John Calderwood

Who is John Calderwood?

John Calderwood was born in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Little is known about his parentage or life. He went to work in the local coal mines at the age of nine while attending public night school.

Calderwood emigrated to the United States at the age 17, and attended the Mckeesport School of Mines in McKeesport, Pennsylvania. He graduated in 1876.

After graduation, Calderwood settled in Colorado. He was elected president of a miners' union in Aspen, Colorado. In November 1893, he traveled to Cripple Creek, Colorado at the behest of the Western Federation of Miners to organize the miners there.

Calderwood was president of the miner's union during the Cripple Creek miners' strike of 1894. As the strike began, Calderwood left for Salt Lake City, Utah, to attend the second convention of the WFM. His departure fortuitously left Junius J. Johnson, a former U.S. Army officer, in charge of the union. Johnson's planning and cool head helped the miners weather the initial assault by gangs of hired thugs sent to break the strike. Calderwood arrived back in Cripple Creek on the third day of the strike, and took control again. The strike was a major success.