Cripple Creek Strikes

The mine workers of Cripple Creek, Colo., went on strike in August 1893 to prevent the lengthening of their working day. Their success led to a period of rapid unionization of miners and organization of mine operators. The miners went on strike again in January 1894 and, despite some violence, won a substantial victory. A subsequent period of peace ended with the strike of 1903–1904. The strike was a sympathetic one, designed to force the reduction-mill operators in Colorado City to consent to unionization of their employees. The mine owners defeated the well-organized, well-financed, and politically powerful unions. The strike is remembered for the loss of life, destruction of property, abuse of state militia power, and the practical elimination of unions in the mining district.

Bibliography

Dubofsky, Melvyn. We Shall Be All: A History of the Industrial Workers of the World. Chicago: Quadrangle Books, 1969.

Langdon, Emma Florence. The Cripple Creek Strike: A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado. New York: Arno Press, 1969. The original edition was published Denver, Colo.: Great Western Publishing, 1904–1905.

Rastall, Benjamin McKie. The Labor History of the Cripple Creek District. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1908.

—George L. Anderson/C. P.