John Aylard Finch (1852 in England – June 20, 1915, in Hayden Lake, Idaho) was an affluent English immigrant, businessman and philanthropist in the Inland Northwest region of the United States. Early life John Aylard Finch was born in England in 1852 to parents Sophia Aylard Finch and William Finch. When John was 5-years-old, the family immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio where he would begin school when he was eight. He finished school at 13 and began working in the iron and steel industries. His work took him to Montreal, Canada, Chicago, Illinois, Denver, Colorado, and finally Leadville, Colorado, where he began his career in mining and met longtime business partner Amasa B. Campbell. Career Mining In 1891 Finch and a syndicate of capitalists including Campbell and Patsy Clark incorporated Hecla Mining in Burke, Idaho. Finch served as a principal implementing the policies of his district's Mine Owners Association (MOA). In early 1892, the MOA reduced pay for "low skilled" underground workers by $0.50 per day. Coeur d'Alene district miners asserted that all underground work is equally dangerous and refused to work if their workmates weren't properly compensated. In July 1892, Finch, on behalf of the MOA, was found to have been communicating with Thiel Detective Service Co. detective Charlie Siringo, who was contracted as an undercover informant for the purpose of unionbusting. In response, Union members organized the 1892 Coeur d'Alene labor strike which culminated in a gunfight between Union members, mine guards and strikebreakers at Finch's Gem Mine and the dynamiting of an abandoned ore mine nearby, which killed several people. On July 13, the Governor of Idaho declared Martial Law in Shoshone County which lasted for four months. General Thomas H. Ruger telegraphed that 200 additional troops had been ordered from Fort Keogh. The governor had telegraphed General James F. Curtis to arrest all persons implicated in the recent outrages. The local jail could not house all of the striking workers, and a number of miners were confined in a large outdoor bullpen. Undercover Thiel detectives would continue to provide Union secrets to Finch & Campbell Mining Firm as late as April 1901. With the help of Siringo's testimony, 18 Union leaders were convicted in relation to the Coeur d'Alene miners' dispute, including future Western Federation of Miners founder and Industrial Workers of the World leader George Pettibone. By 1893, Finch & Campbell had expanded their mining enterprises