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The 1917 IWW Timber Strike in the Kootenai Valley University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers Graduate School 2000 Montana's other strike: The 1917 IWW timber strike in the Kootenai Valley Richard R. Aarstad The University of Montana Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Aarstad, Richard R., "Montana's other strike: The 1917 IWW timber strike in the Kootenai Valley" (2000). Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers. 4858. https://scholarworks.umt.edu/etd/4858 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at ScholarWorks at University of Montana. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks at University of Montana. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Maureen and Mike MANSFIELD LIBRARY The University of Montana ' - ’ r5 Permission is granted by the author to reproduce this material in its entirety, provided that this material is used for scholarly purposes and is properly cited in published works and reports. :*Please check "Yes" or "No" and provide signature*’ Yes, I grant permission: X No, I do not grant permission______ Author's Signature: Date: Any copying for commercial purposes or fmaricial gain may be undertaken only with the author's explicit consent. 8/98 MONTANA'S OTHER STRIKE: THE 1917 IWW TIMBER STRIKE IN THE KOOTENAI VALLEY by Richard R. Aarstad B.A. University of Montana, 1997 presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts The University of Montana May 2000 Dean, Graduate School Date UMI Number: EP40322 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. Dissertation Publishing UMI EP40322 Published by ProQuest LLC (2014). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQ uest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code ProQ uest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Aarstad, Richard R., M.A., May 2000 History Montana's Other Strike: The 1917 IWW Timber Strike in the Kootenai Valley as it pertained to the Eureka Lumber Company and the Libby Lumber Compai Director: David M. Emmons This thesis will cover the events of the 1917 IWW strike as it affected the Eureka Lumber Company and the Libby Lumber Company in the Kootenai Valley. Background information will be provided on the IWW, the two mills and early attempts by the IWW to organize the workers of the Eureka Lumber Company and the Libby Lumber Company. The thesis will cover how the two mills dealt with the IWW, with generous quotations from IWW publications, The Eureka Journal, The Western News, and The Timberman. By drawing from the different publications and the company correspondence of the president of the Eureka Lumber Company, Charles A. Weil, I hope to create a balanced account of the events of the strike in the Kootenai Valley during 1917. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank the following people for the support and assistance they offered me during the research and writing of my thesis: Beth Burrell and the Libby Mormon Church for kindly letting me use their microfilm machines; the Lincoln County Public Library for helping me obtain much needed materials through inter-library loan; Jeff Gruber and the Heritage Museum for showing me some outstanding pictures of Lincoln County's early logging operations and providing copies for me; Gary Montgomery of The Trail for providing me with pictures; Molly Miller and Kathryn Otto of the Montana Historical Society for providing me with a copy of the Lincoln County Council of Defense papers; and the creators of the IWW website. Those who contributed most to my success the last two years are David Emmons, who showed me that history could be found in my own back yard; Mark White for finding the Eureka Lumber Company files in a box in Eureka and then allowing me to make my own copies; Rose Goyen who read the first draft; my parents and my brother and sister, for their support; but in the end there are two people who deserve the greatest amount of recognition--my wife and son. They tolerated my four year absence from their lives but always showed me love and support whenever I needed it, so to them I dedicate my thesis. This is for you Kim and Rick. AUTHOR'S NOTE I have left misspellings and grammatical errors that occur in quotations as they were without the obligatory [sic] next to them. I would like to say that any other deficiencies or errors in historical context are mine. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT .............................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................... iii AUTHOR'S N O T E ....................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................... V MAPS ............................................ vi LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS ................................. ix Introduction...................... 1 Chapter I ........................................... 6 Chapter I I ............................ 15 Chapter I I I ......................................... 43 Chapter I V ........................................... 64 Chapter V ................ 95 Chapter V I ........................................... 119 Chapter V I I .......... 139 Appendix A .............. 151 Appendix B ........................................... 154 Appendix C ........................................... 156 Bibliography ......................................... 160 v VI AdlNHOO 901-ldOHS ONV ISBMHldON OUOVd <x =5 Lli cO u . cr vii ri * TITA A IN 110 D NAOONIA LIST OF PHOTOGRAPHS 1. Eureka Lumber Company mill after a fire in 1914. Charles Weil is pictured standing on the far right. 2. Eureka Lumber Company mill, 1915. 3. Eureka tie-hacks, circa 1915. 4. Eureka river drivers--Tobacco River, circa 1915. 5. Libby Lumber Company mill, 1915. 6. Libby Lumber Company logging camp, 1915. 7. James Rowan--Leavenworth prison photograph. 8. John I. Turner--Leavenworth prison photograph. 9. Don Sheridan--Leavenworth prison photograph. 10. Olin B. Anderson--Leavenworth prison photograph.* *The photographs of Rowan, Turner, Sheridan and Anderson were down-loaded and copied from the IWW website http://www.iww.org/-deke/leavenworth. X iaasaaajgfGI 'I i it f&Mk xi xii xiii James Rowan— Leavenworth Prison Photograph John I. Turner— Leavenworth Prison Photograph xv i Don Sheridan— Leavenworth Prison Photograph Olin B. Anderson— Leavenworth Prison Photograph INTRODUCTION On the eve of the United States' entry into the Great War in 1917, events were unfolding in northwest Montana which would capture the attention of state and federal officials. Governor Samuel V. Stewart of Montana asked for federal troops to be sent to the northwest corner of the state (a region known for its isolation) ostensibly to protect citizens and private property from the scourge of the industrial world--the Industrial Workers of the World, better known as the Wobblies. River drivers and loggers by the spring of 1917 had reached the end of their tolerance of an industry that marginalized their existence and trivialized their work. These men were no longer satisfied to work in camps that provided overcrowded, bug infested bunkhouses, inedible food, low pay and long hours. The IWW realized the potential power that resided with these transient woods workers and sought to organize them for the benefit of the 4 working class in its struggle with capitalism. The alliance of the IWW and the loggers of Northwest Montana, however, would be seen by the press, Governor Sam Stewart, the Montana legislature, and the federal government 1 2 as an internal threat to the security of the United States after its entry into World War One. Despite the legitimacy of the loggers' claims, they were victimized because of their association with the IWW. When the federal government decided to use troops in the timber industry and arrested IWW leaders on charges of treason and sedition, it effectively ended serious unionization of the West's timber industry for more than a decade and simultaneously denied the rank-and-file members of the IWW of its leadership. The focus of this thesis will be to resurrect the events of the 1917 timber strike in the Kootenai River Valley. Eureka, Montana was the area hardest hit by IWW strike activity. The Wobblies seemed to have a special enmity for the Eureka Lumber Company, which the company reciprocated. Libby, Montana, also located in Lincoln County's Kootenai valley, experienced IWW agitation in 1917 as well, but with slightly different results. This thesis will focus on the IWW activity in these two communities and how they handled the situation during the tumultuous months after the United States' entry into The Great War. The following chapters will cover a brief history of the development of each community's timber industry, Industrial Workers of the World union activity in the region, the events of the 1917 strike and the aftermath of the strike. While I will be concentrating on both the Eureka and Libby lumber companies, most of the thesis will 3 be based on the Eureka Lumber Company's activity countering the unionization of their workers. The Industrial Workers of the World sponsored a strike against the timber industry of northwest Montana in the spring of 1917. The goal was to obtain from the lumber companies higher wages, better living conditions in the logging camps, and the eight-hour day. The strike began in Eureka, Montana on April 12, 1917, just six days after President Wilson's declaration of war was passed by Congress. River drivers for the Eureka Lumber Company struck the spring river drive and their actions would spread down river in the summer of 1917 to the town of Libby.
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