Railway-driven settlers
The DSP&P established their headquarters in Como, which resulted in many of their employees and families settling the area. The town became one of the most prominent in Park County due to railroad activity and equipment maintenance operations. The company purchased land in Como and established policy rules that only company employees could buy lots or build houses in the town. While there were many Chinese laborers residing there, they were not considered company employees and were thus unable to purchase land or build houses.[1]
Due to extreme conditions that railway employees faced in the Colorado Mountains, the opportunities for promotion were more plentiful than in other parts of the country. A fireman could become an engineer within three to four years, and make a decent living in the process, but the career came at a cost. Railroad employees were required to work every day of the month, without a single day off, earning themselves $100 per month. These conditions were challenging both for the employees and for their families. ‘Shovelers’ were another group laborers that were faced with extreme conditions. They were often hired from Denver during the wintertime to live in rail cars and shovel snow from tracks along the way when rotary plows got stuck.[2]
A significant number of railway laborers were immigrants from Italy and China. “The town [itself] was named for the lake and city in Italy, that was the original home of many of the Italian coal miners and stonemasons who lived in the area.”[3] These two ethnic groups were in conflict with one another as well as other European-American settlers. Race relations repeatedly provoked arguments and brawls amongst workers, leading to what is refered to as the ‘Como Wars.’ “In the 1880s and 1890s Chinese immigrants were greatly feared…because they were willing to work for less money than the Italian and German immigrants in the state’s mining camps.”[4] Some mines used Italian laborers as well as Chinese immigrants, whom they paid less money. Due to the impending fear of losing their jobs, the Italian workers would randomly and violently attack the Chinese population.[5]