Route 66 Coal Towns

Route 66 Coal Towns. The Battle of Virden. Miserable wages and working conditions in coal mines made conflict between miners and coal companies inevitable in the 1890s. The battle that erupted here immortalized Virden in the history of labor rights. On October 12, 1898, eight miners, four Company guards, and one bystander were killed and over 35 wounded., Before the Battle , After months of struggle, mine owners from Pennsylvania to Illinois agreed to a contract with the United Mine Workers Union. But the Chicago-Virden Coal Company, the largest in Illinois, refused to honor it. Local miners were locked out. Management recruited African-Americans from Alabama who were hoping to escape poverty., Armed with pistols, hunting rifles, shotguns, and some, nothing at all, hundreds of miners poured into the village from surrounding towns, determined to stop the trains loaded with Alabamans from entering the mine., The Battle , The Coal Company hired 50 guards, armed them with Winchesters, and stationed them behind a stockade and on the train carrying Alabama miner replacements. When the union miners swarmed the approaching train, guards opened fire igniting twenty minutes of carnage., After the Battle , Illinois Governor John Riley Tanner was the first executive in any state to side with the workers union instead of the coal companies. Upon hearing of the battle, he sent troops to disarm Company guards and prevent further violence. The troops camped in this park., Within weeks after the battle, the Company gave in to demands and paid workers at the higher union scale., Along Route 66… , Visit the Union Miners Cemetery in Mount Olive where four of the Virden martyrs are buried along with leaders of the labor movement.