As the silver mines began to close due to the continued drop in silver prices, unemployed miners and other workers from the Colorado mountains flooded into Denver in hopes of finding work. Because of the city's inability to take care of the jobless, some train companies began offering reduced or free fares for people wanting to travel from Denver.
National unemployment was estimated to be between 12% - 18% in 1894. Wages fell and a wave of severe strikes took place: notable in Colorado was the Cripple Creek miners' strike which lasted five months.