The Empire Zinc Company was a subsidiary of the New Jersey Zinc Company. It originally held claims in the Gilman Mining district in Colorado. From 1912 to 1915, the New Jersey Zinc Company acquired and consolidated the mines as the Eagle Mines and operated Empire Zinc Company as a subsidiary. It also bought the town of Gilman, Colorado and ran it as a company town. The Eagle Mine site at Gilman is an EPA Superfund site. The 1954 movie "Salt of the Earth" was based on the 1951 strike against New Jersey Zinc Company's Empire Zinc mine in Bayard, New Mexico.
