[2] However, the company was severely impacted by the Great Depression, declining productivity of local coal deposits, and the increased popularity of natural gas, and went bankrupt in 1944.
Fifteen years later and owning eight Southern Colorado and Western Slope coal mines in Rockvale, Sopris, Trinidad, Maitland and Cardiff, E.E.
Shumway died in 1914 from injuries sustained while investigating the aftermath of the disastrous 1913 explosion that killed 37 miners at the Coryell Vulcan mine in Garfield County.
Roche eventually became Vice-President and Treasurer of the company, and took over management of RM Fuel after the death of D.W. Brown in June 1922.
[3] The company is notable among the many coal mine operators in the same region at the time for its leadership by Josephine Roche.
[1] Roche was a dedicated believer in labor unions, and soon after becoming president she invited the United Mine Workers of America back to Rocky Mountain Fuel Company's mines, offering top pay and taking actions to repair labor-management relations.
[5] John R. Lawson, unionist and United Mine Workers of America leader during the 1903 Cripple Creek strike and 1913-14 Coalfield War, served as vice president of the company from 1927 to 1939.