An organized strike against the Rockefeller family owned coal company, the Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation; started on September 23rd, 1913. The coal miners were protesting against low wages, poor working conditions and continued victimization of Union activists. The coal miners were paid $1.68 a day and they had to work in the worst possible conditions. When the workers received their pay it was in the form of a recite, the recite was only accepted at the company owned store which had extremely high prices. Also the Colorado Fuel and iron Corporation had a fatality rate of double the national average. Due to these harsh conditions the coal workers attempted to join the United Mine workers of America, which they believed would give them better working conditions and would help enforce the laws of Coal Mines. The workers were denied membership and due to this they went on a public strike. The workers set up tent colonies on the Company’s property in order to stop any replacement workers from entering the coal mine. On April 20th, 1914 the Company’s guards and officials brutally attack the biggest tent colony Ludlow and open fired with a truck with a machine gun attached to it. They also burned down tents, “anyone who was seen moving in the camp was targeted”. The miners did react to the attack and the fight lasted for 14 hours and when the leader of the strikers went to settle truths, he was shot numerous times to death. In the end 19 people were killed and the age range was from a 3 month old baby to a 45 year old man. Many were injured in this massacre, but in the end no one was punished for the attack. When Rockefeller was asked about the massacre he said “In the meantime, I am assured by the officers of the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company that they are co-operating with these employees to improve working and living conditions, and these co-operative efforts are meeting with gratifying success”. Rockefeller assured that he had no knowledge of the massacre and that from what he was told the workers had improved working conditions and were treated fairly. In the end the Ludlow Massacre was had a huge impact on American History and is now a historical landmark.
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