Historic Preservation Commission Agenda and Packet 2016 02 08

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(Smith, 106 -107) Mine owners resisted unionization and refused to buckle under. They began to bring in strikebreakers, or scabs. Many of these men were recent immigrants, some from Eastern Europe. ■ As described in the film Louisville: Mine operators brought in hired guns from back East to protect the non- union workers and by 1910 had built stockades around their properties, turning their mines into armed camps. Company housing was built and strikebreakers were urged to live on site for their own protection. The Hecla Mine in Louisville, located at the northeast corner of South Boulder Road and Highway 42, was at the center of this labor war In 1910, it was one of Louisville s oldest mines, having been in operation since 1890. By the summer of 1910, the owner of the Hecla Mine constructed buildings for the strikebreakers inside a fenced compound. The purpose was to keep the strikebreakers on the premises so that they would not have a reason to leave and thereby risk their lives. This effort represented the company's decision to dig in for a long strike. The buildings that were constructed for the strikebreakers were a large boardinghouse for about 75 men; about twenty -six mine camp houses that were called "Hecla Heights"' and a "Casino" for entertainment and gambling The, buildmg that is now at 1800 Plaza Drive was the Casino. According to Smith, "The gambling hall became a great fmancial asset to the operator who, after paymg Hecla workers on Friday afternoon, got the money back over the weekend... " (Smith, 108 -09) The accompanying map, obtained by author Carolyn Conarroe from the files of the Rocky Mountain Fuel Company, shows the location of the Hecla compound buildings. (The top of the map represents the direction east.) The mine camp houses at Hecla Heights were at the very corner of South Boulder Road and Highway 42. The Casino was just to the east of these cottages Nearby was a water tower and carpenter shop. The large boarding house and a wash house were a little farther east. To the north of all of these buildings was an east -west railroad spur that went right up to the mine tipple . for loading coal onto rail cars. Afphoto from this time period, accompanying this report, shows the Casino from the south. The fencing around the compound can be clearly seen. The mine buildings such as the tipple would have been just out of site behind the buildings in the picture.