Unions have been supporting workers in America for
centuries. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) had been founded in 1893 in Montana . Its strong
influence had reached Cripple Creek in Colorado . By the end of
October 1903, miners in the Cripple Creek gold mines took part in a strike. The goal of
the strike was an eight hour workday.
With the gold mine standing still, Colorado Governor James
Peabody sent the state militia into town On This Day in 1903. The mine owners,
determined to break the union, had turned to the governor for state militia
protection for the replacement workers being brought in.
The strike, over the next few months, turned violent. By
mid-summer the following year (1904), the strike was over and the union never
regained the same control.
Source
On
This Day is a prompt to further explore historical events.
©
Jeanne Ruczhak-Eckman, 2015
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