On the site of the Southern Colorado Coal Miners Museum, see two sculptures remembering the generations of miners who toiled in the region from 1860 until 1947. Before the Colorado Coalfield War, state mines had fatality rates twice the national average. Colorado colliers, often immigrants, were paid by the poundage of extracted coal, rather than by hours worked. Tasks like tunneling or laying tracks were known as “dead time,” leading miners to prioritize speed over safety to make a living.
Local sculptor Ben Johnson cast a bronze sculpture of laboring coal miners. Black granite slabs at the base of the memorial list hundreds of names of coal miners who are active, retired, or deceased.
The second bronze sculpture is of a canary bird. Trinidad miners used caged canaries as a signal for potential blocked tunnels or cave-ins. The songbirds were the first to react to diminished oxygen levels or poisonous gases – likely saving hundreds of lives.
