The Siege at Keets Mine
A desperate labor standoff unfolds as miners seize a Washington claim over unpaid wages, fortifying their position against the contractor.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
On Thursday, the miners employed in the Keets mine under contractor Curtis took forcible possession of the mine on account of the non-payment of their wages by the contractor. The miners are still in possession of the mine, having resisted the sheriff successfully and refused any promise of any kind except a full and complete settlement of their claims. They are securely fortified and well armed and provisioned to stand a month's siege. The citizens of Central City, near which the mine is located, are in sympathy with the miners. It is feared that blood will be shed before a settlement can be obtained. At 10 o'clock this evening, the miners issued a printed circular invoking sympathy in their behalf and explaining their position, which is strictly that the contractor owes them $3,000 for labor, the contractor will not pay them, and they hold the mine for the same. Considerable excitement exists over the whole region, which is the main topic of conversation throughout the gulch.
“They are securely fortified and well armed and provisioned to stand a month's siege.”
This 1877 standoff in the mining camps of the American West highlights the timeless friction of the 'labor lien'—workers withholding the only asset they control to demand payment from a failing or deceptive employer. Just as it did in the 19th-century gulches, the struggle to be paid for one's labor remains a defining, often explosive, element of the Pacific Northwest's economic history.
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