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Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) played a major part in the industrialization of the West. It was the first integrated steel mill west of the Mississippi, controlling all of the natural resources necessary to produce steel: coal, iron ore, limestone and water. Begun in 1872 by General William Palmer to provide steel rails for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, CF&I was later controlled by John Osgood of Redstone, Colorado and John D. Rockefeller. The company produced necessities for the West, including iron rails, fencing, nails, and steel pipes. The reach of CF&I was broad; the company owned and operated 62 mines and quarries and numerous sales offices and subsidiaries across the country.
CF&I is also significant for labor history. The Ludlow Massacre occurred in 1914 during a Colorado coal miner's strike against CF&I and other firms. It began when a gun battle erupted between the Colorado National Guard and miners on strike at the camp in Ludlow. Ten men and one child were killed by gunfire and another eleven children and two women died as a result of a fire started when tents were torched by the Guard. The public outrage that followed the massacre led to the implementation of the Rockefeller Plan, an alternative to collective bargaining with the unions. The plan, which soon spread across the country, included improvements to employee working conditions, safety, corrections to wage inequities, and enhanced quality of life issues such as recreation and company housing.
After many years of prosperous operations, the sinking steel industry of the 1980s forced CF&I into bankruptcy and its assets were acquired by Oregon Steel Mills. The Bessemer Historical Society formed in 2000 to acquire the significant mill structures, protect the archive materials, develop a museum and interpret the site. Today, the Steelworks Museum is housed in the former CF&I Medical Dispensary Building in Pueblo. Built in 1901, the Spanish Mission-style facility provided medical services to workers until it closed in 1993. The museum includes exhibits that interpret the long history of CF&I, the steel, coal mining and railroad industries in the west, and the diverse people who worked in these industries. The CF&I Archives, housed within the historic Main Office building, contain more than 100,000 photographs and volumes of historic documents related to CF&I and is one of the largest and most complete industrial history collections in the country.
The museum is open daily from 10-4 in the summer and 10-4 Monday-Saturday in the winter. Special tours of the CF&I Archives can be arranged by special appointment.
FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL The museum is the only steel and coal mining museum in the Western US
Redstone, CO, another 2008 Explore Colorado destination, was developed by tycoon John C. Osgood to house workers of CF&I's coal mines
At one time CF&I was the largest private landowner, taxpayer and employer in Colorado
OTHER PLACES TO VISIT Downtown Pueblo and Historic Arkansas River Walk Rosemount Pueblo Zoo
BEST TIMES TO VISIT Year Round
BYWAYS Frontier Pathways
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