Chapters 29-31 Summary and Analysis

Junior separates himself from all businesses but one, his mining business in Colorado. His father purchases the Colorado Fuel and Iron company in 1902 and Junior wants to try to make it profitable. An explosion occurs on January 31, 1910. Rockefeller has always opposed labor unions and this policy is carried out at CFI, which is being run by La Mont Montgomery Bowers, a relative of Gates and there are labor problems at the firm. Union organizers are trying to form a union and the companies bring in armed guards. During a strike, the miners are evicted from their company homes and live in tents near Ludlow.

Violence erupts at the tent city. Some strikers are killed along with women and children. The event becomes known as the Ludlow Massacre. Crowds blame Junior and Senior, and there are demonstrations around them. When...