Ludlow landmark status sought

Salazar to introduce bill recognizing site of labor conflict

Rocky Mountain News

Published January 24, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Photo by Ludlow Massacre Commemoration

Colorado coal miners went on strike Sept. 15, 1913. In April 1914, 20 people were killed in a gunbattle between strikers and the Colorado National Guard and a fire in their tent camp at Ludlow.

Democratic U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar said Wednesday he plans to introduce legislation to make the Ludlow Tent Colony in southern Colorado - site of one of the most violent labor conflicts in history - a National Historic Landmark.

If approved, the designation would give the National Park Service a bigger role in protecting the site.

"The history of the Ludlow Massacre, and the site that holds the archaeological remains of the conflict, are central to our nation's story," Salazar wrote in a letter last week to the chief of the National Historic Landmark Program.

In September 1913, tens of thousands of coal miners in the area went on strike and began protesting for higher wages, union recognition and state mining law enforcement.

In April 1914, during a gunbattle between strikers and the Colorado National Guard, a fire broke out in the tent colony. Two women and 11 children, hiding in one of the tents, died in the blaze. Seven other people also were killed.

The United Mine Workers built a memorial at the site in 1917, which still stands today north of Trinidad.

Woody Guthrie later wrote a song about the incident, and Remember Ludlow became a rallying cry for mine workers.

• January 23, 2008

  1:02 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  Retread writes:

  Its about time...

• January 24, 2008

  4:45 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  richardmyers writes:

  This brief article doesn't convey some interesting details. For example, the leader of the tent colony (Louis Tikas) was taken prisoner by the National Guard when he attempted to negotiate a cease fire. Tikas had a history with Lieutenant Linderfelt of the National Guard, who (the miners say) had described himself as "Jesus Christ on horseback". Tikas was beaten with a rifle butt, then summarily executed (reportedly shot in the back when he fell to the ground).

  As the tent colony was swept with machinegun fire, many in the tent colony may have been able to escape only because a train stopped on the railroad tracks, providing a brief period of shelter. The women and children who did not escape had taken shelter in a hole that was previously dug under one of the tents to offer protection from sniper fire. The women and children suffocated in the conflagration. Witnesses later testified that the burning of the tent colony was intentional.

  The Ludlow Massacre was followed by an uprising of miners that came to be called the Ten Days War. Miners and their supporters seized control of mining towns and front range communities, and the insurrection might have spread if the U.S. Army had not intervened.

  For many working people, the Ludlow Massacre is not forgotten history. Every year, a ceremony is held at the site commemorating the events of that period.

  This is important history, and making it a National Historic Landmark is a worthwhile effort.

  Richard Myers
  Thornton, Colorado

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