The Labor enquirer., 1883-01-27
The STATE.
Interesting Information From Differ
ent Sections Of the State From
Our Correspondent. ! !,
- +. IN /
/ Wages and Work in the Southern
Coal Mines and Other Inter-
esting Matters,
A visit to the Penitentiary Reveals
Some Of the Legal Wrongsto
Honest, 1aborers.
Coal CREEK, Col, January "a.

Coal CREEK, Col January "A.
! Until within the past fifteen months
there was only one mine in operation in
this district, but at present there are five
mines in operation, owned and operated
by two companies, namely; the Colorado
Coal and Iron company, which is more
properly the Denver & Rio Grande rail
way company the other is termed the
Canon City Coal company, but the mines
properly belong to the Atchison, Topeka
! & Santa Fe Railroad company.
The Rio Grande Slope No. 2 employs
about 100 men. The vein Of coal in this
mine is divided by slate from two to
three inches thick. The labor of mining
the,coal is rendered more difficult on
account of large eggshaped balls COM
posed of sulphur and slate, ranging
in size fromf a large bucket to~a -four
barrel, SO hard that they are impene-
trable with miners tools. The prize
paid in this mine is 81 per ton.
One of the largest mines in this dis
trict is Slope No. l, situateV at Coal
Creek. In this mine there are 100
miners employed, counting both men
and. boys, and excluding those payed by
the day. In large portion Of this mine
there is a heavy, thick slate in the CEN
ter of the coal vein thirty inches in
thickness, for which the company al
lows the miners an advance of from 10
to 20 cents on the ton. The regular
price paid is 81 per ton.
n The shaft situated at Rockville ems
plovs about 15Omen, The coal vein in
this mine is from thirty -four to forty
inches clear COAL the vein being so low
it becomes necessary to blast up about
two feet of the rock7-the width Of the
track-for which the miners receive 81
per yard. The price paid in this and
most of the other mines in this district
is 81 per ton.
At this season Of the year coal cars are
scarce, so that the miners do not work
as steady now as at other times, and at
present there are number ont of en-
ployment.
This district is situated about ten
miles from Canon City and about forty
miles from Pueblo. The greatest incon-
Eenience to parties living here is the
scarcity of water. All the residents of
this place have to buy all the water they
use, at % cents per barrel
During my stay in Canon City I Wis
tied the penitentiary, and was conducted
through that institution by one of the
1employes. Taking the institution as a
whole believe tits kept as orderly and
tha.inmates are as well treated as in any
establishment of the kind in the coun-
trv. However, viewing it from the
standpoint of THE LABOR ENQUIRER !;
viewing it from the standpoint that un-
der, existing systems the workingmen
of our country are wage slaves, that
labor is commodity in the market,
Nhat we are bought cheap or dear accord
ing to the supply or demand for that
and that our subsistence and
Existence depends upon the amount OF
employment we can obtain; viewing 1t
from these standpoints there are some
things to be seen in the Colorado penl-
tentiary that cannot receive the approval
of any workingman5 that ever stops 70
think in the interests of labor. There
are things to be seen there that will re-
.ceiye the condemnation of the hosts
of laborers through their rep
resentatives, if not in this session of our
legislature, in the next, by the men more
true to the interests of people. In one
apartment of that institution | saw
lightly men working at the boot and shoe
trade. / was told that for their services
the state received SO cents per day.
There were eighty skilled mechanics sold
% shoe manufacturer for so cents per