Oideas Gael to host talk on the lost Irish of Leadville and their Donegal connections

The tales of those from southwest Donegal who travelled to Leadville, Colorado in the 1880s and are buried in unmarked graves will be brought to life next week.

Dr James Walsh from the University of Colorado will give a talk, 'The Lost Irish of Leadville, Colorado: An Irish Pauper Cemetery at 10,200 Feet’, at Oideas Gael in Gleann Cholm Cille on Thursday, June 13, at 7pm.

The talk will have a particular Donegal interest, and Dr Walsh will highlight the Irish who travelled to Leadville from Ardara and other parts of south-west Donegal. The event is open to the public free of charge.

The Irish occupied the bottom rung of Leadville’s social ladder, worked the mines and smelters, loved, struggled, dreamed, and died young.

In the early 1880s, nearly 3,000 Irish-born people lived in Leadville and surrounding gulches, scratching out a bare existence, and then moving on to Denver, Cripple Creek, Butte, and the west coast.

Twice they led massive strikes, walking out of the sliver mines and bringing the Colorado economy to a stop. They demanded a raise from $3 to $4/day, an 8 hour workday, better safety codes, and the right to organize a union.

Some 1,300 immigrants were eventually buried in unmarked, sunken graves in the Catholic Pauper section of Evergreen Cemetery at Leadville, and it is estimated that 70–80% of these were Irish. The talk will shed new light on their fate and highlight a lesser-known aspect of the Irish immigrant experience in the United States.

Dr Walsh is Assistant Professor in Political Science at University of Colorado Denver. His research specialises in Labor, Working Class and Immigration History/Politics and has a particular interest in Irish American History.

He was involved in bringing about the Leadville Irish Miners’ Memorial unveiled in 2021. His talk will appeal to all those with an interest in the Irish and Donegal emigrant experience.

Further information about this event is available from the Oideas Gael office at (074) 97 30248 or by e-mail to oifig@oideasgael.ie.

A spokesperson for Oideas Gael said: “Oideas Gael is proud to present this talk as part of a special programme of events to mark 40 years since the organisation’s foundation. The recent June bank holiday weekend kicked off Oideas Gael’s summer programme of courses.

“Over the coming 13 weeks hundreds of participants from across Ireland and around the globe will take part in Irish language courses and cultural activity holidays in Gleann Cholm Cille, Gleann Fhinne and Toraigh (Tory Island).”