This is the UMW Ludlow Memorial and Monument. The map below outlines the events of the days. Not is left of the the structures of the time; only the N-S RR tracks, the road, and the cellar remain.

The UMW has made some signifcant improvements in the last year: the blue stroyboards and the display case inside the pavilion are all new.

This was part of the repair to the vandalism to the statues a couple of years ago. Unknown persons decapitated both the adult statues; the UMW had to ask for donations to send the statues away for repair. The sculptor had them for about a year.

Later investigation revealed that kerosene had been poured on the tents when the militia set them afire. The miners had prepared for gunfire by digging foxholes inside the tents. But no one expected the milita would attack their camp.

Most of the miners were immigrants from Europe trying to start a new life. Slaving and dying in coal mines was not what they planned but they were desperate for work. The mine operators saw them as disposable labor. This event was the culmination of 14 months of unionizing effort.

The Colorado governor, Gov. Elias Ammons, sent in the Colorado State Militia to join the company "security guards" in breaking the strike.

The news of this event caused miners from all over the Colorado and New Mexico coal fields to come to Ludlow to join the fight. The ensuing riots lead to President Woodrow Wilson sending in federal troops to disarm both sides.

Unfortunately, it was all in vain: the union was never recognized, the surviving strikers were fired, and the company created its own "union".

Their demands were modest: $3.45 a day in wages, honest scales for production bonuses, safety mine inspections (required by law but not done), and the right to shop at other than the "company store". They didn't even address a reduction in hours from 12 hours a day, 364 days a year.