Coal People: Life in Southern Colorado's Company Towns, 1890-1930

by Rick J. Clyne

This study takes a fresh look into the lives of families living in the coal camps of southern Colorado between 1890 and the Great Depression. Historian Rick J. Clyne examines the experiences of the men, women, and children who lived and worked in these isolated, company-dominated towns. With the dangerous nature of mining coal a daily reality, the fear of death and injury was pervasive—not only for the miners venturing into the earth day after day, but for their dependents as well. Clyne reveals that a strong sense of community and tolerance existed in the camps, into which families journeyed from such far-flung locales as eastern and southern Europe to carve out a living. The shared immigrant experience—and the shared risks of mining—more often than not strengthened the bonds between both miners and families. Coal People contains historic images of coal-town life culled from the collections of the Colorado Historical Society, as well as the author's own photographs of how several of these camps appear today.

Genres: History, Historical

136 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

Reviews

[Catherine]

My three-star rating comes from averaging the four-star historical content with the two-star analysis, which smacked of privileged white guy. The book opens with the history of coal mining in Colorado and of the company eventually known as CF&I Steel, and follows with chapters about the company town, the community, and the lives of miners, women, and children. This is interesting and readable, and enhanced by vintage photographs. The author draws greatly from oral histories conducted by the Huerfano County Ethno-History Documentation Project and the University of Colorado Institute of Behavioral Science’s Coal Project.

The author’s hypothesis seems to be that because the miners and their families have some fond memories of their lives in the coal mining towns, the paternalistic system whereby they were paid in scrip, limiting them to company housing, stores, schools, social programs, and doctors, wasn’t really so bad. I would attribute this to the human spirit and the resiliency of immigrants who traveled thousands of miles to adapt to a new culture, rather than to the company town management system. Considering a major part of the miners’ demands in the strike prior to the Ludlow Massacre involved achieving some autonomy from the company, it seems clear that the miners thought it would be preferable to be allowed, like other Americans, to make their own personal decisions.

The facts contradict the analysis in many places; e.g., claims by the author that the company provided well for the miners with nice houses and reasonable rental fees, followed by acknowledgement that within days of a miner’s injury or death, his family would frequently find themselves homeless and without income or medical treatment. I’m sure the company mining towns and policies varied greatly, and were not 100% evil. But the argument that a few good memories cancel out dispossession of independence seems very simplistic.