Dear Friends--
Our Colorado Coal Field War Project is submitting two grant proposals
at the end of this month to support interpretive work at Ludlow and
public dissemination of the Ludlow story.  I'm inviting anyone who's
interested to email me a short letter of support for either of these
projects.

The proposal to the Colorado Historical Society seeks support for the
following: (i) continue to support advertisement and shipping of two
already-constructed traveling history trunks containing Coal Field War
artifacts, maps, and photos, and help fund its travel to schoolrooms
around the state, (ii) support the development, fabrication and
installation of an interpretive trail at the Ludlow Memorial site to
interpret the archaeological site, Coal War history and local events
around the area (iii) support the development and creation of a
digital atlas to synthesize the various bits of information available
in one easily accessible location on the World Wide Web, and (iv)
sustain our momentum toward developing an archaeological master plan
for the Ludlow Memorial.

The proposal to the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities seeks
support to produce an hour-long radio program about Ludlow and it's
Legacy for inclusion in KUNM's (the public radio station at the
University of New Mexico) "Human Experience: Perspectives in
Anthropology" series.  This series has been aired on PBS stations
across the country.

It seems to me that both of these granting agencies love to see
letters  from a supportive public accompanying grant proposals.  So,
if you have  the interest and inclination, you can email me a letter
(preferably as an attachment, but a straight email message will do) at
dsaitta@....   Deadline for receipt of the letters is Friday, Sept.
26, so that we can insert them into the grant proposals.

Many thanks,
Dean Saitta
Co-Principal Investigator
Colorado Coal Field War Archaeological Project
University of Denver

Richard,

In a conversation with Bob Butero of the UMWA he mentioned that the June 29th
date for the memorial was chosen as just being convenient for all involved
(especially the national leadership who come in on a rotating basis).  So it did
not sound like that was a historically significant date -- though I am
unclear about how long the annual memorials have been going on.

Cheers!
Dave

I did get a response on the question of why the ceremony is not held
on April 20th from Bob Butero:


Ihave been involved with the mineworkers for 28 years and a child of
a mineworker who attended Ludlow for years before my time in the
mine.  As far as I can remember the service has always been in June,
The only thing I can think of is the weather factor.  The chance of a
good day in June is better than a day in April.  But I have no other
reason for it.  The t-shirts we had made showed the dedication of the
monument was held in May.
To make a short answer long is I do not know.
*****************
Tom Klammer
aka Albert

Hi
I am out here in Northern California now but I worked for several
years with Dean, Randy and Phil and the others on the Ludlow
archaeology project.  I am still working on it, but now just as a
dissertation on how Ludlow and labor history are remembered and
commemorated (or not, as is most often the case).  I was appalled
when I heard about the vandalism.  I hope this event does spark
greater communication among people working with and within the labor
movement.  Thanks to Richard for setting this up.

I kept forgetting to ask anybody when I was at the memorial service-
why is it held in June rather than on or near to April 20th?

thanks

I just want to thank everyone again for being so generous in sharing photos
and leads on visual documentation on the Ludlow Monument. I have been passing
along all the digital images that have been sent and also have directed anyone
with prints or slides to get them to Bob Butero of the UMWA.

I heard from the stone monument conservator yesterday after fowarding some
digital images that I had received from Eric Margolis:

"Terrific!  These are very helpful."

"I am eager to get a preliminary proposal off to the UMW.
I now feel confident we have enough photographic evidence on which to base a
reasonably accurate reconstruction."

So thanks again! But the process can still benefit from all the visual
documentation possible - the more details we can gather, the better the result
of
the restoration. So please keep those photos coming!

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
Top10denverdave@...

Tom,

You can e-mail any digital images to me and I will pass them along.

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Aritfacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
Top10denverdave@...

This is a reply about photos of the Ludlow Massacre Monument before the
vandalism.

All Photos or leads on photos (such as video or film) should be sent to the
regional office of the UMWA in Denver.

Robert Butero
UMWA
6525 West 44th Ave.
Wheat Ridge, CO 80033

I had found the photo of the monument that is in the "Colorado Coalfield War"
by George McGovern, et al. on the Denver Public Library web site - the
Western History Archives, along with a ton of other photos of Ludlow, Forbes,
and
the other Coalfield sites from the strikes in the early 1900's. I have already
sent the information on that photo on to the monument conservator.

If you are interested you can find a link to the western History Photo
archives at:

http://www.denver.lib.co.us/index.html

Follow the link on Western History and Geneology and you will end up at a
searchable database of photos - it's really quite a resource!

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
Top10denverdave@...

Just got Fire in the Hole video in the mail.  Just took a quick peek
at the Ludlow portion, with a lot of fast forwarding - will view the
whole thing later.  There is some footage of the un-damaged monument-
makes me wonder if they don't have some more on the cutting room
floor that might be of use.

I did run across someone who has some scanned pictures of the
monument and says he found a regular mail address, but want to know a
good email address to send what pictures he has to.

Should this go to Region4UMWA? or any other suggestions?

I also recently got a copy of the McGovern book, which, as some of
you may know, a photo of the monument very soon after it was built in
it, credited to the Denver Post archives.  I suppose somebody would
have already thought of things like this, but just the same I left a
message with  the Denver Post photo edtior to ask if they might have
any good photo's for aid in restoration, but I never got a reply.

Tom Klammer
aka Albert Likona

Just ordered it and am waiting on pins and needles to get a look at
it...

--- In ludlowmassacre@yahoogroups.com, "Richard Myers" <rtmyers@h...>
wrote:
> This looks interesting. Has anyone seen it?
>
> http://www.kued.org/productions/fire/about/index.html
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
>
> Excerpt:
>
> At one time in the dark reaches of American mining history,
determined forces were locked in battle for the very soul of the
nation. It was a time when the fuse was lit, the blast was imminent,
and the warning cry was offered: "fire in the hole."
> At the turn of the 20th century the West was poised on the brink of
an industrial showdown. The conflict raged from the Canadian to the
Mexican borders, destroyed thousands of lives, and challenged the
nation's core values of justice and hard work.
>
> KUED presents Fire in the Hole, an examination of the mining labor
conflicts that shaped the West during the early 1900s. The two-hour
documentary premiered in May 2000.
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
------------
>
>
> best wishes,
>
> richard myers
>
> rtmyers@h...

Welcome Mary Ann from Chicago!

Are you going to be the Mother Jones of this group?

I hope so!

Cheers!
Dave

Hi Everyone -

I just wanted to publically  thank Richard Myers for sending me
several good images of the Ludlow Monument BEFORE
vandalism yesterday - and special thanks to Wyonne Phillips
who had taken the photos and had sent them to Richard.

I tuned them up on Photoshop and sent them to the Stone
Monument Conservator last night. Even though they are
low-resolution they are very helpful.

Here is his response:

"Dave,

Got the images; they really are helpful, showing hitherto unseen
angles.
Thanks!"

Let's keep those photos coming in - PLEASE!!

Remember - you CAN make a difference!

Cheers!
Dave

David Harvey
Artifacts
2930 South Birch Street
Denver, CO  80222
303-300-5257
Top10denverdave@...

"Ammons' most challenging issue was the Ludlow Massacre, a coal miners' strike, which ended in violence when the National Guard was called to out [sic] vacate miners from company property." 

"Miners formed tent colonies after being evicted from the company-owned housing. On April 20, 1914, they were attacked by National Guard soldiers at Ludlow Station, eighteen miles north of Trinidad, for failing to vacate their tents and removing themselves from company property."

Dear All--

Please allow me to briefly introduce myself and our Colorado Coal
Field War Project. I'm an anthropologist at the University of Denver
and I'm co-Principal Investigator of the project with Randy McGuire of
Binghamton University and Phil Duke of Fort Lewis College. Karin
Larkin is Project Director, ably assisted by Amie Gray who is working
on her Masters degree here at DU. Several other students of mine,
Randy's, and Phil's have also worked on, and been "degree-ed" through,
the project. We've been excavating at the Ludlow Tent Colony the last
6 summers, as well as up the canyon at the coal camp of Berwind.  The
archaeological material is curated here at DU until we can find (with
UMWA assistance) a final repository.

We're not working at Ludlow this summer, instead focusing on analysis
and write-up of the enormous amount of material collected the past 6
summers.  We're also working on updating our website, which we haven't
been able to pay much attention to the last couple of years.  We
intend to use the website to disseminate the results of our scholarly
work as well as other material related to the project's commitments to
public interpretation of the Ludlow and Berwind sites, teacher
education about Colorado (and American) labor history, and classroom
instruction.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions about our work.
Randy, Karin, and Amie are on the list and I expect others of our
bunch will join soon.  If you would like an updated bibliography of
project papers  and presentations let me know. I can also help you
locate copies of papers if I don't have them in my possession.

Finally, many thanks to Richard for establishing this email list and
to its members for their interest in Ludlow and labor history generally.

Cheers,
Dean Saitta
Associate Professor, Anthropology
University of Denver

Richard -

The stone momunment conservator is mulling over if he can even replicate the
missing pieces at all on account of the so far sparse visual documentation -
the sooner that Bob Butero gets the photos the better!

They can either be dropped off there in an envelope marked BOB BUTERO -
IMPORTANT, or mailed to the address that I posted for the UMWA office in Denver.

Cheers!
Dave

Hi Dave!

Welcome to the group! (And, welcome everyone else too ;-)

My friend and fellow worker Gary Cox gave a couple of
talks about the Ludlow Massacre in Lafayette last week.
One of the attendees was Joanna Sampson, a Colorado
historian. She told me that she has closeups of the monument,
which she had offered to the UMWA office on West 44th,
but that there was some sort of confusion on the part of the
person she spoke to in their office.

I'll try to follow up on this, to make sure that they are
made available.

Do you happen to know what sort of timeframe we are
looking at?

best wishes,
richard myers
http://web.webaccess.net/~rtmyers/rg/ludlow.html

-----------------------------------

> Hello Everyone!
>
> I wanted to introduce myself to this venerable group and I am
> looking forward to some stimulating discussions here.
>
> My name is David Harvey (just call me Dave). I recently got
> involved in the Ludlow Monument and issues when I received a
> call from Senator Campbell's office last month asking if I could
> consult with the UMWA about the restoration of the monument. I
> am the "expert" that the Smithsonian recommended to the
> Senator's office - well, sometimes it helps to have friends!
>
> Anyway, I am a Professional Objects Conservator who works
> with the conservation and preservation of Art & Artifacts. I run a
> small business here in Denver. I have a diverse background in
> living history interpretation, craft replication, archaeological
> fieldwork and conservation, and in museum conservation. I have
> spent the bulk of my career at Colonial Williamsburg and I came
> out to Denver three years ago as the Head of the Objects
> department of the Rocky Mountain Conservation Center at the
> University of Denver. A year later the University closed our doors
> and laid the staff off (we made our budgets but became an easy
> target for "cuts"). So I opened my own small business in Denver.
>
> I am not an "expert" in stone monument conservation so I have
> referred the UMWA to one of the Nation's best who resides in
> California and he is now working on coming up with a treatment
> approach and budget for the restoration.
>
> One thing that is desperately needed right now is ANY visual
> documentation fo the monument pre-vandalism. We need
> photos or videotape - especially any close-up's of the figure's
> and their faces and especially of any angles from the back or
> sides of the figures. This is vital for being able to restore the
> monument at Ludlow.
>
> If any of you have photos or video or who know others who do,
> pass the word! They can be sent to:
>
> Bob Butero
> UMWA
> 6525 West 44th. Ave.
> Wheatridge, CO  80033
>
> Because of my background in history and museum interpretation
> I have also been encouraging the UMWA to think of the larger
> issues of the site and of Ludlow, and to consider forming a
> non-profit educational foundation to not only aid in the resoration
> of the monument, but to develop and implement long-range
> plans for educational programs and the development of the
> Ludlow Massacre site.
>
> Often when vandalism to a monument happens it releases a
> wave of passion and awareness that can become a springboard
> for much larger issues. It is not only important to restore the
> physical monument at Ludlow but the idea of Ludlow as well.
> The Ludlow Massacre should never be forgotten!
>
> I am hoping that in this situation that this proves true.
>
> Cheers!
> Dave

--- In ludlowmassacre@yahoogroups.com, "GARY A COX" <grycrlc@m...>
wrote:
> Sorry, assumed I already had.  Of Course.  Por supuesto.  By the
way, I didn't know you were so proficient in Espanol.
> Going to try to attach my rough draft on Pueblo for the IW. Hmmm--
Seems I'm sending it twice.  Tell me if its garbled.  I still don't
have WORD.  I'm so damn dumb with theses things.
>
> gary

Hi Gary (and everyone).

I'm at school in class, can't spend much time here.

I've put your file into this message so others can read it, if they
don't have access to WordPerfect.

Will read it when i get home tonite... ;-)

best wishes,
richard

--------

Ghosts of Ludlow

Colorado Fuel and Iron ( C.F.& I. ) was the largest steel mill west
of the Mississippi in the early 1900s. C.F.& I. is located in Pueblo
Colorado,  just north of the southern coalfields. When you drive into
this city of 100,000 souls at the foot of the Sangre de Cristo
Mountains where the foaming white water of the Arkansas River mellows
as it reaches the plains, the first landmark one sees on the horizon
are the four smokestacks from the blast furnaces of C.F.& I.  The
Rockefeller family owned the controlling interest in this steel mill
during the U.M.W.A. strike in the southern coalfields in 1913-1914.
They also owned the coal mines that produced the coal, that produced
the coke, that fed the glutinous blast furnaces at C.F.& I. a few
miles to the north.  Rockefeller's C.F.& I. steel mill employed the
same immigrants that dug the coal in the mines and treated them with
the same consideration that Rockefeller gave to the miners — the
whip. There were a few advantages to working in the mill.  Your work
space was more than 3 feet high and  the gas the coal miners breathed
could explode and bring instant death but for steel workers the gas
might take years to claim you.  I've never worked in a steel mill but
I've worked in an iron foundry at Caterpillar Tractor in the 50s. I
felt the120 degree heat that soaks your clothes and leave them white
with salt, breathed the acrid smoke and I try to understand how much
worse it must have been in the C.F.& I. mill, without a union, 40
years earlier.

The U.M.W.A . miners and their families fought a heroic battle which
ended with the Ludlow massacre on April 20, 1914, and the angry
reaction of the miners in the 10 day war that followed.   They could
not overcome the power of Rockefeller wealth, the politicians, the
state militia, the U.S. Army, the courts and the media by themselves.
The miners lost while the rest of the working class protested but did
not react enough in any direct way.

On September 22, 1919, just 6 years to the day after the miners
walked out in 1913, the Steel Workers Organizing Committee called for
a nationwide walkout of all steel and foundry workers.  This was the
first attempt to organize on a national level by what would become
the United Steel Workers of America (U.S.W.A.).  6000 steel workers
walked out of the C.F.& I. mill in Pueblo Colorado to join 350,000
others nationwide.  Only two months later they were forced to give up
due to the same powers that had crushed the miners 5 years earlier.
Any gathering of 3 persons or more was considered a "riot" by the
police and was broken up.  They could not communicate and soon lost
the ability to coordinate and care for 350,000 workers.  The rest of
the working class protested but did not react enough in a direct way.

Between the 1920s and the 1950s the unions gained strength, primarily
due to the liberalization of labor laws by President Roosevelt and
others in order to prevent the bloody worker's rebellion that they
feared if the Capitalists could not discipline their own greed.  But
after the 50s the Capitalists began to ratchet up their attacks on
labor again.  They now had the tools handed to them by the Taft-
Hartley law; the legal hiring of replacement workers during a strike,
and declaring sympathy strikes and secondary boycotts illegal being
the most devastating for organized labor.  John L. Lewis declared
this law the beginning of Fascism in the U.S.


In November, 1990, C.F.& I. declared bankruptcy and the mill was
purchased for 113 million dollars by Oregon Steel Mills (OSM).
Besides the newly acquired Pueblo mill, they own a mill in Napa,
California, another in Portland, Oregon, and have joint ownership in
the Camrose Pipe Company in Alberta, Canada.  Their mill in Portland
was originally called Gilmore Steel but when the U.S.W.A. called a
strike in 1983, the company immediately hired replacement workers and
broke the strike.  The union was decertified and still operates as a
non-union mill under the new name of Oregon Steel Mills.  The working
class mildly protested but did not react with any force.

OSM refused to honor the agreements C.F.& I, had made with the
U.S.W.A. concerning pension funds, health benefits for retirees,
seniority and overtime rules, or job classifications.  Many were
forced to work 80 hour weeks and as many as 36 days in a row.  The
Company bragged it was breaking production records with 300 less
people.  At what cost to workers?  Safety rules were violated and
injuries mounted.    The OSM was later fined $487,000 by OSHA for
numerous  safety violations after a wall to wall investigation
following 2 fatalities in a 10 month period; a broken neck in May of
1999 and a truck driver burned to death by hot billets in February,
2000.
$487,000 is a record settlement for safety violations in the State of
Colorado.  Makes me wonder if a competing steel corporation may not
be whispering into political ears in Washington.  The Chinese have an
old war strategy.  Create tension between your enemies and let them
destroy each other.

After contract negotiations broke down, the U.S.W.A. set up picket
lines on October 3, 1997.  The strike was called for Unfair
Bargaining Practices when OSM refused to discuss pensions, health
benefits for retirees, or issues of overtime, seniority, and job
classifications.  OSM, again, began hiring replacements and was soon
operating again with 700 scabs and 100 union crossovers (super
scabs).  Is there a pattern here?  Most of the workers felt defeated
and voted to return to work on December 30, 1997.  OSM refused the
offer but did rehire 30 of the 1000 who walked out.  Almost 6 years
later, the U.S.W.A. is still negotiating with OSM trying to save the
families who still don't have their jobs back.  And the working class
protests—weakly.

There has been a corporate campaign that has been somewhat
effective.  Wells Fargo Bank has been floating OSM loans to keep them
afloat and millions of dollars in AFL-CIO pension funds have been
withdrawn.  BART in California refused to renew a large contract for
rails due a significant deterioration in the quality of OSM rails.
OSM was found guilty of over 100 unfair labor practices by the NLRB,
primarily the hiring of replacement workers, and the State of
Colorado is suing OSM for clean air violations, but OSM continues to
operate with scabs and Union workers continue to hope the courts will
save them.  While the working class is doing – what?  Begging?


We are watching a class war being waged from our living room
couches.  Only one class takes this war seriously.  Where is our
solidarity?  In our songs?  Where is the idea that "an injury to one
is an injury to all"?  In our rhetoric?  No matter the initials we
organize under, if we don't begin to react as one big union, we will
all be in sweatshops again and soon.  We have come full circle.  From
Ludlow to some comfort, dignity, and safety, and back to corporate
control.  I just wrote another letter to Coca-Cola "begging" them to
stop murdering union organizers at there bottling plant in Columbia.
Ludlow?  Another to Wal- Mart "begging" them to stop forcing young
girls to live in guarded company compounds, producing clothes and
toys for the U.S. for poverty wages.  Ludlow?   Do I think "begging"
will work?  Do I think the courts or the politicians or the laws will
save us?  Have they ever?  If we do not have the courage, or the
insight to begin fighting back as a class, we deserve the future we
are getting.  Only working people who see that we all belong to one
class, whether they rent our backs or our minds, whether we are
black, brown, or green, whether we are Baptist, Catholic, or
agnostic, whether we are Republican or socialist, as long as we agree
that our immediate goal is to defend ourselves, our families, and
each other from the highly organized and powerful corporations can we
begin to win again.  If we allow each group of workers to be picked
off one at a time and do not understand were that leads, we deserve
our fate.  The only defense we have ever had is to act when our
fellow workers are being raped.  If not know, when?  If not us, who?

Gary Cox

---

Hello Everyone!

I wanted to introduce myself to this venerable group and I am
looking forward to some stimulating discussions here.

My name is David Harvey (just call me Dave). I recently got
involved in the Ludlow Monument and issues when I received a
call from Senator Campbell's office last month asking if I could
consult with the UMWA about the restoration of the monument. I
am the "expert" that the Smithsonian recommended to the
Senator's office - well, sometimes it helps to have friends!

Anyway, I am a Professional Objects Conservator who works
with the conservation and preservation of Art & Artifacts. I run a
small business here in Denver. I have a diverse background in
living history interpretation, craft replication, archaeological
fieldwork and conservation, and in museum conservation. I have
spent the bulk of my career at Colonial Williamsburg and I came
out to Denver three years ago as the Head of the Objects
department of the Rocky Mountain Conservation Center at the
University of Denver. A year later the University closed our doors
and laid the staff off (we made our budgets but became an easy
target for "cuts"). So I opened my own small business in Denver.

I am not an "expert" in stone monument conservation so I have
referred the UMWA to one of the Nation's best who resides in
California and he is now working on coming up with a treatment
approach and budget for the restoration.

One thing that is desperately needed right now is ANY visual
documentation fo the monument pre-vandalism. We need
photos or videotape - especially any close-up's of the figure's
and their faces and especially of any angles from the back or
sides of the figures. This is vital for being able to restore the
monument at Ludlow.

If any of you have photos or video or who know others who do,
pass the word! They can be sent to:

Bob Butero
UMWA
6525 West 44th. Ave.
Wheatridge, CO  80033

Because of my background in history and museum interpretation
I have also been encouraging the UMWA to think of the larger
issues of the site and of Ludlow, and to consider forming a
non-profit educational foundation to not only aid in the resoration
of the monument, but to develop and implement long-range
plans for educational programs and the development of the
Ludlow Massacre site.

Often when vandalism to a monument happens it releases a
wave of passion and awareness that can become a springboard
for much larger issues. It is not only important to restore the
physical monument at Ludlow but the idea of Ludlow as well.
The Ludlow Massacre should never be forgotten!

I am hoping that in this situation that this proves true.

Cheers!
Dave