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Collection Name:
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Colorado Coal Project
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Title:
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Interview with Louis Guigli
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Creator:
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Margolis, Eric, 1947-
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Creator:
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McMahan, Ronald L.
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Subject:
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Coal miners--Children--Colorado
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Subject:
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Coal mines and mining--Colorado
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Subject:
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Labor disputes--Colorado
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Subject:
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Prohibition--United States--History
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Subject:
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Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Colorado
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Subject:
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Coal miners--Personal narratives
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Subject:
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Coal mines and mining
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Subject:
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Interviews
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Description:
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Interview with Frank Guigli, who grew up in mining towns. Guigli's Italian immigrant mother came from a family of Polenta farmers and sheepherders. John Guigli, his father, came to the U.S. to be a miner and sent for his children and wife after establishing himself, but an accident befell him and he died shortly thereafter, leaving his wife a widow alone in a mining town. According to Louis Guigli, his mother (who goes unnamed), was widowed several times in her marriages to miners, trying to make ends meet by running a boarding house in the mining community. Guigli discusses the strong Catholic presence in the mining camps, and recreational activities, which included sports and "boccis". Guigli asserts that the camp was full of moonshiners, and agents would come to take samples of the wines and beers made by the moonshiners in the towns and then leave them alone for the year-but one year a bachelor told the agents that he wasn't giving them free whiskey anymore, and there was a confrontation during which two agents were shot. The police came after the moonshiner and he shot himself rather than go to jail. Guigli describes his family's farming efforts to fight the poverty and hunger that befell them when they found themselves without a father or stepfather's mining income to help them along. Guigli's home was within range of the machine guns at the mine during the strike, and his family spent multiple days hiding in the cellar, eating apples, and waiting for the shots to stop. Company doctors treated the miners and their families, but Guigli asserted that his mother used natural remedies to treat ailments, including tying garlic around the necks of everyone in the family to prevent the flu. When he needed money badly, Guigli sold newspapers, one of which was the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) newspaper-but one day he saw a man shot while distributing papers and he ran off and never sold those papers again. Guigli also makes a statement about the cultural conflicts between Italian immigrants and the Spanish immigrants in the mining towns and the segregation it caused in the social scene.
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Description Type:
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Sumary
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Publisher:
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University of Colorado Boulder Archives
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Contributor:
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Guigli, Louis
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Date:
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1979-07-19
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Type:
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Text
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Format:
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application/pdf
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Identifier:
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narv_coloradoCoal_transGuigli.pdf
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Identifier ARK:
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https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/fq6b6j3267n7
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Language:
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English
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Walsen Robinson Mines (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
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Coverage (Temporal):
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1900/1976
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Huerfano County (Colorado, United States, North America) (civil)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Taylor Mine (Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Allen Mine (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Walsenburg (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Delcarbon (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Alamo (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Morley Mine (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Big Four Mine (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
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Coverage (Spatial):
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Trinidad (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)
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Rights:
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This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). URI http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
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