Detail View: Colorado Coal Project: Interview with Mrs. Emma Zanetell

Colorado Coal Project

Interview with Mrs. Emma Zanetell

Margolis, Eric, 1947-

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

McMahan, Ronald L.

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

Beshoar, Barron B., 1907-1987

Coal Strike (Colorado : 1913-1914)

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

Strikes and lockouts--Coal mining--Colorado

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

Coal mines and mining--Las Animas County--Colorado

Coal mines and mining--Colorado

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

Forbes Canyon (Colo.)

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh89001025

Labor disputes--Colorado

Interviews

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

Mrs. Emma Zanetell of Aguilar was born in Trinidad, Colorado in March 1892 as Emma Oberosler, daughter of a coal miner. He had moved to the U.S. and worked a few years, then went back to Germany to marry. He was a union supporter. Their house was blown up as retribution for his union activities. At Sopris, the miners' wives united to stay in a boarding house, while their husbands were away at a march in Huerfano County. She recalls the strike in 1903, when her father was beaten. At age 12, her father fell ill and Emma began work doing laundry; he died in 2 years. Emma married in July of 1913 to a pit boss at the Forbes mine. He walked out when the company imported African-American strikebreakers. When the 1913 strike began in September, the company forced the Zanetells out of company housing. For the next 2.5 years, they lived in the tent colony at Forbes: stifling in summer heat and miserable in winter's snows. When people were gone to the funeral for her twins, the militia burned all the tents but hers. She was recovering, inside, and would've died -- but one militiaman threatened to kill the other if she were harmed. Her husband was blacklisted, but eventually worked at Ramey. She describes packing a hearty lunch in her husband's bucket for work. They view a photo of her friends and family in front of her tent. (There is a change of interviewers to Angela.) The Zanetells have been in their present home in Aguilar since 1916. Mrs. Emma Zanetell bore 13 children, 5 of whom died as infants. During the coal strike of 1913-1914, her family lived in the tent colony near the Forbes mine in Colorado. There she lost 2 sets of twin children, who died shortly after their births in the tent. Company doctors would not come to help because the miners had moved out of company housing. Doctors from town couldn't reach the tent colony because of shooting along the route. Her children were delivered by other women in the tent colony. Dr. Beshoar, the UMW doctor, eventually came to her aid by crawling along the creek-bed to the Forbes colony. Company guards and militiamen burned the other tents, while the community was gone to Trinidad to bury her dead infants. Emma's was the only tent left standing because she was still inside, recovering. One militiaman threatened to kill the other if any harm came to her. After the strike, her family lived at Ramey and Aguilar, Colorado. For a while, she went to the cemetery daily to grieve for her dead children. Her husband worked at the Royal and Empire mines (where an explosion occurred and the mine whistle sounded the alarm to the families in town). Her 8 surviving children attended school in Aguilar and have each moved on to successful adult lives. The Great Depression was especially hard in 1939, but they always had plenty of food. The family rejoiced when her 4 sons returned home safely from World War II. She views photos and recalls the women's march in Trinidad, Mother Jones, and the family's tent at the Forbes colony.

summary

University of Colorado Boulder Archives

Zanetell, Emma 1893-1985

1978-06-27

Text

application/pdf

narv_coloradoCoal_transZanetell.pdf

https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/0627756292jw

English

Title: Interview with Mrs. Emma Zanetell

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https://ark.colorado.edu/ark:/47540/q8534s66f9q5

Las Animas County (Colorado, United States, North America) (civil)

1913/1978

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

Royal Mine (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)

Ramey Mines (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)

Sopris Mine (Las Animas, Colorado, United States, North America) (mine)