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Labor Strikes
Image by Chazz Layne
From 1901 to 1904, Telluride was besieged with serious labor disputes. The first labor strike occurred at the Smuggler-Union mine to protest th newly instituted contract system, which resulted in longer hours for less pay.
On July 3, 1901, tension between union and non-union workers escalated into an armed confrontation. After suffering numerous casualties, the non-union miners abandoned their posts. The angry strikers unceremoniously expelled them from the town.
A temporary agreement was reached between the union and mine owners. Within weeks, however, the assassination of the manager of the Smuggler-Union Mine inspired renewed hostilities.
In 1903, mill workers called a strike demanding a reduction in the workday from 12 to 8 hours. Union miners soon joined the strike. Afraid of continued violence, mine owners requested that Colorado Governor Peabody send in the National Guard. Five hundred soldiers were posted in Telluride as a peace keeping force. As a further precaution, martial law was declared and union activists were expelled from the town. Within a few days all mines were in partial operation with non-union workers.
Believing the conflict resolved, Governor Peabody recalled the troops and suspended martial law. However, this proved to be premature. The day after the troop withdrawl, an angry citizens’ group calling itself "The Citizens Alliance" took the law into its own hands. On a midnight vigil the group aggressively rounded up the union members and forced them on the next train out of town. The renewed violence prompted the return of the National Guard and martial law restrictions.
Eventually, all union sympathizers were expelled from the community. With its leaders gone and membership depleted, the union dissolved.
Union organization returned to Telluride in 1948 and remained until major mining activity ceased in 1978.
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