Historical Commission Agenda and Packet 2014 11 05

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Coal on the first level of the Acme was worked out, and for a few years the mine was abandoned. Later the shaft was lowered to the second vein and operations were resumed. In 1890 there were only four coal mines in the vicinity of Louisville —the Acme, the Hecla, the Caledonia and the Ajax.... Many people living here at that time said that Louisville would disappear when those four mines were worked out. But the mines are closed, and the town is more substantial than in 1890. Mine Strikes: The Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post both reported in the 1890s on mine strikes at the Acme Mine, sometimes involving a few hundred miners from the Acme on a walkout at one time. The purposes were to protest conditions or low pay. Although the focus of the April 1914 mine strike violence was at the Hecla Mine, where strikebreakers were brought in to keep the mine going, striking Louisville miners at the time of the battle at the Hecla Mine stated that they had intended to set fire to the Acme Mine buildings, according to the 4/29/1914 Denver Post. Specific information about whether the Acme Mine was similarly kept open with strikebreakers during the 1910 -1914 strike could not be located for this report. However, the answer may be connected to the fact that the Acme Mine complex didn't include a boardinghouse for miners (perhaps because the miners could live so close by in town). Because there was not a boardinghouse at the Acme Mine, there was no separate housing that the mine company could provide to strikebreakers as there was, for example, at the Hecla Mine. However, little is known about the exact status of operations at the Acme during the 1910 -1914 strike. Superintendents: Men who are named in newspaper accounts or records as having been the Acme Mine superintendent or were otherwise significant to its operation are Thomas Carlton, W.H. Bittler, John Hutchinson, William Beamond, and Lewis Wilson. Emanuel Smith was a longtime engineer at the Acme. Tours of Acme Mine by Others: According to Henry "Rico" Zarini's 1975 oral history interview, high school classes would sometimes tour the Acme Mine and other mines, and even go inside. In addition, a newspaper account in the Rocky Mountain News in 1905 described members of women's clubs from Louisville and the state chapter being taken down into the Acme Mine by Superintendent Lewis Wilson for a tour. The following undated photo shows Superintendent Lewis Wilson and two women wearing miner's caps with carbide lamps next to the Acme Mine. The circumstances are not known. The view is looking east. (This image is part of the mural on the Blue Parrot Restaurant.) 11