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Show WINTER 2013 UHQ pp 4-90_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 12/5/12 9:38 AM Page 31 uTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETy LABOR SPIES Like their counterparts in other western The mining town of Eureka with states, Utah miners also were severely affected the Eureka Miners’ Union Hall on by the economic downturn of 1893. In the north (right) side of Main Eureka, the miners’ union voted to strike Street. after management closed the Bullion Beck Mine putting two hundred men out of work. The company later reopened the mine but reduced wages from $3.00 to $2.50 a day. The national WFM supported the Eureka miners, donating six hundred dollars to their cause. As the strike progressed, tempers flared on all sides—management, workers, and strike breakers—leading to incidents of violence. After seven long months and despite significant support from members of the community, the strike ended and miners were forced to accept the lower wages.20 The strike was the most severe labor dispute in the district’s history. Although recovery was slow, the development of new mills, improved water supplies, and renewed mining activity in the mid-1890s brought Tintic again to the forefront of Utah’s mining districts.21 In 1901, a Socialist Party was organized in Eureka, and a year later, on February 8, 1902, the Eureka Miners’ Union Local No. 151, which again affiliated with the WFM, was re-organized with fifty charter members. 349. According to Foster, who was quoting Samuel Gompers, “The Western Federation of Miners was so determined to subordinate the labor movement to socialism that reason could not prevail.” Silver and lead prices became unstable and fell in 1893 when the government repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890, which had required the government to back currency with silver by purchasing one half million ounces of silver per month. See Notarianni, Faith, Hope and Prosperity, 39; Neuschatz, The Golden Sword, 30. 20 Notarianni, Faith, Hope and Prosperity, 39; Frisch, “Labor Conflicts at Eureka,” 155. According to Notarianni, the miners’ union also had grievances regarding the company boarding house and store. 21 Ibid, 45. 31 |
