Saved miner describes 20 hours in tomb; two dead in Black Diamond coal disaster

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 30, 1924

Trapped worker is reached by life savers in strange disaster at nearby colliery

Hope of reaching Wise’s body given up after comrade describes fate; another hurt

By J. Newton Colver

Figure in Black Diamond mine disaster. These pictures, taken at the scene of the Black Diamond mine slide, show the officials who directed the rescue operations that brought one of three men alive from the depths of the mine, where they had been entombed. Above, from left to right, are: Ray Smith, chief engineer of the Black Diamond mine; Frank Koepfli, King County deputy coroner; D.C. Botting, manager of mines for the Pacific Coast Company; N.D. Moore, vice president of the company; Jack Parker, deputy state mine inspector. Below are Botting (left) and Parker in conference. Photos by Post-Intelligencer staff photographer.

Face to face with impending death for twenty hours, in the depths of the Black Diamond coal mine forty miles from Seattle, Manley Cooney walked forth at supper time last evening, free, unhurt, happy to greet his young wife.

Less fortunate were two comrades, caught in an earth shock and resultant slide, spoken of in mine terminology as a “bump.”

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Buried alive, tells of rescue

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, April 30, 1924

Mine worker snatched from jaws of death

Manley Cooney calmly walks out of Black Diamond colliery after being imprisoned for twenty hours

Manley Cooney (left), who was rescued alive after being buried for twenty hours in a mine cave-in at Black Diamond. “I walked into the mine, and I’ll walk out,” said Cooney when the rescuers reached him, and he made his way to the surface without assistance. He was photographed a few minutes after he reached the mine portal. D.C. Botting, manager of mines (right), who directed the work of rescue.

How it seems to be face to face with death for twenty hours and be snatched back to safety just in time to escape an avalanche of rock and coal, was described this morning by Manley Cooney, Black Diamond miner, whoso two companions were killed Monday night in a “bump” in the twenty-ninth chute in the eleventh level of the Pacific Coast Coal Company’s mine, 1,600 feet below the surface.

The body of O.C. Wise, Cooney’s partner, was recovered at 6 o’clock this morning, about twenty-five feet from where Cooney lay uninjured for twenty hours. The body of Robert Doucett, third miner caught in the avalanche of rock and coal, was recovered yesterday.

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Rescuers hear miners buried at Black Diamond!

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, April 29, 1924

One victim found dead in workings; Robert D. Doucett loses life, but rescuers have hopes of finding Manley Cooney and O.C. Wise alive

Caught by a cave-in last night, 1,500 feet below the surface, in the eleventh, south level of the Pacific Coast Coal Company mine at Black Diamond, one miner was killed and two others entombed. The body of Robert D. Doucett was rescued this morning. The two other miners, Manley Cooney and O.C. Wise, are believed to be alive.

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New coal mine to be opened; successor to Black Diamond

Originally published in The Seattle Times, March 23, 1924

As part or a $600,000 development program to be carried out within the next eighteen months, the Pacific Coast Coal Company, it was announced yesterday, will open up a new coal mine in the Cedar River Valley near Indian, less than eighteen miles southeast of Seattle. The mine will be one the largest in Western Washington when fully developed and it is the company’s plan to have it ready to hoist coal for the market a year from next September with a minimum producing capacity of 1,000 tons a day.

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And we also have coal: A Post-Intelligencer motorlogue

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, February 17, 1924

Counting the gifts which Nature showered upon the Puget Sound country, we sometimes omit one of the most precious—coal. From Bellingham, 100 miles north, to Centralia, an equal distance south, black nuggets occur in workable deposits. From under Seattle’s southern doorstep, ten miles from Pioneer Square, coal is taken. It is taken from the picturesque foothill country right up to the Cascade Mountains, and over them. Rushing rivers fill our minds with their promise of “white coal.” But don’t forget that, generally speaking, the grimy old king is still on his throne.

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Miners perish in cave-in at Black Diamond

Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 23, 1920

Four men buried under rook when roof over pillar falls

Accident in morning; With hope abandoned, rescue party works all night to recover bodies

Buried under hundreds of tons of rock when the roof of the pillar in which they were working caved in, four men were killed yesterday in the Pacific Coast Coal Company’s mine at Black Diamond.

The dead are:
Charles Hevlin, fifty years old, miner.
Joe Grill, fifty, miner.
Frank Bussey, sixty-eight, timber man.
Frank Nivone, forty-five, timber man.

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Four miners killed: Black Diamond workings scene of tragedy

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, December 23, 1920

Bodies of victims are recovered by crews directed by superintendent

Bodies of four men killed by a cave-in of hundreds of tons of rock yesterday in a stope mine of the Pacific Coast Coal Company at Black Diamond were recovered at various times early this morning. A rescue crew of more than 20 men, working in gangs of three men each and directed by M.A. Morgan, superintendent of the mine, recovered the bodies after great labor.

Frank Nivone, 45, a timber man, was the first to be found. His body was seen at 1 o’clock this morning and recovered an hour later. The body of Joe Grill, 50, a miner, was recovered an hour and a half later. The body of Charles Heavilin, 40, a miner, was found next, and last of all that of Frank Bussey, a timber man, which was taken out about 6 o’clock. An investigation is under way by Chief Deputy Coroner W.H. Corson.

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Miner, logger, and autoist victims in fatal accidents

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, October 26, 1923

Two men were instantly killed, a third fatally injured, and two other persons hurt in three accidents in Seattle and vicinity yesterday and last night. …

E.L. English, miner, Black Diamond, killed by electric shock in the Pacific Coast Coal Company’s mine at Black Diamond.

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Diamond days recalled

Originally published in the Auburn Globe-News, June 13, 1969

This is the concluding part of a series on coal mining in the Black Diamond-Ravensdale section of King County. Today’s story relates recollections of Fred Roberts who has lived all of his 90-plus years in and around Black Diamond. His memories of coal mining are bright and [illegible] if not altogether nostalgic. In the wake of earlier-day mining operations are situations that cause concern for present day mine owners. A few of their problems are touched upon in an accompanying story.

Three men who have lived much of their lives in a small coal-mining community of Black Diamond are, left to right, Val Sternis, Carl Steiert, who operates Black Diamond’s gas station, and Fred Roberts, 91-year-old former coal miner. Staff photo

By Elaine Fleming

The best thing that ever happened to Fred Roberts was when Pacific Coal & Oil Co. laid him off his job 48 years ago.

“If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t be the man I am today,” boasts the stalwart, 91-year-old former coal miner who has spent all but nine years of his life in and around Black Diamond.

Roberts is the son of a Pennsylvania coal miner who came to live in Back Diamond with his wife and four sons in 1887—two years before Washington reached statehood. He and his wife eventually reared seven sons and two daughters in the [illegible] mining community that consisted of a single store. This was a combination general store and post office and was located where King’s Tavern is now.

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How the modern lump of coal is manufactured

Originally published in The Seattle Daily Times, April 8, 1923

Delving a mile underground for the material that is saved from former waste to make the new fuel called briquet—A visit to Black Diamond

Miners about to descend to the thirteenth level in the Black Diamond mine.

Why does nearly everyone make a joke of the coal business every winter?

John Jones notices that his neighbor, Sam Green, is getting a ton of the fuel put into his basement and makes a remark to his wife about the extravagances of the Greens or about the scarcity of coal. Sometimes the remark is rather bitter, especially when men speak of coal prices.

Did you ever go through a coal mine and follow a lump of coal to its final state? Are you one of the great army of those who believe that coal is as much a natural product as corn on the cob? Would you like to have a little coal mine in your back yard, so that you could just step out a few feet from your back door and fill a couple of buckets of the mineral whenever you needed it?

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