Rogers No. 3: The last underground coal mine in Washington state

Originally published in the BDHS newsletter, Fall 2020

By Bill Kombol

Dec.17, 1975 at 2:30 p.m. Residual smoke from a dynamite blast hovers while a group of coal miners inspect the Rogers No. 3 portal: John Streepy, Charles Anselmo, John Costanich, Tony Basselli, George Savicke, Bob Morris, Bill McLoughry. Dec. 1975 photo by Carl Falk.

At 2:30 p.m., on December 17, 1975, employees of Palmer Coking Coal Company (Palmer) placed dynamite within the portal entrance to the Rogers No. 3 mine. The subsequent explosion marked the closing of the state’s last underground coal mine, ending a significant chapter in the history of Washington.

The Rogers No. 3 entrance was located near the 262nd block of SE Kent-Kangley Road in Ravensdale, Washington. It was a continuation of the same mine accessed from the Rogers No. 1 and Rogers No. 2 portals where underground coal mining commenced in 1959 and 1960 respectively.

The Rogers coal seam crosses a gently sloping hill which reaches an elevation of 800 feet at the center of the mine. The hill descends north to the Summit-Landsburg Road and south towards Kent-Kangley. The seam was unique in mining history as the coal tilts almost straight up in places.

Coal was formed during the Eocene period about 35-55 million years ago, developing in beds comprised from thousands of years of decaying vegetation. In the Pacific Northwest uplift from the Cascade Range turned and twisted those sedimentary layers into pitching coal seams creating challenging mining conditions.

At the Rogers mine, the seam angle sometimes approached 90º or near vertical. The seam was 16 feet wide consisting of coal, inter-bedded shale, and parting rock.

An early, underground photo during the first year of mining at Rogers No. 1. L to R: Bob Coutts, John Maks, Max Manowski, and Albert Rossi. Dec. 1959 photo by Evan Morris.

The mine was initially developed in 1958 when the first portal opening (Rogers #1) was dug into the hillside above Summit-Landsburg.

According to Bob Coutts, who worked in several Palmer mines from 1953-60, after miners encountered a fault in the coal (an area where the seam is laterally displaced), Palmer’s bulldozer operator, Enoch Rogers was directed to discover which direction the seam moved.

After uncovering the seam again a second portal adjacent to the Summit-Landsburg Road wye opened (Rogers #2). After that, both miners and management began referring to the mine as the Rogers’ seam and each opening was so named.

A third and final opening, Rogers #3, was sited just north of Kent-Kangley near a slight bend in the road.

Enoch Rogers had a long history with Palmer. His father, Joseph Matthias Rogers emigrated from Wales to the U.S., and in 1909 moved to Black Diamond. Joe, along with two sons, Llewelyn and Enoch, worked for Palmer, first at Durham and later Landsburg.

Lew McCauley operates an electric motor pulling a load of coal cars on rail tracks in the Rogers No. 3 mine. Jan. 1973 photo by Larry Abele.

Palmer was incorporated in Durham in 1933 and later absorbed Morris Brothers Coal Mining Co., which was founded and bought the town and its mines in 1921.

The two Rogers brothers famously set a Durham mine record in 1939. During one 8-hour shift, they air-drilled and shot a round of 24 holes, the dynamite blast loosening the coal. They next hand-loaded rail cars with 2.5 ton of coal. Each was pushed out the mine, dumped, and pushed back to fill again. By shift’s end 30 cars were dumped and their 75-ton production effort set a record for non-mechanical mining.

Bill Kombol hands a stick of dynamite to John Costanich as they prepare to blast coal on the 4th level of the Rogers No. 3 Mine. April 1974 photo by Barry Kombol

The respect with which Enoch and the entire Rogers family was held, no doubt contributed to the history of the coal seam which still bears that name.

The three connected mine openings operated on four levels the deepest of which was 800 feet below at sea level. The four gangway levels were connected by crosscuts and counter tunnels used for access, drilling, and circulation of fresh air throughout the mine.

Mining was accomplished by drilling into the seam with dynamite blasts causing broken coal to cave through vertical openings. There it was captured in chutes or machine-loaded onto five-ton coal cars, then transported by electric trolleys on rail tracks to the bottom of the slope. A thick steel cable pulled by an electric hoist brought one car at a time from mine to surface for initial handling through a sorting screen and across a picking table.

Surface facilities included the tipple, hoist room, machine shop, fan house, and storage bunkers. Raw coal was next transported by dump trucks for cleaning and sizing in Black Diamond at the coal preparation facility locally known as the Mine 11 wash plant. In 17 years of operation the mine produced over 493,000 tons of coal, an average of 29,037 tons per year.

Lew McCauley, Joe Ozbolt, John Costanich, and George Savicke relax outside the hoist room at the Rogers No. 3 mine. April 1974 photo by Barry Kombol.

The operation typically supported a crew of 16 to 25 coal miners working two shifts, though employment dwindled towards the end of mining. Most clean coal was sold to institutional users such as the University of Washington in Seattle; Rainier School in Buckley; or prison facilities in Shelton and Monroe.

During the 1960s and 1970s, many large state institutions began converting their fuel source from coal to natural gas. In addition, strict mine safety laws failed to recognize the unique nature of the mine’s vertically dipping coal seam, causing increased mining expenses. Declining markets for coal coupled with escalating production costs resulted in a decision to close Rogers No. 3.

The morning and afternoon shifts of Rogers No. 3 coal miners in front of the wash house during its final year of operation: Front row L to R: Joe Ozbolt (kneeling), Bo Williams, John Costanich (kneeling), Tony Basselli, Bill McLoughry; Back: Bob Morris, Bill Kombol, Barry Kombol, George Savicke, Bud Simmons, Roy Darby. 1975 photo by Bob Morris.

The 1962 Washington State Coal Mine Inspector Reports listed the following mine personnel: John H. Morris, general manager; Cameron Rich, mining engineer; Alva “Bud” Simmons, general superintendent; Lew McCauley, mine foreman; Albert Rossi, mine foreman; Arthur “Archie” Eltz, mine foreman.

Palmer’s management and related employees during 17 years of operation included three generations of the extended Morris family: John H. Morris, Bill Morris, Clarence “Molly” Masters, Jack A. Morris, Evan D. Morris Sr., Carl G. Falk, Jack Kombol, George E. Morris, Dave Falk, David Morris, Tim Morris, Bob Morris, Barry Kombol, and Bill Kombol.

Over the years nearly 100 coal miners worked at the mine, many of whom were older miners approaching retirement and found their last employment with Palmer.

Vertical tilt of the Rogers seam and surrounding sedimentary layers. April 2019 photo by Jerome Cruz.

Today there’s no visible remnants of the mine except a lone wood-framed building formerly used as the wash house. Miners arrived in street clothes, changed to mining gear, and worked their eight-hour shifts. At shift’s end miners walked back to the wash house, then showered, hanging their sometimes wet work clothes on a wire basket lifted by chain and pulley to the peak of the building to be warm, dry, and ready for tomorrow.

By late December 1975, there would be no more tomorrows at Rogers No. 3. Underground coal mining in Washington came to an end 125 years after it began in Bellingham around 1850.

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