Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, December 7, 2010
By Bill Kombol
The Miller boarding house was located about 500 feet east of Miller’s saloon, known as Ben’s Place.
This photo shows the 17-room boarding house belonging to Ben and LuLu (McCracken) Miller, which operated near a coal-mining town called Naco, the home of the Navy mine operations on the Naval coal seams.
Originally known as Sunset, the name was changed to Navy in 1908, and in 1916 the Northern Pacific railroad coined the term Naco for the railway stop.
The Miller boarding house was located about 500 feet east of Miller’s saloon, known as Ben’s Place. The boarding house primarily served coal miners from the various coal mine operations.
The Snoqualmie Coal Co. was the first to mine the Navy coal seams beginning in 1894 and lasted until 1900. Next came the Scranton Coal Co, the National Coal Co., and the Ozark Mining Co., which operated mines from 1914–1922.
Following the closure of Ozark, which was the largest, the Navy coal seams were operated by a series of small operators known as the NACO Coal Co., W.G. Keglar, Crow Lake Development Co., and Eureka–Navy.
During the 40-year history of coal mine operations, from 1894–1934, just under 290,000 tons of coal was mined.
Boarding homes, such as this large one built by the Miller family, provided rooms typically shared, meals, maid service, and a bath house, usually served by a small staff of family members and hired help.
This photo probably dates to the early 1900s and comes courtesy of Kenneth R. Miller, the grandson of Ben and LuLu Miller.
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