Oh, there were
some grand battles. I can still remember the cars tipped over and fires
in the streets to block the roads and listening to the tales of the
fights in the mountains with guns and blasting powder. It all started
when strikers would be fired and their families and all belongings were
thrown out of their homes and into the streets. Scabs would move into
their homes and hundreds of gunmen were brought in from Colorado, Idaho
and Montana to protect and escort the scabs to work. Seeing their jobs
taken would anger the old workers. Fights would soon take place. Eventually
a striker would be shot, then scabs would be shot. The State Militia
would be called to establish martial law and sharpshooters hiding in
the hills would shoot at the strikers. I can still remember the metal
tank on rails that protected the Company gunmen while they shot at the
strikers. And the intense hatred of the Bingham people who opposed these
lawless company gunmen (hoodlums with no one to answer to). Labor
agents were sent to Yugoslavia, Greece, Turkey, Italy, Mexico and elsewhere
to find cheap laborers. The English were preferred because they were
skilled miners. Mormons and whites also did
well because of the *Church owned mines and **control of government. My
family came from Finland and took part in these strikes and suffered
during these hard times. Then there were the minorities from Central
Europe, who were so abused by the companies, that were the first to
join unions. Some even came as scabs and in time became strikers because
of injustice. There was no tolerance for race or religion in those days.
When their husbands were locked into box-cars, pest houses or jail,
the wives and daughters would march in the streets and man the picket
lines. The emigrant’s Old World customs, beliefs and religion caused
them to be scorned both by the Mormons and the company.