John Calderwood was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

-born

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miner, and influential labor union leader, who led miners organized by 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 ...

to victory in the

Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 The Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894 was a five-month strike by the Western Federation of Miners (WFM) in Cripple Creek, Colorado, United States. It resulted in a victory for the union and was followed in 1903 by the Colorado Labor Wars ...

. Little is known about his parentage or life.

Early years

Calderwood was born in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Roa ...

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, and went to work in the local coal mines at the age of nine while attending public night school. After emigrating to the United States at age 17, he attended Mckeesport School of Mines in

McKeesport, Pennsylvania McKeesport is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. A suburb of Pittsburgh, it is situated at the confluence of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny rivers. The population was 17,727 as of the 2020 census. History Early history ...

, graduating in 1876. After graduation, Calderwood settled in

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. He was elected president of a miners' union in

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. In November 1893, he traveled to

Cripple Creek, Colorado Cripple Creek is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Statutory city, statutory city that is the county seat of Teller County, Colorado, Teller County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 1,155 at the 2020 United States census. Cri ...

at the behest of the

(WFM) to organize miners there.

Cripple Creek strike

Calderwood was president of the newly formed WFM during the

. As the strike began, Calderwood left for

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

, to attend the second convention of the WFM. His departure fortuitously left Junius J. Johnson, a former

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officer, in charge of the union. Johnson's planning and cool head helped the miners weather the initial assault by gangs of hired thugs sent to break the strike. Calderwood arrived back in Cripple Creek on the third day of the strike, and took control again. The strike was a major success.

Later life

After the strike, Calderwood continued as president of the union.

Blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

ed and unable to find employment as a miner, he worked as an assayer. Calderwood retired as president of the local union in 1901, and was succeeded by John Curry. In 1897, Calderwood was one of 37 men who formed the Victor Elks Lodge, No. 367. Calderwood was the First Secretary. Calderwood wrote about his experiences during the Cripple Creek strike in 1905. Emma Langdon was the wife of a man who had been a newspaper reporter in

Victor, Colorado The City of Victor is a Statutory City in Teller County, Colorado, United States. Gold was discovered in Victor in the late 19th century, an omen of the future of the town. With Cripple Creek, the mining district became the second largest gol ...

, during the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1903–04. Her husband had been wrongfully imprisoned by the

state militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or serve ...

in a notorious

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if ...

. Outraged, Langdon wrote and published a book about the 1903–04 strike. Calderwood contributed a chapter to the book, providing background about the 1894 strike. It is the most comprehensive first-person discussion of the strike to be published.

References

* Calderwood, John. "The strike of 1894" in ''The Cripple Creek Strike: A History of Industrial Wars in Colorado''. Emma F. Langdon, ed. Denver, CO: Great Western Publishing Co., 1905. * Rastall, Benjamin McKie. "The labor history of the Cripple Creek district; a study in industrial evolution". ''Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin.'' No. 198. February 1908
Cornell Library Historical Monographs
* Szasz, Ferenc Morton. "Scots in the North American West". ''Montana: The Magazine of Western History.'' Spring 2001.

American trade union leaders Scottish emigrants to the United States Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{worker-activist-stub