Lecture on Michael Davitt and the Colorado connection

Distinguished Irish American academic Professor James Walsh from the University of Colorado, Denver, will deliver a most informative and insightful lecture in the Michael Davitt museum, Straide, next Tuesday evening, June 14, at 8.pm.

Leadville, Colorado, at 10,200 ft. in elevation, is the highest town in the USA.

In the late 1800s, thousands of Irish immigrants, hoping to 'make their fortune' flocked to this most inhospitable region of America following the discovery of silver high in the Rocky Mountains.

The Irish immigrants comprised over 20% of Leadville's population at the time, undertaking the most difficult jobs, struggling unsuccessfully to improve their working conditions, with large numbers of fatalities due to the extremely harsh winters, mining accidents, sickness and epidemics.

Michael Davitt visited Leadville on a number of occasions, encouraging the miners and labourers to remain united in pursuit of better working conditions.

The Catholic pauper section of Leadville's Evergreen cemetery holds the remains of thousands of Irish immigrants buried in sunken, unmarked graves.

The average age of those who perished and died was just 23 years of age, with many children as young as 13 years also losing their lives here.

Today, as a result of Prof. Walsh's painstaking research and work, a major memorial garden is under construction, naming those who lost their lives here during Leadville's silver mining boom years.

James Walsh is an Associate Professor of Political Science and History at the University of Colorado in Denver, specialising in Irish working class immigrants in north America.

Michael Larkin, author of the book 'Making the Right Connections', who initially invited Prof. Walsh to visit Mayo, has collaborated closely with the Michael Davitt museum in the hosting of this eagerly anticipated lecture.