| OCR Text |
Show WINTER 2013 UHQ pp 4-90_UHQ Stories/pp.4-68 12/5/12 9:38 AM Page 32 uTAH HISTORICAL QuARTERLy The Eureka Miners’ Hall was used for union and fraternal organization meetings on the second floor and housed the Golden Rule Store on the first uTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETy floor. According to William M. Knerr, the Socialist Party’s organizer in Utah, the Tintic distr ict was “a perfect example of the industr ial and political movements of the workers working hand in hand, and they are certainly a lively bunch. . . .”22 The re-launching of a union in the town was an uphill battle because of the troubles with the old union, but once it had a toehold, the new union’s growth was “phenomenal,” and by 1907 its membership had swelled to approximately seven hundred.23 According to the Eureka Reporter, the new union struggled to improve the lives of the miners and lobbied for a uniform pay scale in the district. “Some of the mines in Eureka are paying the lowest wages that are being paid anywhere in the state but others are paying all that the union is asking for,” wrote the Eureka Reporter, quoting union president J. J. O’Hara.24 In the spring of 1905, the union threatened another strike but the dispute was amicably settled. “We are pleased to know that the mine owners and those in charge of the various mines were willing to treat their employees fairly in this matter,” wrote the Eureka Reporter. “The outlook 22 Ibid, 74; John S. McCormick, John R. Sillito, “Socialists in Power: The Eureka, Utah, Experience: 1907-1925,” Weber Studies 6 (Spring 1989):58; John S. McCormick, John R. Sillito, A History of Utah Radicalism: Startling, Socialistic and Decidedly Revolutionary (Logan: Utah State University, 2011), 108, 144-45, 223. According to McCormick and Sillito, by 1911 there were nearly three hundred Socialists in Eureka. In addition, more than five hundred members of the Eureka Miners’ Union subscribed to the Socialist Party’s newspaper, The Inter-Mountain Worker. William M. Knerr visited Eureka to solicit support for the newspaper. Knerr also said concerning his trip that “Our meeting with the miner’s union was splendid, the reception accorded us being most enthusiastic and cordial.” In 1912, Knerr ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States House of Representatives as Utah’s Socialist candidate. It is interesting to note that in Utah politics, the Socialist Party enjoyed its greatest electoral success in Eureka. 23 Eureka Reporter, February 1, 1907. 24 Ibid., April 14, 1905. 32 |
