit work in support of other unions, the smelters' in Pueblo, for instance.

"For the owners and other business people in Victor and Cripple Creek, that support was an opportunity to weaken the power of the unions," Sturdevant said.

The strike exploded when a bomb went off at the Independence Depot in Victor, killing 13 scabs (strike-breaking miners) and wounding several others. The Western Federation of Miners was blamed for the attack. "It has never been proven who set the bomb," Sturdevant said. "It could have been the union or somebody who wanted the union to look bad."

When the bomb went off all hell broke loose when mine owners staged a riot on 4th Street, threatening to expel the miners. About this time, Gov. James Peabody, who was sympathetic to the owners, sent in the state's militia and arrested the miners.

"The militia fired on the union hall; the bullet holes are still there," Sturdevant said. "The hall has been the symbol of the miners' hard work and success but then it was being fired on as a symbol of labor's organizing power which the owners didn't want."

The militia wreaked havoc on the hall, destroying the vital historical records. "My great-grandparents had to sell the house and leave after the strike," Sturdevant said.

"The building is a symbol of the destruction suffered by the miners, the abandonment of the building as the failure of the strike. That's why I think it could be a nationally- and internationally-known center."

Barbara McMillan, part-time Victor resident, owns the building but is prepared to sell the hall to the nonprofit organization, the Victor Heritage Society, for $37,000.

As a member of the society, Sturdevant has applied to the Colorado Historical Society for a $545,000 grant for stabilization and acquisition. The grant would require a 25 percent match, $136,000, from the society. "That's why we have a fundraising campaign," Sturdevant said. "Suppose we don't get the grant; then we're going to apply for other grants. Each one might only give a little but we still need the money. This is only phase I. Any amount would help."

Checks made out to the Victor Miners' Union Hall are tax-deductible. The checks can be mailed to Wells Fargo Bank, 5360 N. Academy Blvd., Colorado Springs, Colorado 80918: Attn: Deborah Clark-Cooper.

Copyright (c) 2008 - Colorado Community Newspapers Online

New Documentary : West Frankfort Mine Disaster

Independent producer/reporter Chris Yoars has just completed a 16 minute piece on the West Frankfort Mine Disaster.

You may listen to the documentary by clicking here.

Life magazine image: Rescue workers watch silently as a
corpse comes up the shaft that had to be carried two
miles underground through debris - December, 1951.

Here's the description:

"This documentary tells the story of the 1951 West Frankfort Mine disaster in which 119 men were killed in an explosion on the last shift before the Christmas holiday. On the evening of December 21st, 1951, citizens of West Frankfort, Illinois were shocked when the word 'explosion' echoed through the streets of their humble mining community. Just hours before West Frankfort’s Orient #2 mine was to close for the Christmas holiday, an underground blast killed 119 mineworkers during the second shift.

Over the next few days the blackened and charred bodies of miners were carried up from the depths of the mine and moved to the West Frankfort Jr. High School gym floor for identification.

The explosion garnered national attention and resulted in the passage of the Federal Coal Mine Safety Act of 1952. The West Frankfort disaster is the worst of its kind since 1940, leaving 111 widows and 176 fatherless children in its wake. Those who died at the Orient #2 Mine are still remembered by the town of West Frankfort."

Thanks to Chris for sharing this impressive doc.

Where Do You Live?

While some have oversimplified the Illinois Mine War as a factional dispute between two unions, Peabody Coal Company was an integral player in the conflict. The evidence shows that John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers worked closely with Peabody during the struggle.

Here's a little background on the early years of the Peabody Coal Company. It was founded by Francis S. Peabody in 1883 and was eventually incorporated in Illinois in 1890. By 1920 Peabody Coal Company was among the largest in the world.

Peabody acquired 848 acres near suburban Oak Brook, IL and had a 39-room Tudor Revival mansion constructed. However Peabody died in 1922, only a year after its completion. At that time the coal baron had amassed a personal fortune of over $35 million and business assets of over $75 million. In 1922, a coal miner might receive from $12 to $23 a week for his toil. Of course much of that was often returned to the coal operator for housing or to purchase goods in the company store.

Today one can visit the Mayslake estate and tour the Peabody mansion.

Peabody Mansion

While the Yale-educated Peabody certainly had a knack for business, apparently he never learned to share.

company houses, downstate Illinois

Democracy In District 12

The formation of the Progressive Miners of America was not a knee-jerk response to to a perceived injustice. On the contrary, Illinois District 12 wrestled with John L. Lewis and the United Mine Workers International for years prior to the the PMA split.


Upon assuming office in 1920, John L. Lewis pushed to centralize the union power under the international. As the strongest district, Illinois District 12 struggled to maintain autonomy against Lewis' designs. In 1929, Lewis and the International were even served an injunction prohibiting interference in District 12 affairs.

Democracy wasn't restored District 12 members until 1959 with the passage of the Landrum-Griffin Act. Perhaps coincidentally, Lewis resigned in January, 1960.

Thanks to Lisa Andrews of UMWA District 12 for supplementing my research on this issue.

Resisting Occupation

Taylorville, IL was occupied by the state militia under martial law from September, 1932 through March, 1933. While the stated purposed was to quell violence, repeated bombings and murders occurred during that occupation.

To the PMA and its supporters, the role of the state militia was quite clear; support Peabody Coal and the United Mine Workers and break the strike. Although state government claimed to be non-partisan in the dispute between the unions, its disruption of PMA picket lines and protection of imported strike breakers clearly demonstrated which side state government supported.

While the bloody intervention of state or federal troops on behalf of business interests is an all-too-common story in U.S. labor history, formal opposition to such action by local government is far from ordinary.

After more than a month of oppressive occupation, the Illinois State Journal noted:

"October 17, 1932 - The local city council, at a special meeting tonight, took action to curb through legal channels activities of Illinois National Guard units stationed in the Christian county mining area.

The resolution was presented following the reading of a 4,000-word opinion written by City Attorney Leal W. Reese which cited legal restrictions placed upon the soldiers and declared that men have a right to resist to the extreme attempts made to arrest them illegally.

The opinion declared that military men on duty to quell civil disturbances 'cannot do anything which other peace officers cannot do that they cannot arrest without warrants nor hold prisoners without preferring immediate charges.' The opinion further declared the military authorities have no right to molest peaceable persons on the street nor in public places. It held also that any person thus 'illegally arrested, abused, or assaulted has the right to resist the arrest with force." (emphasis added)

You may recall an earlier entry on the bombing of Mr. Reese's home. His actions to restore civil liberties in Taylorville help explain why he became a target in the mine war.

1934 West Coast Waterfront Strike

1930's labor unrest was hardly limited to central and southern Illinois. It was a national phenomenon.

Here is a Pathe newsreel from the excellent Internet Archive on the 1934 San Francisco Maritime Strike.

The newsreel shows another all too common example the use of the state militia to protect the interests of the business class.

The wave of strikes heightened the crisis of the Great Depression and drew attention to the plight of workers. The social programs of Roosevelt's New Deal came in part to quell those expressions of union militancy and prevent more drastic changes from occurring.

There is little doubt that without that pressure from the labor movement, the New Deal would have provided far less for the average citizen.