Centennial Year: Morganville – a town born out of strife

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, May 26, 1982

In honor of Black Diamond’s coming centennial celebration, the Voice is featuring a series of weekly historical articles about the community. This is the fifth installment. (See the first, second, third, and fourth installments.)

By Diane Olson

This is one of the houses built by the striking Black Diamond coal miners in 1922. It was moved from Morganville and is now [1982] located in Franklin.

The town of Morganville, population approximately 1,000, was officially “dedicated” on April 2, 1922. It was the response of the Black Diamond miners to the lockout by the Pacific Coast Company the previous year.

Morganville and Uniontown, which was constructed at Newcastle, were two unique towns in the United States of America. They had been built by striking coal miners who had been replaced by strike-breakers imported by the company. Most striking miners moved to tent towns. These miners built a town.

Black Diamond boasts unique brew of history

Originally published in the Enumclaw Courier-Herald, June 2, 1982

In its early, bustling heydays, a crowd of Black Diamond citizens gathered in front of the railroad depot (the dark building at right) to greet the train.

By Keith Ervin

Carl Steiert insists he didn’t know why one of his customers wanted him to solder a lid onto a copper wash tub.

Only later, he claims, did he realize the device was to become a still for making moonshine. Prohibition isn’t forgotten in Black Diamond.

In the historical museum that will open Sunday are what Steiert calls a “family size” still and a smaller, more personal size still. Out on the back porch of the railroad depot-turned-museum is a device the local historian calls “a commercial one.”

Black Diamond miss saves three lives

Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, May 28, 1925

Miss Marjorie Eten, Black Diamond young lady, who recently rescued three from drowning in Lake 12, has been recommended as worthy of a Carnegie medal for her heroism. Miss Eten is a Camp Fire Girl and a junior in Black Diamond High School.

Rescuing three people from drowning in two weeks’ time is no ordinary exploit, the performance of which should command the respect and admiration of everyone. But when the rescuer is a 17-year-old high school girl who only learned to swim a few summers ago, the deed becomes heroic.

Miss Marjorie Eten, who lives with her mother, Mrs. Laura Eten, at Black Diamond, is the heroine. Two weeks ago, while enjoying an outing at Lake 12, the popular resort near Black Diamond, she saved the life of a boy who had gone beyond his depth while swimming in the lake. But quiet and unassuming, she made no mention of it at the time, and the boy whom she saved from a watery grave, who was camping with his parents at the lake, has gone on his way deeply grateful to be alive.

Again last week, when a crowd of Black Diamond residents were enjoying a picnic at the resort at Lake 12, Dalby Price, a Boy Scout living with his brother-in-law, W.C. Jenkins, got beyond his depth while bathing in the lake. J.D. Walton, a miner at Black Diamond, immediately plunged in to his rescue, but the drowning boy grasped him in such a manner as to make them both helpless.

Miss Eten, who was swimming further out in the lake, at once realized the danger of the situation and swam quickly to their aid. She cleverly broke the grip of the frantic boy and save the lives of both, who were soon brought the forty feet in to the shore and to safety.

Miss Eten has but recently taken a course in first aid training under the United States Bureau of Mines. She is also a member of Suota Camp Fire Girls and a junior in Black Diamond High School. Her many friends declare that she deserves a Carnegie medal for her acts of heroism in risking her life to save others in danger.

Early 1900s: King Coal made Black Diamond third largest city in Washington

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, May 12, 1982

In honor of Black Diamond’s coming centennial celebration, the Voice is featuring a series of weekly historical articles about the community. This is the fourth installment. (See the first, second, and third installments.)

By Diane Olson

Ted Barner, a former coal miner, stands at the “mine entrance” he has constructed at the Black Diamond Museum. – Photo by Diane Olson

Coal—the mineral that made Black Diamond the third largest city in the state in the early 1900s. Coal—the significant contributor to the economic growth of Seattle and its establishment as the major port on Puget Sound.

The rich McKay vein was discovered in 1880 by Victor Tull, an engineer for the Black Diamond Mining Company of Nortonville, Calif.

It spread from Franklin to Ravensdale, with Black Diamond in the middle. It contained almost “pure” bituminous coal—very clean coal with a light ash (no clinkers after burning) and very low in sulfur. It was ideal to burn for steam to run ships, trains and generate electricity.

Centennial Year: Miners in early 1900s ‘owed their souls to company store’

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, May 5, 1982

The first company store stood where the Black Diamond Bakery is now located. After the store burned in 1907, an existing three-story building was moved down from Lawson Hill to replace it. It was placed about a block away just south of King’s Tavern, now called the 180 building. “Dago Town” is shown in the background.

In honor of Black Diamond’s coming centennial celebration, the Voice is featuring a series of weekly historical articles about the community. This is the third installment. (See the first and second installments.)

By Diane Olson

In 1907, Duda Vernarelli got himself a pair of treasured boots. He wore them with pride until, as rumor has it, they fell off his feet.

He had searched every coal miner’s “back yard fire pile” to find one left and one right boot, but to no avail. He finally had to settle for two left boots. He wore them anyway.

What was a “back yard fire pile?”

The Pacific Coast Company store had burned to the ground. When the damaged merchandise was tossed outside, residents of the town could sort through it and take what they wanted, which they did. Each family had their own pile of “bounty” in their yard. Then they went from house to house—pile to pile—matching the trading items.

The free loot was a far cry from the regular company policy, for more than one miner “owed his soul to the company store.”

Coal mines sold: Black Diamond property purchased by Pacific Coast Co.

Deal pending for more than a year finally closed at San Francisco: Price is said to have been a million dollars

Originally published in the Enumclaw Courier, May 20, 1904

This hoist foundation was constructed by the Black Diamond Coal Company in 1885. It was used to pull coal cars out of Mine 14, located near Jones Lake. It’s believed to be the only artifact from BDCC’s mine workings that’s still in place.

Seattle, May 14 — A San Francisco special to the Times says: J. C. Ford, general manager of the Pacific Coast Company, has been in this city for some days negotiating with President H. H. Taylor for the Black Diamond coal mines in the Puget Sound country. Yesterday afternoon at the office of the Black Diamond Company a representative of the Times was told that the deal had been closed. The price names was $1,000,000.

The purchase of the Black Diamond properties by the Pacific Coast Company, announced a few days ago, has just been officially confirmed by dispatches from San Francisco. The Pacific Coast Company at once assumes control of the vast coal deposits and workings and will undertake large extensions.

Centennial Year: Thirty-five carpenters built Black Diamond

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, April 28, 1982

Most of the company houses were constructed from “local timber” by the 35 carpenters the company had hired to build Black Diamond.

In honor of Black Diamond’s coming centennial celebration, the Voice is featuring a series of weekly historical articles about the community. This is the second installment. (See the first installment.)

By Diane Olson

Imagine having to haul lumber to a place where the trees were so dense, people had to burn some down in order to fall others.

When the Black Diamond Mining Company of Nortonville, California, first began to set up its new South King County mine, lumber wasn’t immediately available because there were no mills close by. So the company shipped redwood lumber to the site along with mining equipment from Nortonville. The timber in the area was so dense that when crews began logging, trees had to be burned so that workers could fall others.

A few miner’s houses were built with the redwood, along with the “show hall,” a fitting place for the many musical groups and plays the Welsh community produced.

A few miner’s houses were built with the redwood, along with the “show hall,” a fitting place for the many musical groups and plays the Welsh community produced. However, most of the company houses were constructed from “local timber” by the 35 carpenters the company had hired to build Black Diamond.

The first to arrive, via boot and train, were 200 to 300 Welsh people from the old company town, Nortonville, in 1884. A quarter of a century before, many of these same families had made a similar voyage together from Wales.