Detail View: Colorado Coal Project: Interview with Alfred Owens (part 1 of 2)

Colorado Coal Project

Interview with Alfred Owens (part 1 of 2)

Margolis, Eric, 1947-

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n00101170

McMahan, Ronald L.

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no94033808

Coal Strike (Colorado : 1913-1914)

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1404237

Labor disputes--Colorado

Lungs--Dust diseases--Colorado

Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Colorado

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85128770

Coal miners--Children--Colorado

Coal miners--Personal narratives

Coal mines and mining

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/865355

Coal mines and mining--Colorado

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh97002598

Interviews

http://id.worldcat.org/fast/1423832

In order to be with his friends, retired coal miner Alfred Owens started work at the age of 14, trapping a door. He worked with a pick and shovel 10 hours per day, for $1.10 per day, 6 days per week in a non-union mine. He worked for 40 years and was not injured until 1958. At the time of the Ludlow massacre, he was on a site in Rugby, Colorado. He speaks highly of Mother Jones, who began union organizing in this area. After the massacre, he didn't feel there was anything he could do -- the militia was in place, followed by the U.S. Army -- but he feels they won that strike, gaining higher wages and shorter work-days. His last work was in the Morning Glory mine in 1958. He stated he was on a pension now. He'd prefer that his son and grandsons not work in the mine. He started work in 1907, in Hedron, working under Mr. Mitchell. Many of the bosses were Scottish or Welsh. Owens has heard that some Italian or Slavic immigrants "bought" their jobs, by paying the pit bosses for choice jobs in the mines -- he doesn't know this to be true. Owens's father was also a miner, though he never took his son into the mines. As needed, the mines would move miners around, at no cost to the workmen. Owens's family moved from Rock Springs, Wyoming to Rugby, Colorado, to New Mexico and back to Colorado. His father and the children played in a band. When the mines were active, the coal towns were lively with sports and other entertainment. Growth of oil and the gas industry led to a rapid decline in the demand for coal, as did the reduced demand by railroads. The area around Walsenburg produced "domestic coal" while the mines near and south of Trinidad produced "coking coal." Owens was in the area in 1927 for the "Wobbly" strike, but he did not go out on strike (which was over quickly where he was working in Ravenwood). During the 1913 strike he didn't work. He recalls talking to John L. Lewis, whom he respected. He was temporarily blinded due to a welding accident in the mines. During his mining career, lighting switched from oil to carbide lamps to electric lights. After WWI, he switched briefly to railroad work, but returned to mining and drove a 5-mule team. As an African-American, he didn't see much prejudicial behavior in the coal mines, nor in the coal towns, and he stated, after a day's work "everyone was black." In the coal towns, all the ethnic groups lived together. He talks about Sheriff Jeff Farr ("Fatty Farr"). While they got along okay, the Sheriff did run the deptartment on his personal whims and is alleged to have stolen land from Hispanics. Owens felt many miners brought accidents upon themselves through carelessness. He reports lots of coal dust in the mines, especially from the cutting machines. Owens is on a black lung pension, himself. In Kennilworth, Utah he ran a cutting machine that used water to reduce coal dust. Government inspectors visited the mine yearly for safety testing, but too often knew little about mining. By the 1940s, he averaged $25 per day and he quit after his 2nd injury in his 60's. He did contract work and pay was determined by quantity of coal he cut. He also shot the coal he had cut, drilled holes, loaded them with powder, tamped it down and lit the shots. He usually started work in the afternoon, after previously cut coal was loaded out. He would work long shifts, sometimes until the next morning. He was a popular co-worker, as others couldn't load coal until he had cut and shot it. His retired life is a comfortable one.

summary

(The video begins on pg. 9 of pdf transcript); 10:00 -- His early life in mining, moving around the country for mining jobs (pg. 14 of pdf transcript); 20:00 -- Wobblies' strike and the 1913 strike, being blinded while welding (pg. 20 of pdf transcript); 30:00 -- He encountered little prejudice within the mines pg. 25 of pdf transcript); 40:00 -- Dangers in the mines, and how miners may be causing them (pg. 30 of pdf transcript); 50:00 -- Discussing his only 2 injuries while mining (pg. 35 of pdf transcript); 60:00 -- His contract work on mining machines, his childhood in the camps (pg. 42 of pdf transcript).

Segment Sequence

University of Colorado Boulder Archives

Owens, Alfred

1978-02-05

Moving image

video/mov

124-Owens.mov

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/m7986690r23j

English

Title: Interview with Alfred Owens

isFormatOf

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/2p2x5096r19n

Title: Interview with Alfred Owens (part 2 of 2)

isPartOf

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/jh021c9935pq

Title: Alfred Owens and Walsenburg area

isPartOf

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/pb163793d67s

Walsenburg (Huerfano, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)

1902/1978

Rugby (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (populated place)