Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1907-08-17
LOCKOUT THAT FAILED
Miners Win Notable Victory From
Union Pacific.
RIGHT TRIUMPHS OVER MIGHT
Discharged For Forming q Union, the
Mine Workers OF Rock Springs, Wyo,
Accepted the Gage OF BattIe-Fight
Fer Unionisnn Brief land Orderly.

r
A group Of obscure miners in Rock
Springs, Wye, have hluffed out the
Union Pacific railroad and the Central
Coal and Coke company and formed a
union of the United Mine Workers OF
America with four locals in the town.
They forced the owners of the mines
to recognize them. The organization
was accomplished without violence, IN
spite of a lockout from two to three
weeks. and in manner that should
serve as a model to future organizers.
Rock Sa7rings is typical mining
town. Saloons flourish under such
names as Ell Dorado, Omaha. Bon Ton
Columbus and Senate; gambling of all
sorts-fantan. poker. roulette and
horse Eacing-is rife. But when the
crisis came a committee of miners
Went to the county attorney and de-
mandad that al gambling should be
suspended in Rock Springs for the dur
alton Of the lockout For three weeks
the cid was on in Rock Springs, al
though Green River and Rawlins, the
adjacent towns on either side on the
Union Pacific line, ran wide open.
There had been no union in Rock
Springs for more than thirty years,
since 1915, when a tough lot of miners
were associated in q sort of union
which broke up on account of the very
character OF the men of whom it was
composed. Thomas Fahy, miner at
Rock Springs. began to agitate the for
nation of a union early last May. He
was soon joined by Thomas Gibson,
the present president; James Morgan
and f. Purcell. all of them miners
with strong views upon organization.
On May 81 they were organized and
held their first public meeting On
May % they were locked out.
AS the mule drivers came up in turn
to f. P. Gridley, general superintend-
ent of the Central Coal and Coke COM
pany at Sweetwater, four miles from
Rock Springs, and ID. o. Clark, general
superintendent of the Union Pacific
mines at Rock Springs, next day each
one was asked:
"Have you joined the uniOn?"
The affirmative reply came in ten
different languages, for Rock Springs
is q polyglOt town, but it was practi-
cally unanimous.
"Go home. then; we don't want you"
Rock Springs supplies not only the
best coal burned on the Union Pacific,
but it is also its main source of supply
The company tried to break the strike
by importing labor. The net importa-
tons were five Cinnamon, two negroes
and a Greek One of the negroes dis
appeared at the end of the first day,
and the half dozen men who We're
left were not sufficient to supply the
Union Pacific system with coal. There
was no violence on the part of the
discharged miners.
At the end of a week bills were
posted about the town promising all
the miners who would go back to work
by Monday, June 3, 10 per cent in
crease, but refusing to recognize the
union. On Monday, June 3, the mines
remained closed down. By the end of
another week the coal situation on
the Union Pacific was critical. Traf-
fic was blocked by the fact that the
drafts of the locomotives were not
fixed for the Illinois coal which they
were attempting TO burn and are still
using on the line east of Cheyenne,
and the lives of the train dispatchers
were positively logarithmic in efforts
to decipher a solution of the problem.
They had to have that Rock Springs
coal, and OIL June 10 the miners not
only received their 10 per cent increase
in wages, but went back to work with
their fight for recognition won. The
Central Coke and Coal company held
out at SWeetWater for another week
but at the end of that time they too.
recognized the union General Super
intendent D. o. Clark Of the Union
Pacific has since resigned.
Consequently there are now four To-
calls of the United Mine Workers Of
America in Rock Springs-local No.
2293, which consists of the miners in
Union Pacific mines Nos. s and 10; a
local which consists of the miners in
Union Pacific mines No. / and local
No. 1882, which consists of the miners
in the Central Coal and Coke company
mine No. 2 at Sweetwater. The out
put of all these mines is about 200 car
loads, or 5000 tons, day, and prac-
tically all of the Union Pacific coal
is consumed west of Cheyenne and on
the Hartman western lines, the Ore
gon Short Line and Southern Pacific
as fast as 1t is mined, so there is little
chance to store up coal for expected
famine next winter along the line. The
Union Pacific also has mines at Hanna,
Wyo., but the grade of coal there is
not so good as that at Rock Springs /
The membership of the four new To-
Gals amounts TO about 1900 men.