Formation of The WFM
The Coeur d'Alene miners had received financial assistance from miners' unions in Butte, Montana, who had also paid legal fees for their attorney, James H. Hawley. While the union leaders were still in jail, Hawley suggested that mine unions in the West needed to form a united front, and the union leaders agreed. The Western Federation of Miners (WFM) was formed in 1893 in Butte.
Boyce served a six-month jail term for contempt of court for his role in the 1892 Coeur d'Alene miners' strike, and was blacklisted by the mine owners.
After his release in 1893, Boyce prospected for a time in the Bitterroot Mountains in Montana before returning to Coeur d'Alene. He obtained work in the mines and was elected president of the Coeur d'Alene Executive Miners' Union, a post he held until 1895.
Although not present for its founding, Boyce attended the WFM's second convention in 1894 and was elected to its executive board. With its headquarters in Coeur d'Alene, nearly all the mines in the Idaho panhandle except for the Bunker Hill and Sullivan Mine recognized the union. Still, the WFM barely survived the next three years.
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