Today a ghost town, Ludlow was the site of skirmish between Colorado National Guard troops and striking coal mine workers. During the battle, four women and eleven children hid in a pit below one camp tent, which was set on fire, trapping them. Two of the women and all the children suffocated. The deaths became a rallying cry for the United Mine Workers of America. Today, that organization owns the site, which features a memorial for the victims of the coal mine strike.

Open daily. Site contains the Ludlow Monument, covered picnic tables, interpretive panels and United Mine Workers of America information. No restrooms, no water.
Contact: UMWA District Rep. Bob Butero 303-807-6545

MORE INFORMATION: Visit Trinidad Colorado

PHOTO CREDITS:

• Stuart Mace, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  April 20, 1914: Sgt. Joe Davis behind a M1895 machine gun on Water Tank Hill, an elevated position that overlooked the Ludlow tent colony. Water Tank Hill was a strategically important position above Ludlow, Colorado that enabled Colorado National Guard and militia to have a good view of the striking UMWA miners during the 1913-1914 Strike and Colorado Coalfield War. The M1895 was also used by Baldwin-Felts men during the conflict. There is some question if this same gun was used both by the state military and the private detectives or if there were multiple automatic weapons in Southern Colorado at this time.
• Beverly, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
• See page for author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
  Credit: Western History/Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library: Portrait of men, boys, and girls at the UMW camp for coal miners on strike against CF&I in Ludlow, Las Animas County, Colorado; sign on canvas tent behind the crowd reads: “Dispensary and office of Drs. Harvey and Davis Union Doctors.”