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United Mine Workers, Pikes Peak Banner, c1903 [129975]

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Mining Start Price:5,000.00 USD Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
United Mine Workers, Pikes Peak Banner, c1903  [129975]
SOLD
3,500.00USD+ (875.00) buyer's premium + applicable fees & taxes.
This item SOLD at 2021 Feb 11 @ 14:47UTC-8 : PST/AKDT
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This is a spectacular miner's parade banner by Whitehead & Hoag. Marked as "El Paso County": it clearly was intended for the 1903 UMW strike against Colorado coal companies. They were modeled after the AFL, and one of their biggest and loudest supporters was Mary Harris Jones, aka "Mother Jones." (the namesake of an activist publication today).



In 1903 on the heels of a Western Federation of Miners strike in 1894 at Cripple Creek and 1896 at Leadville, the WFM struck again in October, 1903, this time again in Cripple Creek, El Paso County. The three WFM strikes drew national attention to mine labor issues.



The United Mine Workers (UMW) were founded in 1890 and are still active today. The UMW had strong interests in coal mining throughout the USA, and also organized railroad workers. Problems had arisen at a number of Colorado coal mines, which were among the largest coal mines in the western US. Companies had demanded 12 hour days. They also continued a system started in eastern coal mines of paying their miners in company scrip. This became a serious problem, as the scrip was generally only good in a company store. This process completely undermined the personal freedoms of the miners, who could not buy gods anywhere except the company store. On Nov. 9, 1903, the UMW called a strike, demanding 8 hour days and an end to the scrip system. The strike lasted into 1904. Unfortunately, this strike overlapped with the WFM Cripple Creek strike, also in El Paso County, which led to the coining of the phrase the "Colorado Labor Wars of 1903".



The Colorado coal scrip is highly collectible by numismatists today. One of the problem companies was Colorado Fuel & Iron, which came under control of John D. Rockefeller in 1903. The company controlled a large number of mines in southern Colorado. A second strike of Colorado coal miners in 1913 led to the "Ludlow Massacre" in which 20 people were killed. These were the kinds of things that Mother Jones protested.

This parade banner was most probably used in parades in Cripple Creek, Colorado Springs and Denver in 1903 and 1904.



Pikes Peak / Local No. 1662. / Eight Hours / United Mine Workers of Americana / El Paso Co. Col. Made by Whitehead and Hoag multi color on blue cloth with some type of interior fabric. Minor stain on the right side. 2" tassels in tact. Gold braid fabric along edges. Measures 2' wide by 3' tall including the fringe.





Date:
Country (if not USA):
State: Colorado
City: El Paso County
Provenance: