|
  |
|
 
 ouisville,
Lafayette, and Erie all date to the 1870s, when seams of coal were discovered hidden just underground. Coal mining drew
immigrants to Colorado from places like Italy, France, Hungary, and Romania.
Women found unprecedented challenges as well as opportunities in eastern Boulder County. Some, like
Mary Colacci of Louisville, ran restaurants or boarding houses.
Others-often miners' widows-worked from home, taking on laundry or sewing jobs for the many bachelor miners in town.
The dangerous work of coal mining kept the nurses at the Union Labor Hospital
busy. Almost every woman who lived here felt the impact, for better or worse, of the coal mining industry.
|
|
|
