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Delagua, Colorado

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Delagua, Colorado

Delagua is a ghost town in Las Animas County, Colorado, United States. The town site is about 5 miles (8 km) south of Aguilar.

Delagua developed around the Delagua bituminous coal mine, operated by the Victor American Fuel Company. As of 1922, it was the largest mine in Colorado.

Delagua is a name derived from Spanish meaning "of the water". Delagua was incorporated as a town in 1903, and its post office opened the same year. The Colorado and Southeastern Railway was extended to serve the mine and town.

On November 8, 1910, an explosion in the mine killed 76 miners. A smaller disaster on May 27, 1927, killed six.

Delagua was also the site of armed conflict between strikers and strike-breakers during the Colorado Coalfield War in 1914. A Colorado House of Representatives subcommittee heard testimony that strikebreaking workers were lured to the Delagua mine under false pretenses and held there by force.

The mine was abandoned in 1969.

References

Delagua, Colorado Wikipedia