Supported by the Savoy Legislature, which recognized the mutual aid societies to acquire legal powers, associations multiplied, especially in northern Italy between 1860 and 1870 .

Even emigrants abroad soon felt the need to create similar associations, with the aim to provide assistance to members in case of sickness, unemployment, poverty and, in case of death, to cover funeral expenses and guarantee the financial and emotional support to the family .

In Rouse, this movement took shape in the Mutual Aid Society Dante Alighieri , founded October 26, 1902 by a mix of Italians and Tyroleans and moved to Walsenburg in 1913 and still active ( albeit with different purposes ) to Denver in promoting cultural Italian identity in the modern American society .

Its Rules and Regulations, written in Italian and English and showing the list of founders on the last page, is available by clicking the icon below

A special thanks to John Bellotti for documents and information.

Statuto

Courtesy Denver Public Library

The “Italian massacre” is one of a series of extreme violent episodes against Italian immigrants occurred at the turn of the XIX Century. The endless flow of immigration and the violence associated with labor agitation, which swept the country in the last decades of 1800, created an explosive mixture and spawned anti Italian sentiments, culminated in acts of lawless self-justice.

This specific case happened after the finding of an agonizing man behind the Rouse Saloon in March 1895; the man, who died shortly after being found, was named Abner Hixon and had served as a guard during the miners strike of 1894, he was last seen hanging out with a group of Italians the night before his murder.

Using the highest technology available at the time, a bloodhound, the local sheriff tracked down and promptly arrested a group of italians (nine or eleven); one, Lorenzo Audino was accused immediately of being the one beating Hixon to death with a club and was sent directly to Walsenburg’s jail. Four more (Antonio Gobetto, Francesco Ronchetto, Pietro Giacobino and Stanislao Vittone) were later charged of participating to the beating and were sent into a wagon to the trip to the jail.

The transport was attacked South of Walsenburg  by masked gunmen, who disarmed the guard and started shooting killing Vittone and the teenager driver, Joseph Wellsby. In the confusion Gobetto and Giacobino managed to escape and Ronchetto survived hiding inside the wagon.

The only surviving prisoner was then brought to the city jail in Walsenburg, joining Audino, while a mounted search for the fugitives

was organized. The same night at 1 AM more masked gunmen entered the jail and executed the two italians sparing the guard and another prisoner. For the record, Gobetto was never found, while Giacobino showed up with severe frostbites and lost a foot.

The episode, unfortunately not isolated (see the New Orleans lynching of 1881), caused the enraged reaction of the newly appointed Italian consul in Denver, but no justice was sought, the responsibles of the executions were never found and the case was discussed in February 1896 without convictions. The only “success” was a compensation of 10,000 $ (the equivalent of $ 300,000 today) for the families of the italian victims.

Coal exploitation in the area began as early as 1880 when a pioneer named George H. Wilson found coal along the Santa Clara creek and began extraction in an area formerly theater of not so friendly encounters between cowboys manning large cattle and groups of Apache, Ute and Pueblo Indians.

In the late 1880′s, the Colorado Fuel Company took over and operated the mine until 1892 when the mine became part of the CF&I holding. The camp was named Rouse No. 5, named after Samuel F. Rouse, co-founder together with John Osgood of the CF&I.

The mine flooded in 1899 and all machinery was transferred 5 miles north to the site of Rouse No 4, where extraction resumed the same year.

The community according to the 1910 census was of 562, mostly immigrants, of which around 300 worked in the mines. Permanent buildings such the Osgood School, the Colorado Supply Co. department store, a couple of saloons, a post office and a boarding house were established to answer the needs of the growing population.

Rouse continued operations becoming one of the most important mines in Southern Colorado; extraction continued after the wave of strikes in 1913 and through the war but another flood, in 1920, caused the closing of the mine and the consequent relocation of his workforce and abandon of the camp.

Rouse mine

General William Jackson Palmer

The history of the Colorado Fuel & Iron Company follows the vision of a retired Civil War General: William Jackson Palmer. A medal of honor recipient in the Union Cavalry army, Palmer was a railroad engineer who worked at the developing rail infrastructure in Pennsylvania just before the war; returned to civil life he moved west and founded in 1870 his own Railroad Company: the Denver and Rio Grande Railway (D&RG).

He understood that the fast development of the railways would dramatically increase the need for steel, his idea was to create a self sufficient industrial complex able to sustain his fast growing empire.

For this purpose a number subsidiaries were created to secure the exploitation of the natural resources (coal and water) necessary for the production of steel; these companies (The Central Colorado Improvement Company, The Southern Colorado Coal and Town Company and The Colorado Coal and Steel Works Company) were finally merged into the Colorado Coal and Iron Company in 1880.

John Osgood

In the same years another industrial pioneer, John Osgood, was tasked by the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad Company to assess the coal resources in Colorado. He visited each mine in Colorado and immediately understanding the huge potential, he started purchasing large lots of land and concessions from the newly formed State of Colorado.

In 1887 he founded the Colorado Fuel Company and just 5 years after the two arch rivals merged under Osgood management into the Colorado Fuel and Iron Company (CF&I), by far the largest private employer in Colorado.

In the last years of the nineteenth century the Company underwent a deep modernization and investment in capital equipment which completely drained the cash flow; the much needed injection of capital arrived from John D. Rockefeller Sr. who took over the company in 1903 and maintained control until the 40′s.

During this period thousands of immigrants from all over the world converged to Colorado. The hope of a better life at 2 $ per day brought together Italians, Mexicans, Japanese, Croatians, Hungarians, Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians and more creating melting pots and the basis for a future society.