Ludlow

Posted on by jsudar

101 years ago, on April 20th, a tense situation between the striking miners and mine owners exploded in an event that became known as the Ludlow Massacre. My great grandparents and their children were in the strike camps. My grandpa Sudar remembers sitting out on a flat car on the rail road tracks waiting for the whole thing to be over. It took four days. During that time, women and children along with a few miners died. This event became a pivotal moment in Union and workers rights issues. If it had not been for Ludlow, child labor laws and other labor reforms would have not happened for many many years. For more information, visit the United Mine Workers of America page on the Massacre or this article.

Each year, we go to the memorial service. This year’s event was held on Sunday, June 7th. It wasn’t a big celebration, but a good one.

Ludlow, 100 years on.

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This year marked the 100th anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre. It’s been a year of events, memorials, services, and all sorts of activities. On May 18th, the Centennial Commemoration and Remembrance was held.

As to be expected, there was a heavy Union presence. This point in history was a turning point in labor relations. We had UMWA members from all over the country present. It was a good day. After a number of speeches, songs and shared emotions, there was a barbecue lunch and commemorative medals. Dan and I each got one.

After the event, we drove up the canyon and visited the memorial at the Hastings Mine. We continued on up Delagua canyon and got home around 5pm.

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1 Room School House and a dash of snow

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Every November, Gardner School celebrates the one room school houses that use to exist in Huerfano County. Malachite, Redwing, and Chama are just a few of the schools represented. Gardner School, which teaches PreK through 8th grade divides itself up into the 6 or 8 schools. They are populated by families instead. So, one school might have three Vigils, two Thomas’ and six Cordovas of mixed ages.

Each year there is a theme as well. This year’s theme was the Ludlow Massacre and Mine. The entire state is commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Coal mine War which started in September 1913 and had a ‘high point’ with the Ludlow Massacre in April 1913. Our local newspaper, the Huerfano Journal has been running a series of articles about the Ludlow Massacre.

The front door of the school was covered in paper to recreate the coal mine. The students were miners or ranchers and many of them dressed up. A local historian, Carolyn Newman came out and gave a presentation as Mother Jones.  At lunch time, a thanksgiving dinner was served. They had a contest to build the best supports for the mine and below are pictures of that contest. I thought it was very brave of Mr. Purnell, the principal to be the “Sheriff”, as the sheriff of that time period was not a well liked man.

At the end of the day, they got in a big circle, or as Cathy Cordova, a teacher said… “We are one big Family.” Then they called out a series of names. All of the people who died during the massacre. As each name was read, a child stood up and moved to the center. Many of the students were surprised at how young some of the victims were. It gave the students some perspective on the event.

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And as is usual for this time of year and the day an event is held at Gardner, it began to snow. We’ve had at least 8 inches fall, and the temperatures have been very cold. I was very happy to have a load of firewood delivered this morning!

Autumn

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Life has been a little crazy since I last posted. Most of the Northern part of Colorado flooded. We had a little of that here too. On the 15th, we drove to La Junta to pick up Morgan and celebrate birthdays. Her’s was on the 10th, and Dan’s was the 16th. We were a little concerned about the weather as most of Colorado was rather wet. We watched the clouds, and didn’t worry too much, and drove to Pueblo.

We took Morgan to the Texas Roadhouse for a steak dinner. She’d never been there, and her face after she bit  into her steak were great. After lunch, we did a bit of shopping and then went to see the movie Elysium. Interesting movie.

Around 7pm, we started to head back to La Junta. It started to rain. 15 miles from Pueblo, we hit an area that had about 8 inches of water on the road. When we got to Fowler, the rain was coming down so hard, it was difficult to see. The rain let up and almost stopped by the time we got to Rocky Ford. It was a long 60 mile drive.

After we got her some groceries, we headed home. La Junta is 73 miles from Walsenburg. It had started raining just as we headed out. About mile marker 40, we saw a vehicle flashing their lights. We stopped and the driver warned us that there was water on the road. We thanked her and drove a bit slower, looking for the water.

Just about the time I said “The ditch is full of water”, we hit the first ‘puddle’. It threw water up on the windscreen, but it wasn’t too bad. Then we started watching the ditches. Keep in mind this area is farmland and the road usually sits up high from the fields. At least 1-2 ft higher.

We hadn’t gone a mile before I saw the ditch was full, and we hit deep water before I could even finish the sentence. This spot had water flowing across the road. Active flooding. It threw water up and over the cab of the truck. That was scary!

We almost had our breath back, when we hit one more place where the road was flooded. We warned drivers as we headed west. 15 miles from home, we hit a fog bank. It misted away just before we got to town.

Dan checked the truck, and we bent the license plate back with all the water. Otherwise we were safe, but just rattled. We’ve had more rain in a week than we have in 3/4ths of the entire year. 9.5 inches.

From there, our week was hectic. Wwe have been working on getting the house ready for winter, which means lots of little DIY projects and trips to Pueblo for bits and pieces. Especially when I cut the cord that supplied electricity to the Wendy House. sigh… I felt so stupid when I did that. However, I now have good wiring. We converted the back porch to a workshop which has helped as well. The drill press, miter saw and other bits and pieces now have a home.

It was cold last night and we woke to snow on the Spanish Peaks… Not bad for the first day of Autumn.

Last, but not least, we went to the Ludlow Memorial. 100 years ago today, the miners went on strike. As usual, the service was a good mix of memories, Union, politicians and history.

Ludlow Memorial1 Ludlow Memorial2

Ludlow Massacre Memorial

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Today was the UMW memorial service held at Ludlow, the site of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre. The actual event occurred in April 20th, 1914 in Ludlow, Colorado. The coal miners were on strike for decent treatment in the mines. If you want to read about it, visit this site   or Google the event.

However, this has a family connection for me. The Sudars were coal miners. In 1914, Paul Sudar Sr, his wife Rose and their four sons, were living in the tent colonies. One of those sons was my grandpa John Sudar. He was four. Grandpa said that his father got nervous about the machine guns being set up on the hills around the camps. During the run up to the Ludlow Massacre, My Great-grandpa Sudar sent his wife and children out on a flatcar with lots of other women and children. The flatcar sat out on the plains for four days as they waited to hear what happened to their husbands and friends. It was cold, as that April had been very snowy. They had only what they could carry. When they came back, Ludlow was burned. People died. Mainly women and children who suffocated in a basement under a tent.

I realize that if my Great-grandpa hadn’t been nervous about what he was seeing, we might not be here. The Ludlow Massacre was part of a war that most people don’t even know about. They don’t know how one small place in Colorado became so important to the unions and the history of the labor movement.

Today we had local union reps,politicians, clergy, a Mother Jones impersonator, national union reps, an author and most importantly, two Great Granddaughters who’s families worked in the mines and were at Ludlow. We had welders who presented the site with a memorial sign that they had welded. One of the welders had started out as a miner and changed jobs to become a welder. We had awesome barbecue to eat. Most importantly, this was a family event. Families of miners, union members and community.

I’ll be there again next year.

Ludlow Memorial Service

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94 years ago, on April 20th, in the Ludlow tent colony, life changed forever. Between 1913 and 1914, the coal mines of Colorado were immersed in a war. The Great Coal Fields War. Miners were on strike for better conditions and the right to unionize. The owners of the coal companies wanted the miners put down. Pinkerton men, milita and miners and union men clashed.  The tent colony of Ludlow was at the center. Gatling guns fired across the colony, tents were burned. Men, women and children died. It became known as the Ludlow Massacre. It forever changed how unions and strikers were seen in the eyes of the world. To read more about it, follow this link.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre

For me, Ludlow is part of my family history. My great grandparents were coalminers in the camps. Grandpa Sudar remembers being put on a train car with other women and children and sent out to stay away from the camps for 4 days until it was safe. They were evacuated with many people from Ludlow.

Today, John and I went to the memorial service held by the UMW. Senator George McGovern was the Keynote Speaker.  It was a very interesting two hours. Part church service, union rally, history lesson and political rally. Fine if you were democratic or open minded. John of course is a republican, and at one point, Buffy McFadden made a joke about the crowd being good Democrats, with maybe one or two Republicans out there and John felt like he suddenly had a neon hand pointing straight at his head. 🙂

When the train full of coal cars went by on it’s way to some power plant to the north, there wasn’t a person in the crowd with a dry eye. It reminded us all of the sacrifices made by those miners and their families 94 years ago. It was a very emotional event.

Ludlow Memorial

The memorial.

Brian and Senator McGovern

Brian Orr (L) and Senator McGovern (R) before the service.

Senator McGovern speaking to the crowd.

Senator McGovern wrote a book entitled The Great Coalfield War. It is one of the definitive works on the massacre.

Afterwards, there was a luncheon. We didn’t stay for it though as there was shopping to do in Pueblo. Sigh… there are days I just don’t want to go all the way to Pueblo to shop. Oh well. It was a good trip. Had lunch at SouperSalad and dinner at Taco Bell. We also had fun at Petsmart shopping for Daniel’s puppy.

It was so weird to buy puppy food for a dog that small. We also got him some toys. A chew toy and some tiny tennis balls. It was funny!

Off to bed now. Have to get up early and cut John’s hair and trim up his beard. He’s going back to his goatee for the summer. Afterwards, it’s off to work at the DA’s.