December 7 - Strong Arming Gold Miners

On this day in labor history, the year was 1907.

That was the day troops from the 22nd Infantry arrived in Goldfield, Nevada on orders from President Teddy Roosevelt 

1,900 gold miners organized by the Western Federation of Miners were on strike.

They walked out in late November when cash-strapped mining operators began paying them in scrip.

Local 77 held considerable power in the mines and the town for two years. 

They had won the eight-hour day both for their members and established it as an industrial standard throughout Goldfield.

By 1907, the mine operators and Nevada Governor John T. Sparks had had enough.

Wobblies were on trial elsewhere, falsely accused of murdering Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg for his role in the 1899 miners strike in Coeur D’Alene.

Many miners in Goldfield had been active in that strike.

Sparks feared that with no force capable of protecting the operators, another mine war was inevitable.

The mine owners convinced Sparks that miners were heavily armed and capable of dynamiting mine property.

At the same time, the operators tried to provoke Local 77 miners to engage in illegal activity for which they could then be arrested.

They also used the Financial Panic of 1907 to pay workers in scrip and as a pretext to smash the union, even though the gold standard remained relatively stable.

The owners made their moves.

They reduced wages and threatened workers with mass firings and strikebreakers.

But the union remained disciplined and peaceful during the strike.

It was clear by the following March, that the presence of federal troops gave the mine owners the impetus they needed to drive Local 77 members out of the mines and out of Goldfield.