Valdez

History

Colorado Fuel & Iron, under the guidance of first John D. Rockefeller and then his son John D. Rockefeller Jr., greatly expanded in the southern Colorado coalfields in the decade following their 1903 investment in the company. Among these expansions was the construction of the Valdez mine in 1907. Soon after its creation, the mine was renamed to "Frederick" and rapidly expanded, producing bituminous coal sent to the coking ovens at Segundo. Frederick coal was also, from 1918 onwards, shipped towards the CF&I Minnequa steel mill along the Colorado and Wyoming Railway, part of the company's vertical integration strategy. During this early period, Apache Indians reportedly frequented the town and surrounding area. In 1913-14, CF&I–supported by the Colorado National Guard and Baldwin–Felts detectives–fought the Colorado Coalfield War against striking United Mine Workers of America miners. While Valdez had been one of company towns not to see significant participation in the strike, the violence of the Ludlow Massacre and the succeeding days forced Rockefeller, Jr. to improve CF&Is image. He hired public relations specialist Ivy Lee and future Canadian prime minister William Lyon Mackenzie King for this task and would visit Valdez in September 1915 as part of a general tour of the coal mining region. Out of these efforts, the "Rockefeller Plan" of company town improvement and company-led unionization was born. By 1917, the mine was producing roughly 1,500 tons of coal a day with the work of 500 men and 28 mules. Trams replaced the mules in 1940 and total miners swelled to 750 men. The total production of the mine before its closure in 1960 was over 29.6 million tons.

Geography

Valdez is in western Las Animas County, in the valley of the Purgatoire River. It is bordered to the west by Segundo. Colorado State Highway 12 runs along the northern edge of the community, leading east (downriver) to Trinidad, the county seat, and west (upriver) to Stonewall Gap. The Valdez CDP has an area of , all land.

Largest nearby schools

• Fisher's Peak Elementary School
  Elementary · TRINIDAD · 403 students · 20.1:1 ratio
• Trinidad High School
  High · TRINIDAD · 213 students · 15.2:1 ratio
• Trinidad Middle School
  Middle · TRINIDAD · 180 students · 16.4:1 ratio
• Primero Elementary School
  Elementary · WESTON · 145 students · 20.7:1 ratio
• Primero Junior-Senior High School
  High · WESTON · 113 students · 11.3:1 ratio