The Company Store

The fictional Hoffman family lived within the corporate structure known as Calumet & Hecla Mining Company.

It was a monopolistic structure; lovely for the owners and shareholders, not so good for the workers and their families. In a contemporary comparison, it'd be like all employees of Giant Sportswear Company, (name starting with "N" ending with "E") being required to live in corporate owned housing, given vouchers instead of pay, so they can only shop at the corporate grocery store. All clothing, cars, hardware, school supplies, were sold to employees by the corporation. Healthcare? Yes, they own the hospital too, including doctors and nurses. Without any market competition... well we can imagine how fairly that played out. Today, we can scarcely imagine living with those conditions imposed on us. We're completely accustomed to having broad freedoms independent of our employers.

Some employees did prefer the patriarchal security of this arrangement. Most everything was provided for the family until you were injured and could no longer work... or find an alternate to work in your place. If you were unable to return to the job, from injury, or possibly death, the family would be turned out of the community with little to no savings. If you openly disagreed with management, or questioned the status quo, you might find yourself out of a job and sent out of town with the few possessions you actually owned.

All this until the Western Mining Federation worked their way into the minds of miners, encouraging them to unionize. (gasp) Turbulence ensued and the community became divisive. Families and friends were split by differing philosophies and violence became common. C & H deputized citizens to protect company interests. Many families chose to flee the region and look for work elsewhere. Some became the early trickle of the great California Migration.

The Hoffman's participated in what was the last form of homesteading giveaways. Government programs no longer existed, so these parcels were second hand real estate given away by the railroads. After the railroads were constructed, the companies could afford to give away the least profitable properties. These properties had no inherent value, no water rights or utility access, and little desirability for agriculture. Giving away the land was a very inexpensive way for the railroad companies to seed new communities along the routes that would then be obligated to buy supplies from the rail traffic, as well as use the railway for travel to and from these far flung, isolated, unestablished communities. For the Hoffman's this land was just another company store dressed up in the disguise of independence.

Primary source: Cradle to Grave, Life, Work, and Death at the Lake Superior Copper Mines, Larry Lankton, copyright 1991