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As soon as the unionization of the miners in the Cherokee-Crawford coalfields by the United Mine Workers had been accomplished, the first large strike in the area quickly occurred in 1893.
“The [coal] companies … posted notice in May [1893] that after the 5th they would pay 47 cents [per ton] in summer and 53 cents in winter [for coal mined]. The men demanded 62½ in summer and 75 cents in winter, and on being refused, every union miner in Kansas in every mine took his tools out on May 17. The strike lasted until October when the [union] district board called it off, the companies making settlements. The strike nearly demoralized the [union], however. Many of the miners felt that the U. M. W. of A. national board had not treated the district fairly, and they refused to have anything to do with the organization for awhile.”
This strike was especially harsh for the miners and their families. There was no work and little support for nearly six months. The union would not recover from the effects of this strike until some five years later, in 1898.
Source: the Pittsburg Daily Headlight, Monday, 2 September 1901, Vol. XIV, No. 119.
Born in 1944 at the old Mt. Carmel Hospital, Pittsburg, Jerry D. Lomshek has been a lifelong resident of Crawford County and the Chicopee area. The grandson of a Slovene immigrant coal miner, he became interested in history at a young age, and began researching family and local history at the age of 14. This being a lifelong passion, he has amassed a mammoth amount of local historical data over the years. He has lectured and written several manucripts concerning the history of Southeast Kansas. From his service in the Navy, and as a registered nurse, he spent 45 years involved in various aspects of health care. Since retiring, he has devoted his time to further local historical research and various community involvement.
