Colorado Fuel and Iron
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The Colorado Fuel and Iron (CF&I) steel mill on the south side of town was the main industry in Pueblo, Colorado for most of its history . The steel-market crash of 1982 lead to the decline of the company. After going through several bankruptcies, the company was acquired by Oregon Steel Mills and recently changed its name to Rocky Mountain Steel Mills. In November 2006, it was announced that the plant, along with the rest of Oregon Steel's holdings, was to be aquired by Evraz Group SA, a Russian steel corporation, for $2.3 billion.
Several of the administration buildings, including the main office building, dispensary, and tunnel gatehouse were recently purchased by the Bessemer Historical Society. They are currently undergoing renovation, and will eventually house a museum and the CF&I Archives.
Out of the many production and fabrication mills which once existed on the site, only the steel production (electric furnaces, used for scrap recycling), rail, rod, bar, and seamless tube mills are still in operation. The wire mill was sold in the late 1990's to Davis Wire, which still runs it and produces products such as fence and nails under the CF&I brand name. In the fall of 2006, expansion plans for the rail mill were announced. Once completed, the mill will be able to produce rail lengths of up to 480ft (up from the current 80ft), lenghts currently possible only in a few European plants.
The facility operated a number of blast furnaces until 1982, when the bottom fell out of the steel market. The main blast furnace structures were torn down in 1989, but due to asbestos content, many of the adjacent stoves and support buildings still remain. The stoves and foundations for some of the furnaces can be easily seen from Interstate 25, which runs parallel to the plant's west boundary.
[edit] Other Holdings
Through the process of vertical integration, the company came to own more than just the main steel plant. Over the course of a century, CF&I operated coal mines throughout southern Colorado, as well as iron mines in Wyoming and Utah, limestone quarries, smaller mines for other materials going into the steelmaking process, and the Colorado and Wyoming Railroad. The Colorado Supply company store was also owned and operated by CF&I.
[edit] Labor Incidents
Over the course of its history, the company has had several major labor disputes. The most famous of these culminated in the famous Ludlow Massacre at one of its coal mines in 1914. In 1997, the steelworkers union voted to strike over alleged unfair labor practices. The company hired permanent replacement workers, leading to further tension between the company and the union. The strike has not been resolved to this day.