COLLECTION NAME:
Colorado Coal Project
Record
Collection Name:
Colorado Coal Project
Title:
Interview with Bill Lloyd (conclusion)
Creator:
Margolis, Eric, 1947-
Creator:
McMahan, Ronald L.
Subject:
Coal miners--Personal narratives
Subject:
Coal mines and mining
Subject:
Coal mines and mining--Colorado--Management
Subject:
Colorado Fuel and Iron Corporation
Subject:
Interviews
Description:
Bill Lloyd started work in the Tobasco and Berwind Mines, began timbering on the night shift, and then transferred to work on a machine; he moved on to Tioga. After a strike (by 1920) he had returned to Tobasco. Due to his union activities, he could only get work as a loader in Berwind; he claimed to load 25 tons per day. During a strike, he got fed up and moved to mines in Boulder Valley. Lloyd gradually rose from driving a mule to fire boss to the main boss of the mine. He comments on superintendents who start fresh from college: the good ones listened to and learned from the miners. His company urged cooperation with the union miners; during the Wobbly strike, the miners would produce enough coal to heat the schools. Under the "Rockefeller plan," the supervisors would meet monthly with a union rep to settle grievances. Each coal camp had a company marshal to enforce the company's wishes. Lloyd felt the Rockefeller plan was more generous for the miners than union representation: more baseball teams, company picnics, company houses, and YMCAs. The organization of the mine was the superintendent over the top boss and mine foreman underground. Company directives would come to the "super" who would "suggest" them to the mine foreman. As super, he went into the mines daily and focused on safety issues. In summer, he would contract with machine men, who would act as the boss for their 4-man crew: Lloyd would go to the crew-boss for any problems with any member of the crew. They would prep the mine for large-scale production during the winter. He was a superintendent during the Wobbly strike -- he thought them too violent. In his mine, in the northern fields, 100% of miners were out on strike; his company preferred to sign with the U.M.W.A. He describes the violence at the Columbine mine, where Adam Bell and others came over the fence and 6 men were killed. In 1926, he hired 500 people at the Puritan mine; at that time, he would estimate the profit margin per ton of coal at about $2 to $3 profit per ton. Tho he would not do so, he heard of superintendents who would "sell" good positions in the mine. Lloyd served as a mine examiner (not an inspector) -- he tested men for job certificates. These required passing the safety lamp test. He didn't have to take the lamp test, because his mine (the Tollerberg) was "the gassiest mine in the state". He was a strict mine superintendent: only one miner died under his watch. In the event of a fatality, the miners would collect funds for the family. Lloyd explains that modern mines have many more safety features and emergency health-care providers. Unlike miners (who got a pension and other union benefits after retirement), as a "super" he got nothing but Social Security after retirement. He had worked 57 years in the mines. Some skilled miners actually earned more during their work than their superintendents. He's on good terms with most of the men he formerly bossed in the mines.
Description Type:
summary
Description:
10:00 -- His early mining work, characteristics of a good supervisor (pg. 7 of pdf transcript); Lloyd2 -- 20:00 -- The Rockefeller plan, supervisors try to address miners' grievances, the Wobblies' strike (pg. 14 of pdf transcript); 30:00 -- Transition from Wobblies to the U.M.W.A, organization within the mine, supervisor's responsibility (pg. 22 of pdf transcript); 40:00-- Costs/profits of coal production, foreman exam, efforts to keep mines safe (pg. 29 of pdf transcript); 50:00 -- Safety lamps, dangers of mining (pg. 36 of pdf transcript); 60:00 -- Early lack of medical facilities near mines, the fate of miners' widows (pg. 46 of pdf transcript).
Description Type:
Segment Sequence
Publisher:
University of Colorado Boulder Archives
Contributor:
Lloyd, Bill
Date:
1978-05-18
Type:
Moving image
Format:
video/mov
Identifier:
168-Lloyd.mov
Language:
English
Relation:
Title: Interview with Bill Lloyd (conclusion)
Relation Type:
isFormatOf
Relation:
Title: Interview with Bill Lloyd (introduction: part 1 of 2)
Relation Type:
isPartOf
Relation:
Title: Interview with Bill Lloyd (introduction)
Relation Type:
isFormatOf
Relation:
Title: Interview with Bill Lloyd (introduction: part 2 of 2)
Relation Type:
isPartOf
Coverage (Spatial):
Tioga (Huerfano, Colorad, United States, North America) (populated place)
Coverage (Temporal):
1893/1978
Coverage (Spatial):
Berwind Mines (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)
Rights:
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