The Coal Miners' Memorial in the Trinidad, Colorado business
Trinidad Coal Miners' Memorial Closeup
The grave of Louis Tikas in Trinidad. "DIED
APR. 20, 1914, VICTIM OF THE LUDLOW MASSACRE. ORGANIZER FOR THE U.M.W.A..
The grave is in the Masonic Cemetery,
behind the first mausoleum, encircled by a small group of Japanese
graves. Dr. Michael
Beshoar, who treated the miners and their families, is also buried
in this cemetery.
Ludlow is a ghost town.
West of Ludlow the shells of coke ovens
line the canyon. Coal was "cooked" to make coke for the steel mills.
The process removed impurities in the coal.
From the coke ovens one spins around
to see the Hastings marker. One hundred and twenty one lives snuffed
out in a flash. More on the Hastings
Into the black hole of Ludlow, once a
cellar dug under a miner's tent to provide the families with protection
from sniper fire.
"Four women and 11 children
crouched in the cellar while the flames crackled
of dawn, the camp was a smoking ruin. In the dark hole below
the tent, Mary awakened to find her baby dead in her arms. Two
women and all 11 children seeking shelter in the cellar had suffocated.
During the battle, the guardsmen had seized Tikas and two other
camp leaders and shot them dead."
McGuire, professor of anthropology at Binghamton University
The Ludlow Monument does not just mark
the site of untimely deaths. It is the final resting place for Mike
Livoda, a well-known union organizer and UMWA partisan.
The monument before the unveiling, June
5, 2005. Photo taken from the steps into the cellar. On this day
i saw grown men with tears in their eyes.
Dad's hat on a sunny day? These
precious photos were not posed.
More than 400 people attended the re-dedication.
Dean Saitta, an anthropologist at
the University of Denver, shows a framed poster of the "Dreaming
American: The Immigrant Struggle at Ludlow" exhibit that was
at the University of Denver.
IWW member Gary Cox (left) and Ryszard
Tomtas, a Polish immigrant who was involved in Poland’s Solidarity
union movement in the 1980s, converse through the monument fence with
Rees (unseen), Associate Professor of History at Colorado
State University in Pueblo.
State Representative Buffie McFadyen,
always a popular speaker at the Ludlow ceremonies, wants the memorial
designated a national historic site.
Union bureaucrats prepare for the unveiling.
The monument unveiled. Move, guys! Let the families see!
The new monument. In the foreground is
Jobs With Justice organizer Bill Adler and his 11 month old son.
It is for our children that we must remember...
The monument is beautiful, as before.
The faces look a bit different, the result of a different artist's
work. But the style
fits well, and one of the most famous monuments of the working class
is once again intact and inspiring.
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