News reports and photos from Black Diamond and the towns of Bayne, Cumberland, Danville, Durham, Elkcoal, Franklin, Kangley, Krain, Kummer, Lawson, Navy, Palmer, Ravensdale, and Selleck
Originally published in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, May 27, 1963
Your family will enjoy this inspiring 205-mile drive that skirts the giant evergreens of Federation Forest… and meanders through alpine meadows
On the drive round Mount Rainier, there are many places where you’ll want to stop and take pictures.
You and your family can spend a memorable day or weekend on this 205-mile trip around Mount Rainier. The drive will take you through some of the most spectacular scenery in our Northwest and provide opportunities to fish, ride, hike, and see many forms of wildlife.
An outing like this is naturally an education for the youngsters. And it will let you share many new experiences together that will become subjects for family discussion in weeks to come.
Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, May 15, 1929
Some outfit in the Mountain League may stop this steam-rolling bunch from Black Diamond. The way they are travelling now it is going to take a couple of barricades and few barrages to turn the trick. Bill Cushing is certainly leading a smooth working, snappy bunch of socking sluggers. They don’t do much beefing but, brother, they do a man’s size job of biffing.”
Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, March 15, 1929
Part of the marine bunker crew lined up on the south dock of the electric bunkers. Those in the front row are all bunkermen.
Front row, reading from left to right: Pete McDonald, M.J. Hayes, Thomas Murphy, G.F. Cranston, William Clark, G. Brown, E.L. Atkins, Hossis Hasson, M. Kearney. Back row, left to right: Harry Cogeshall, bunker superintendent; M.A. Puries, crane helper; Curtis Crenshaw, crane operator; Ed. Berkman, bunkerman; John Kambitsch, bunkerman; and Charles Bishop, crane helper.
Originally published in the Orting Oracle, March 1, 1907
Another distressing accident has been added to the list during the last month. Thursday afternoon of last week while John M. Sedgwick, in the employ of James R. O’Farrell on his ranch near the Soldiers’ home, became entangled in a logging chain and was dragged a distance of three-fourths of a mile by a runaway team.
Originally published in Maple Valley Neighbors, February 2023
By JoAnne Matsumura Maple Valley Historical Society
It was early February and snow flurries in the surrounding foothills caused concern that the new Maple Valley post office, under the direction of W.A. Burtenshaw, would not be completed before snowfall.
The weather bureau gave no reports and there was conflicting information, yet the snow kept getting closer. The blizzard hit Tacoma and Seattle. Seattle got 24 inches of the white fluffy flakes in a few hours, while at the same time Maple Valley was getting its fair share.
Originally published in The Seattle Sunday Times, February 1, 1948
Descendent of pioneer-built line still doing some business in King County
By Willard Marsh
‘Old Number 14.’ Of the 29.6-mile Pacific Coast Railroad, proof that a steam locomotive actually never wears out but merely becomes obsolescent in its old age, labors mightily at the smoky end of empty gondola cars enroute to the coal mines of Black Diamond.
The Pacific Coast Railroad, in King County operates 29.6 miles of track, according to its own official timetables. This makes the Pacific Coast a short-line railroad, one of the few remaining in the United States.
The American short-line railroad was born, grew strong, served a purpose in the growth of a nation, then declined and almost disappeared in the 50 years embracing the last quarter of the 19th and the first quarter of the 20th century.
Originally published in the Pacific Coast Bulletin, February 1, 1929
Martin Hamlin, of Carbonado, on the right, turning the wheel over to Albert Allen, of Black Diamond. At the last meeting of the Central Council the regular semi-annual election was held and Albert Allen was elected to succeed Martin Hamlin as chairman. Both men are leaders and both are universally well liked.
Originally published in the Enumclaw Courier-Herald, January 28, 1988
By Joe Delmore
Carl Steiert, curator of the Black Diamond Museum, and Diane Olson look at the masks and helmets worn by early coal miners. Olson, with Steiert’s help, is writing an oral history of Black Diamond. (Photo by Joe Delmore)
Diane Olson, who is writing a history of Black Diamond, meets with Carl Steiert frequently in the Black Diamond Museum to talk about the glory days of coal mining and a book that Olson is writing.
Olson’s book will be the official Black Diamond Historical Society’s project for the State of Washington’s 1989 Centennial. Olson is writing the book on a volunteer basis and hopes to have it completed later this year.
Originally published in The Record-Chronical, January 14, 1973
Story by Mary Lehto; photo feature by Larry Abele
Down in the pit. Tony Manowski probes the blackness of the Palmer Coking Coal Co. mining pit near Ravensdale on a typical workday. The company, the last mining operation active in King County, faces closure in two or three years, even though the vast underground resources of the “black diamond” have barely been tapped. Reason: more modern fuel supplies and ever-stricter safety standards. For details of the end of an era, turn the page.
Coal mining in King County—one of the area’s most colorful, if not always most profitable, industries—is nearing an end.
After more than 100 years of production, only 18.6 percent of the county’s estimated “black diamond” wealth has been mined. Yet, more modern methods of obtaining energy, and new safety regulations for the mines themselves, are gradually forcing the industry into oblivion.
“We have about two to three years yet to run,” said Carl (Charlie) Falk, office manager of the Palmer Coking Coal Co. which operates the Landsburg Mine in Black Diamond.
The mine, located near Ravensdale, is the last actively operating coal mine in King County.
Twenty-six years of Falk’s life have been devoted to coal mining and it is with more than a touch of regret that he talks about “the end.”
Black Diamond History 