HS US History CFA #2 - Document A National Fuel Company Payroll Statement

HS US History CFA #2 - Document B
Song Lyrics
"Sixteen Tons" is a song written by Merle Travis about a coal miner, based on life in coal mines in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. The line "I owe my soul to the company store" is a reference to the scrip system used by many mining companies, in which workers were not paid cash; rather they were paid with non-transferable credit vouchers that could be exchanged only for goods sold at the company store. This made it impossible for workers to store up cash savings. Workers also usually lived in company-owned dormitories or houses, the rent for which was automatically deducted from their pay.

“I was born one mornin' when the sun didn't shine

I picked up my shovel and I walked to the mine

I loaded sixteen tons of number nine coal

And the straw boss said "Well, a-bless my soul"

You load sixteen tons, what do you get?

Another day older and deeper in debt

Saint Peter don't you call me 'cause I can't go

I owe my soul to the company store”

HS US History CFA #2 - Document C
Chart of Mine Fatalities in Colorado, 1884-1913

HS US History CFA #2 - Document D
Letters between John D. Rockefeller and Lamont Bowers about Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. mining in Colorado

October 1913: John D. Rockefeller Jr. to Colorado Fuel and Iron Co. vice president Lamont Bowers after beginning of strike

We feel that what you have done is right and fair and that the position you have taken in regard to the unionizing of the mines is in the interest of the employees of the company. Whatever the outcome, we will stand by you to the end.

October 21, 1913: Lamont Bowers to Rockefeller

Our net earnings would have been the largest in the history of the company by $200,000 but for the increase in wages paid the employees during the last few months. With everything running so smoothly and with an excellent outlook for 1914, it is mighty discouraging to have this vicious gang come into our state and not only destroy our profit but eat into that which has heretofore been saved.

HS US History CFA #2 - Document E
Map of Mining Strikes in the U. S. from 1910-1920

HS US History CFA #2 - Document F
a Firsthand Account of the Ludlow Massacre
On Easter night, 1914, three women and eleven children were killed at a mining encampment in Ludlow, Colorado. One of the most famous accounts of what came to be called the “Ludlow massacre” was the statement of a young electrical engineer, Godfrey Irwin, who was traveling through southern Colorado and provided an eyewitness account to a New York World reporter.

“On the day of the Ludlow battle a chum and myself left...for a long tramp through the hills….

We were going down a trail on the mountain side above the tent city at Ludlow when my chum pulled my sleeve and at the same instant we heard shooting. The militia were coming out of Hastings Canyon and firing as they came…. Instantly bullets came in our direction. One penetrated my hat….

Then came the killing of Louis Tikas, the Greek leader of the strikers. We saw the militiamen parley outside the tent city, and, a few minutes later, Tikas came out to meet them. We watched them talking. Suddenly an officer raised his rifle, gripping the barrel, and felled Tikas with the butt.

Tikas fell face downward. As he lay there we saw the militiamen fall back. Then they aimed their rifles and deliberately fired them into the unconscious man’s body. It was the first murder I had ever seen, for it was a murder and nothing less. Then the miners ran about in the tent colony and women and children scuttled for safety in the pits which afterward trapped them.

We watched from our rock shelter while the militia dragged up their machine guns and poured a murderous fire into the arroyo from a height by Water Tank Hill above the Ludlow depot. Then came the firing of the tents….”

You have read several documents related to mining in the U. S. in the early 20th century.

Write a constructed response in which you analyze and describe some of the causes of the mining strikes that eventually led to the Ludlow Massacre.

Cite evidence from multiple sources in your response.