State educators to visit mine

Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, April 30, 1925

Josephine Corliss Preston

Following a three-day convention of the County School Superintendents of the state at Olympia, at which were present a number of prominent national and state educational leaders, the delegates have been invited to visit Carbonado Mine as the guests of the Pacific Coast Coal Company.

Mrs. Josephine Corliss Preston, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and Mrs. Clare Ketchum Tripp, Director of the Washington Industries Educational Bureau, have arranged for those attending the convention to visit a number of industrial plants in Tacoma on Thursday morning, April 30.

Immediately following lunch, the party will be conducted by auto to Carbonado, via South Prairie and Wilkeson. Details of the program will be found on the last page of the Bulletin.

Read Full Post »

Dream of couple on Dorre Don unfolds as pioneer log house gradually rises

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, April 28, 1976

In the pioneer, bicentennial spirit is this log house going up on the Lower Dorre Don Way. It’s on the river, and how do the owners feel about that? ‘We love it,’ they say. (Voice photo by Bob Gerbing.)

A log house is something Ronald and Bonnie Keller have always wanted.

Day by day their dream is slowly unfolding as the pioneer-style log house is gradually rising on a riverside site at 29225 Lower Dorre Don Way S.E.

“The only way we could get a permit to build here on the river was to flood-proof our house,” Keller said last week.

“We had to put a 48-foot concrete foundation on an 8-foot-footing in order to have the house above the 100-year flood plain,” he explained.

The Kellers are doing most of the work themselves with the help of relatives and friends.

Read Full Post »

Market is unique to Ravensdale

Originally published in the Enumclaw Courier-Herald, April 28, 2004

By Wally DuChateau

Make no mistake about it, friends, as Seattle’s urban sprawl moves onto our Plateau, it brings county and state regulations that sound the death knell for many of our most cherished and picturesque traditions. Long-standing customs and businesses suddenly become illegal. And the newly-enforced laws frequently don’t make a lot of sense.

Take, for example, the Ravensdale Market. This old, down-home institution has been around for a century. Only God knows what the original structure was used for, but the Markus family bought the building in 1908, used horses and skids to drag it across the street to its present location, and turned it into a grocery store. It has been a community center for Ravensdale and the surrounding region ever since.

Read Full Post »

Folk song composer appears April 14

Originally published in the MVHS Bugle, April 1992

Dan Palmer and his pup, Pal, will entertain April 14, 7:30 p.m. at the Maple Valley Community Center. (Photo by B. Nilson)

The historical society is sponsoring an evening performance by a Black Diamond folk singer and musician, Dan Palmer, April 14, 7:30 p.m. at the Maple Valley Community Center.

This will be in lieu of the regular afternoon meeting the third Monday of April. “If it is successful, we’ll schedule more evening meetings as requested by some of our members,” said Barbara Nilson, president.

Palmer composes songs about the Northwest including “Washington Territory,” “Mount St. Helens,” and “Wagon Train” that he completed just days before he joined the wagon train that crossed the state for the Centennial in 1989.

His song “Black Diamond Mines” was written for that town’s 100th birthday celebration in 1986. The ballad is about Dooda Vernarelli, his neighbor, who told him about the significance of the whistles blowing in the mines.

There will also be sing-a-longs to popular old-time tunes, he said.

Admission to pay for the entertainment is $3 for the general public; $2 for historical society members; and $1 for children under 12.

Coffee and cookies will be provided by the historical society.

Read Full Post »

Lack of volunteer help imperils Black Diamond Labor Day fete

Originally published in The News Tribune, April 23, 1995

By Lisa Kremer
The News Tribune

For 47 years, Black Diamond’s Labor Day celebration has displayed the essence of a close-knit small town.

There were three-legged races. A greased-pole climb. A shoe-kicking contest. And a parade everyone in the community could join—and did.

But this year, organizers are afraid there might be no three-day Labor Day celebration. Only three people came to the last organizational meeting, said Lorianne Taff, who was there.

Taff moved to Black Diamond less than two years ago.

“I fell in love with the town and the charm of the town, and I want to see it preserved,” Taff said.

Read Full Post »

Pacific Coast depot at Black Diamond

Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, April 23, 1925

Years ago, the railroad depot was the most popular place in every small city or town, and the daily arrival of the limited was an event seldom missed by the population. Automobiles and motor stages have changed all this, however, and today the highway is more popular than the railway. Nevertheless, the Pacific Coast depot at Black Diamond is still an important place in the camp, and the daily dispatching of long train loads of coal is a sight most pleasing to everyone.

Read Full Post »

Hook, line and sinker—Opening Day 1919

Originally published in North Maple Valley Living, April 2019

By JoAnne Matsumura

Anglers took to the lakes and streams at dawn for opening day of fishing on “All Fool’s Day,” April 1, 1919, and those along the Cedar River reported “the fish were biting fine.”

State Game and Fish Commissioner L.H. Darwin reported that this was best year ever for angling with excellent conditions in King County. At Lake Wilderness, the water was clear, fairly high, with trout being taken principally, yet offering good bass.

Licenses in the state exceeded 2,500, and school attendance was expected to have a marked decrease with a flood of creative excuses. Game wardens were on the job for fishing pranks, fish under 6 inches, and those setting traps.

Read Full Post »

Briquets to heat Yakima orchards

Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, April 16, 1925

Thousands of Diamond Briquets have been shipped into the Yakima Valley this spring to protect the blossoming fruit trees from damage due to killing frosts. Throughout the orchards of Eastern Washington more than one hundred thousand briquet heaters are now playing their part in the production of bumper crops by radiating the warm glow of red hot briquets against the heretofore invulnerable attacks of Jack Frost.

The scene depicted herewith shows a shipment of Diamond Briquets being unloaded at the yards of Western Fuel Company in Yakima. The trucks are loading fuel to go to the orchards. At the same time, while being so extensively burned in the fruit districts, briquets are continuing to grow in popularity for use in logging operations and for steam shovel use, to say nothing of domestic demand.

Read Full Post »

Murderers of Marshal Miller are captured at crest of Cascades

Originally published in The Seattle Star, April 14, 1908

One is found with bullet hole through his leg

Both confess participation in the shooting that led to the death of Kent marshal—Star staff correspondent with the posse when the men were captured—Prisoners give description of fourth man, who escaped

By G. Stuart Costello
Special Staff Correspondent

G. Stuart Costello, a member of The Star’s local staff, was the only newspaper correspondent actually with Deputy Sheriff Starwich’s posse during the hard tramp over the mountains on the trail of the murderer of Marshal Frank Miller. Other correspondents were some distance in the rear. This information does not come to The Star from Mr. Costello, who is a modest young gentleman, but comes from Deputy Sheriffs Joe Hill and Chet Belding, who reached Seattle this morning.

MARTIN, Wash., April 14—After a dramatic chase extending over 20 miles, over the crest of the Cascade mountains through Snoqualmie Pass, the posse headed by Deputy Sheriffs Matt Starwich and John Liner yesterday captured Yoven S. Borsvich, aged 23, and Nick Pettrich, aged 28, the remaining members of the gang, which on last Thursday night, shot and fatally wounded Marshal Frank Miller at Kent, and later wounded Deputy Sheriff Jack Storey in the Snoqualmie Valley.

Pettrich has a bullet hole through the lower part of his left leg and will either lose his leg or his life from blood poisoning. The man spent two days and nights barefooted in the snow of the mountains, and the wound is suppurating badly.

The wound was received in the battle with Deputies Starwich and Storey Saturday. One of Starwich’s bullets also passed through the lapel and back of the man’s coat.

Read Full Post »

Valley history depicted on Bicentennial quilt

Originally published in the Voice of the Valley, April 14, 1976

By D’Ann Pedee

Bicentennial quilt: Thirty Maple Valley women are now putting the finishing touches on a handcrafted quilt as part of their Bicentennial year activities. The thirty patches, some of which are shown above, will depict this area historically, spotlighting some of its past and present. — Voice photo by Bob Gerbing

How do you place a value on a handcrafted quilt?

Perhaps by the amount of money it can be sold for or by averaging the time and services spent in completing it.

When finished, the Maple Valley Arts Committee could possibly have a three-thousand-dollar product on its hands. That’s the amount of money it is hoped will raised by raffling be of the Bicentennial quilt that thirty local women are in the process of completing.

Read Full Post »