Poems of the Week
October 10, 2005
After the Independence train depot explosion (June 6, 1904) that killed thirteen non-union miners, the governor sent the Colorado National Guard to intervene a second time. Blacklisted union miners from Victor and elsewhere in the Cripple Creek District were shipped by railroad boxcars to eastern Colorado, Kansas & New Mexico, and told not to come back.
Both "Victor, the City of Mines" and "Cripple Creek's Liberty Anthem" are in Emma F. Langdon's The Cripple Creek Strike, which was published in 1905 and advertised for sale in the W.F.M.'s Miner's Magazine. The Victor poem depicts prosperity and goodwill. The poem's next to the last line shows Victor at its most optimistic.
Regarding the Cripple Creek poem, Mrs. Langdon is best quoted: "The entire front page of the Cripple Creek Times, July 12, recognized as the official organ of the Mine Owners' Association, contained the following 'garble' set to music, with headlines in large type, printed in red ink:"
One, Two, Three---Now altogether,
You can never come back---No, Never,
You can never come back, no never,
We will follow your track forever.
Though you promise and plead
We will give you no heed,
For to this we're all agreed forever.
Chorus
You can never come back, boys, never,
The game's all up with you forever,
We treated you square,
And the pay was fair,
And all would be yours yet,
But now you'll beware
The W.F.M. is fated,
And you'll stay there, you bet.
You had better keep away,
Without test,
For here you cannot stay
With any rest.
Cripple wants you no more,
Even though you are sore,
As we are tired of this gore,
And that's no jest.
To that murderous crowd
We do swear,
In words both strong and loud,
You beware.
If you return
Well, a lesson you'll learn,
You may have a bad turn,
So, take care.
Your venom is vain.
No ember
Of it shall remain---
Remember.
Stay away and keep still,
For we mean it and will
From December until
December.
Where the massive granite boulders rear their heads to sun-kissed
heights.
Where the eager mountain tourists view nature's grandest sights,
Where the summer's sun and winter's snow mingle the whole
year around,
Where the gold in nature's treasure vaults, by the delving miners
found,
There is the city of Victor, the city of the mines.
Where progress is our motto and prosperity our lot,
Where our spirits never daunted are, and failure we know not,
Where the people of all nations are as one in enterprise,
Where as evidence of industry, lowering smokestacks pierce the
skies,
There is the city of Victor, the city of mines.
Where a host of sturdy miners wrench the gold from nature's
grasp,
Where the hand of any stranger always meets with friendly clasp,
Where the people work together, all as one in firm accord.
Where the laborer for his labor gets his full and just reward,
There is the city of Victor, the city of mines.
Where the bells of Sabbath morning call the faithful to the fold,
Where the charity of the people shield the helpless from the cold,
Where the young and old together, the Almighty's praises sing,
Where with song and music always, mountain crags and canons
ring,
There is the city of Victor, the city of mines.
Where we do not curse the country every time a thing goes wrong,
Where we do not get discouraged, to that class we don't belong.
Where in future we will prosper as we've prospered in the past.
Where a strike our heads don't worry, for it will not always last,
There is the city of Victor, the city of mines.