Larry Hill | profile | all galleries >> Galleries >> Berwind and Ludlow, Ghost Coal Towns | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
Ludlow is the site of the 1914 Ludlow Massacre.
After spending a decade organizing the immigrant labor that worked the coal mines, the United Mine Workers called a strike in late September, 1913. The miners were evicted from the company towns and formed tent colonies along the Front Range. About 1200 miners from Del Agua and Berwind lived in 200 tents at the Ludlow site. They dug pits beneath to shelter from machine gun fire that occasionally raked the colony.
Just after Easter, 1914, the tent camp at Ludlow was attacked and burned, killing a number of women and children. This set off a ten-day battle between the Colorado National Guard and the union which left dozens dead and destroyed mines up and down the Front Range.
Berwind Canyon is famous in certain circles for a completely different reason. It is one of a handful of sites in Colorado where the Cretaceous/Tertiary impact layer can be easily seen: that bit of whitish clay from the Chicxulub strike. In one step you are walking in an ancient stream bed where dinosaurs roamed; in another step, they're gone.
The website "Las Animas Ghost Towns" ( http://www.roadsofthepast.com/las_animas_ghost_towns ) tells us that Berwind was founded in 1888 by Colorado Coal & Irom and named for the then-president of CC&I. CC&I was later merged into CF&I.
Also included is a scene from Sugarite Canyon, New Mexico, a mining ghost town and state park just over the border.
Ludlow Memorial |
Mother and Child |
Position of the Ludlow tent colony |
Ludlow |
A high tipple in Berwind Canyon |
Boney Dumps |
Berwind Company Town |
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Community Center at Sugarite |
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