John G. Schoning of Bureau of Mines recommends certificate after rigid examinations

Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, October 17, 1921

Thirty-four win mine rescue and first aid diplomas at Newcastle: Six of the successful candidates are shown in the picture.

Look ‘em over!

On the first page of the Bulletin today is a photograph of six of the miners who have qualified for certificates as members of the Mine Rescue Team at Newcastle.

Seven others won diplomas for the same team, but were at work in the mine when the photographer was there, and could not come out to have their pictures taken. So we’ll print their photographs sometime in the near future.

Twenty-one miners qualified for the First Aid team, and the Bulletin hopes to be able to show their pictures also as soon as the camera man can get around to it. Affairs are a trifle mixed just now, and if some of the news features are printed in fragments the editor hopes his readers will forgive him for it.

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Mining town of Durham exists only in residents’ heads

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, October 17, 2006

By Barbara Nilson

Durham coal mine, August 1919 (Special Collections, University of Washington Libraries). This photo depicts the mine tipple and coal bunkers at the town of Durham in 1919, shortly before its acquisition by Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company Inc. The Durham Colliery Company sold the entire town to Morris Brothers in 1922. This photo was shot from a perch on a coal slag pile that still exists to this day, looking across the Kanaskat-Kangley Road and the railroad tracks visible in the lower foreground. (Photo from Bill Kombol’s collection, Palmer Coking Coal Company.)

There is nothing left of the mining town of Durham, once located in southeast King County near the town of Selleck, but it still exists in the minds of Valleyites who grew up there.

The Durham Colliery (English for coal mines and its buildings) was originally organized by Peter Kirk in 1886 to supply coal for the projected Kirkland steel mill. Durham was named for a town in Kirk’s native north England. Production was started in 1888 but coal was only mined until 1889. In 1910, the mines were started again and coal was produced throughout WWI. The mines and associated mining facilities, i.e. hotel, bunkers and company houses, were sold as one unit to the Morris brothers.

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