Incident & Moment

Incident: As stated in a previous post, the incident will be the start of the strike, directly following the convention of union organizers and leaders of the various ethnic groups mining in S. CO


Moment in Time: September 23rd, 1913. The 1st day of the official strike. 

Denver Express reporter Don McGregor, who covered the strike and became a strong advocate for the miners, described the scene that day as an "exodus of woe, of a people leaving known

fears for new terrors, a hopeless people seeking new hope, a people born to suffering

going forth to new suffering." (Beshoar 1942:63)

90-95% of the 12,000 Colorado miners responded to the call for strike. The production slowed to a trickle. (Long 1989:273)

A bitter fall storm blew into the region as the strike date drew near, and on 23 September trains of wagons piled high with miners' household belongings streamed out of the coal camps. Some planned to leave the region for the duration of the strike, others headed for temporary shelter in nearby towns, and still others for the tent colonies being erected by union organizers throughout the region. Families and individual miners

carrying their possessions struggled on foot through freezing rain, snow, and mud to reach shelter. Wagons became bogged down in the rutted roads. (Reckner 2009:163)