Arthur L. Collins
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Arthur Launcelot Collins (8 July 1868 – 22 November 1902) was a British
metallurgist Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys. Metallurgy encompasses both the ...
, mining engineer and mine manager of properties in Mexico and the United States. He was born 8 July 1868 in
Truro Truro (; ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England; it is the southernmost city in the United Kingdom, just under west-south-west of Charing Cross in London. It is Cornwall's county town, s ...
, Cornwall, England, the son of a prominent
mining Mining is the Resource extraction, extraction of valuable geological materials and minerals from the surface of the Earth. Mining is required to obtain most materials that cannot be grown through agriculture, agricultural processes, or feasib ...
expert,
Joseph Henry Collins Joseph Henry Collins FGS, (16 March 1841 – 12 April 1916) was a British mining engineer, mineralogist and geologist. He died at his home, Crinnis House, near St Austell, on 12 April 1916 and is buried in Campdowns cemetery, Charlestown.''Tr ...
, and brother of Henry, George, and Edgar Collins and
William Collins William Collins may refer to: Arts * William Collins (poet) (1721–1759), English poet * William Collins (painter) (1788–1847), English landscape artist * William Lucas Collins (1815–1887), English author and clergyman of the Church of Engla ...
, the Bishop of Gibraltar. Joseph H. Collins founded, and with his sons Henry, Arthur, and George, operated J. H. Collins & Sons, Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, an international mining consulting business headquartered in London, England. When he was 15 years of age, Arthur Collins traveled with his father and brothers Henry and George to
Andalusia, Spain Andalusia ( , ; , ) is the southernmost autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Peninsular Spain, located in the south of the Iberian Peninsula, in southwestern Europe. It is the most populous and the second-largest autonomou ...
, in the great mining region of Rio Tinto, where Joseph Collins was appointed chief chemist and assayer of the Peña del Hierro copper mine. Under his father, Arthur began his practical work in the laboratory and continued his studies in chemistry and mineralogy, and was soon employed as assayer and underground surveyor by the Peninsular Copper Co., in Southern Spain. Joseph H. Collins and his sons returned to England in 1885, where Arthur was put in charge of an experimental smelting works near
Breage Breage or Breaca (with many variant spellings) is a saint venerated in Cornwall and South West England. According to her late hagiography, she was an Irish nun of the 5th or 6th century who founded a church in Cornwall. The village and civil par ...
, in Cornwall. In 1886, Arthur was appointed as assayer and chemist at the Berkeland zinc mine, near
Stavanger, Norway Stavanger, officially the Stavanger Municipality, is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Norway. It is the third largest city and third largest metropolitan area in Norway (through conurbation with neighboring Sandnes) and the ...
. It was here that he erected his first concentrating mill. For the next few years he was engaged as a partner in the firm of J. H. Collins & Sons, examining and investing in mines around the world, including in Burma, Norway, Spain, Australia, Tasmania, and Mexico. In 1892 he was appointed geologist and mining engineer to the
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, and spent a year traveling in the region. In early 1894, Arthur and his brother George left England to manage mine holdings in Central City and
Georgetown, Colorado Georgetown is the List of municipalities in Colorado#Territorial charter municipality, territorial charter municipality that is the county seat of Clear Creek County, Colorado, Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. The town population was ...
, as stockholders and consulting engineers for the Gold Coin Mines Company of New York. In the following year Arthur married Marguerite Morton Becker, the daughter of
Gilpin County Gilpin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado, smallest in land area behind only the City and County of Broomfield. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,808. The county seat is Central City. The county was formed in ...
Judge Clayton F. Becker. At age 31, Arthur Collins became general manager of the Smuggler-Union Mining Company which was a significant
silver mine Silver mining is the extraction of silver by mining. Silver is a precious metal and holds high economic value. Because silver is often found in intimate combination with other metals, its extraction requires the use of complex technologies. In ...
near Telluride in
San Miguel County, Colorado San Miguel County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 8,072. The county seat is Telluride. The county is named for the San Miguel River. History San Miguel County was given the Spanis ...
. While the Smuggler-Union was a major producer in the district, its output consisted of low-grade ore.


Increasing efficiency in the Smuggler-Union Mine

In order to increase profits, Collins ended the shift fireboss positions in the mine. He also introduced the "old Cornish system" of mining, which he was familiar with from his native
Cornwall Cornwall (; or ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is also one of the Celtic nations and the homeland of the Cornish people. The county is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, ...
. It was referred to as the "contract system," or "fathoms," and essentially turned mining into
piecework Piece work or piecework is any type of employment in which a worker is paid a fixed piece rate for each unit produced or action performed, regardless of time. Context When paying a worker, employers can use various methods and combinations of m ...
. The system became a point of contention between the Smuggler-Union Company and Telluride's Local 63 of the
Western Federation of Miners The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was a labor union that gained a reputation for militancy in the mines of the western United States and British Columbia. Its efforts to organize both hard rock miners and smelter workers brought it into ...
, which complained that the wider the vein of ore, the lower a miner's wages would be. But Arthur Collins had little use for the union, and declared that there was nothing to arbitrate.


The Western Federation of Miners calls a strike in Telluride

One of the miners in the Smuggler-Union was Vincent St. John, a young, inspirational man who had become the leader of the local union. St. John patiently tried to convince Collins to bargain over the issue of contracts, but Collins refused. On 1 May 1901, 350 miners walked off the job at the Smuggler-Union. The
strike Strike may refer to: People *Strike (surname) * Hobart Huson, author of several drug related books Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm * Airstrike, ...
was under way. Collins began to hire
gun A gun is a device that Propulsion, propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or water cannon, cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). So ...
men to protect the Smuggler-Union property, and he eventually brought in replacement workers. The gunmen harassed and tried to intimidate union men, while the union miners sought to persuade the strike breakers to stop working and join the strike.


Violence during the strike

In the middle of May 1901, the Telluride ''Daily Journal'', a local newspaper hostile to the union, reprinted a story from a neighboring community, the ''Ouray Herald''. It was an inflammatory story attributed to 27-year-old John Barthell, one of the striking miners. In the report, Barthell stated that the striking miners were highgraders, or ore thieves, and that they had called the strike in revenge after they had been caught. But Barthell was a faithful union man and the story was untrue. On 3 July 1901, Barthell, a native of Finland, stepped to the front of the
picket line A picket line is a horizontal rope A rope is a group of yarns, Plying, plies, fibres, or strands that are plying, twisted or braided together into a larger and stronger form. Ropes have high tensile strength and can be used for dragging and ...
, faced company gunmen, and shouted in broken English, "You are under arrest." The company gunmen immediately shot him through the neck and he fell, mortally wounded. Striking miners began to return fire, and a general shooting war broke out. St. John quickly left Telluride to go to the site of the shooting as soon as he heard about it. He brokered a cease-fire with Edgar Collins, the brother of Arthur Collins, and the company agreed to close down the mine for three days.


The strike is settled without further violence

Anti-union business and community leaders called upon
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to send in the Colorado Volunteer Militia, but
Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
David Coates persuaded him to allow for negotiations instead. The negotiations were successful, with Vincent St. John and Arthur Collins compromising over the issue of contracts. The district experienced 16 months of labor peace after the agreement.


Tragedy again strikes the Smuggler-Union Mine

On 20 November 1901, Arthur Collins was out of the country and his brother was in charge. A fire started in the Smuggler-Union outbuildings, and fed poisonous smoke into the mine tunnels. Twenty-four miners and mine foremen, both union and non-union, died. Vincent St. John arrived on the scene and, in the absence of any effective response by management, was credited with directing rescue efforts, including entering the smoke-filled mine at serious risk to his own health. St. John was credited with saving lives. In the aftermath of the fire, the company was criticized for failing to respond effectively. Arthur Collins' decision to eliminate the fireboss positions, and his practice of promoting non-union men with less experience, was considered a significant factor in management's early, fumbling response.


Colorado mine owners join forces

In March 1902, Arthur Collins and other mine operators formed the Colorado Mine Operators' Association. Twenty-seven members started the group, many of them from
Idaho Springs The City of Idaho Springs is the statutory city that is the most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado, United States. Idaho Springs is a part of the Denver–Aurora–Lakewood, CO Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 ...
, where the WFM was strong. The organization would play a significant role in the upcoming
Colorado Labor Wars The Colorado Labor Wars were a series of labor strikes in 1903 and 1904 in the U.S. state of Colorado, by gold and silver miners and mill workers represented by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM). Opposing the WFM were associations of ...
.


Murder

On 19 November 1902, the eve of the anniversary of the great fire, Arthur Collins was mortally wounded with a
shotgun A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...
blast through the window of the house on the Smuggler-Union property. There were many who accused the union, but others declared that with a contract in place and relative cooperation, the union had no motive for the attack. Others considered the possibility that the murder was committed as revenge for the men killed in the fire one year earlier. Arthur Collins was replaced as the Smuggler-Union general manager by
Bulkeley Wells Bulkeley Wells (March 10, 1872 – May 26, 1931), also spelled Buckeley Wells, was an American businessperson involved in mining. Born in Chicago to businessman Samuel Edgar Wells and Marry Agnes Bulkeley, Wells was educated at Roxbury Latin S ...
.MaryJoy Martin ''The Corpse on Boomerang Road'', p. 181.


Notes


References

*Martin, MaryJoy. ''The Corpse on Boomerang Road.'' Montrose, Colo.: Western Reflections Publishing Co., 2004. {{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Arthur L. People from Truro Miners' labor disputes in the United States 1868 births 1902 deaths British people murdered abroad Deaths by firearm in Colorado Labor disputes in Colorado British expatriates in the United States British expatriates in Mexico People murdered in 1902 Unsolved murders in Colorado