U.S. Senator Ken Salazar

Member: Finance, Agriculture, Energy, Ethics and Aging Committees

 

2300 15th Street, Suite 450 Denver, CO 80202 | 702 Hart Senate Building, Washington, D.C. 20510

 

 

For Immediate Release

Friday, April 18, 2008

CONTACT:Stephanie Valencia – 202-494-8790
Cody Wertz – 303-350-0032

Sen. Salazar Commemorates 94th Ludlow Massacre Anniversary/ Introduces Bill to Make Ludlow Site National Historic Landmark

 

WASHINGTON, DC – To help honor the 94th anniversary of the Ludlow Massacre in southern Colorado – one of the darkest days in Colorado history – United States Senator Ken Salazar introduced legislation today to designate the Ludlow Massacre site as a National Historic Landmark. Companion legislation will be introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressman John Salazar. The legislation, in addition to designating the Ludlow Massacre National Historic Landmark, would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to enter into a cooperative agreement with appropriate entities to protect the resources at the site and to assist with interpretive and educational activities.

“The events that occurred during the Ludlow Massacre, and the site that memorializes the conflict, are central to our nation’s story,” said Senator Salazar. “This history is still significant to the Coloradans who live and work in the region. Residents of Las Animas, Huerfano and Pueblo counties, along with many people across America, rightly see the 1913-14 coal strike and the Ludlow Massacre as a defining moment in our shared history and integral to the region's identity. I am proud to introduce this bill in the Senate and will continue to work to ensure it is designated as a national landmark, so that we can better remember the struggles and sacrifices our nation endured on the path to safer and fairer labor conditions.”

The 1913-1914 coal strike in Southern Colorado was one of the most visible and violent labor conflicts of the early 20th century. In September, 1913, coal miners across the area walked out of the mines to protest for higher wages, union recognition and the enforcement of Colorado’s mining laws. Evicted from company towns, the miners established tent colonies near the entrances to the canyons that held the mines. After months of stalemate between the coal companies and the United Mine Workers of America, rising tensions sparked a daylong battle between strikers and the National Guard at the Ludlow Tent Colony on April 20, 1914.

The day is one of the most tragic chapters in Colorado history. In the midst of a gun battle near the Ludlow Tent Colony, the tent colony was set on fire, killing two women and eleven children who were seeking shelter in a pit under one of the tents. The incident, which came to be known as the 'Ludlow Massacre,’ focused the eyes of the nation on southern Colorado and provoked widespread public outrage with the working conditions and treatment of miners and their families.

Earlier this year, Senator Salazar wrote a letter to the chief of the National Historic Landmark Program in strong support of the designation of the Ludlow Tent Colony as a National Historic Landmark. In his letter, Senator Salazar committed to introducing legislation to designate the Ludlow Massacre National Historic Landmark.

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