November 9th, the Colorado Mine Workers Strike of 1903-1904

From History of the Labor Movement in the United States by Philip S. Foner:

In 1901, Colorado was organized into a district of the United Mine Workers of America. During the next two years, the union grew, as thousands of miners, unable to endure the deplorable conditions in the coal camps, looked to unionism as a solution. In September, 1903, local delegates voted to strike unless their demands were granted. These included an eight-hour day, semi-monthly pay, the abolition of payment in company scrip, a 2,000-pound ton [the basis on which it is sold] instead of one of 2,400; and better ventilation in the mines. Only the demand for an eight-hour day was not required by statues; in fact, in the main, the miners were merely calling for the enforcement of state laws.

When the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company and the Victor Fuel Company refused to negotiate, the miners struck on November 9. Immediately, strikers' families were evicted from company houses; union organizers were arrested; and strikebreakers were rushed in, protected by company guards and state troops. After the company guards had killed and wounded several strikers, many of the strikers acquired weapons in order to defend themselves. Finally, military rule was established, financed by the coal companies, railroads, merchants, and property owners. Military arrests followed, and between four and five hundred striking miners were rounded up by the state soldiers and armed guards and loaded into two trains. One was dispatched to Kansas and the other to New Mexico. The men were unloaded in the prairies and warned to keep away from Colorado. This massive state intervention on the side of the coal companies broke the strike, and in October, 1904, it was called off.

Nothing was gained by the strike, but it did serve to intesify the anger and resentment among the miners and set the stage for an even bitterer struggle between the union and the coal companies, for between 1904 and 1913, not a single change took place to improve the conditions of the miners.