Black Diamonds

In this image, the survey of coal deposits of south King County is seen.  This image shows the surveys of coal deposits mined by the Renton Coal Company, Pacific Coast Coal Company and the Black Diamond Coal Company near and along Cedar River.

Many small, independent family owned mines coexisted side by side with the major coal companies for decades.  As the larger coal companies closed their mines, the smaller mines continued operations well into the 1960s before urban sprawl, cheaper power sources and rising costs finally forced them to close.

Note: The townships of White River and Slaughter are shown.  In the early days (before 1900), White River was really nothing more than a local Post Office that served the residents of the surrounding area.  It never became a fully incorporated township, but later gave way to be a part of the current City of Kent. 

Slaughter, on the other hand, was the original name of present day Auburn, Washington.  Named in honor of a local military figure during the Indian Wars (latter 1850's), residents soon reconsidered their choice.  Slaughter was soon renamed as Auburn.

The Newcastle Coal Field, north of Renton, was quite extensive and contributed to a brief bid to establish an incorporated township, Newcastle, during the early 1900s.  The northern edge of the coal field runs along the present day Interstate 90.  Running approximately through the middle of the coal field is "Coal Creek", a well known area in the present day.

As cheaper forms of energy became available, the cost of mining coal grew substantially.  The Newcastle mines eventually closed, leaving a legacy many local residents feel very proud of and strive to preserve.

The hills and valleys east along the eastern shores of Lake Washington were quite rich in coal deposits.  While Renton was bustling in the heyday of the coal and timber trades during the later 1800s and early 1900s, the small township of Newcastle was one of the more predominate centers of coal mining areas just north of Renton. 

Though a township was platted early on, its population briefly swelled to a few thousand inhabitants during the turn of the early 1900s.  Newcastle had promise of becoming a city, rivaling neighboring Renton, it did not survive to its hopeful incorporation, when its mines finally closed in 1926.

Shown here is a crew of Newcastle coal miners posing outside of the Ford Slope Coal Mine shaft.  Note the angle at which the coal car sits on the tracks.  Coal mine shafts in the area were often driven deep into a hillside, at a 12-percent grade, reaching lengths of more than a mile underground.

Shown here is an early photograph taken just outside the entrance of the Renton Coal Mine.  It is unclear when this photograph was taken or where.   While the Renton Coal Company operated two mines, the Renton and Talbot mines, it may be possible that this photograph was taken at the Talbot mine.  The inscription above the shaft entrance reads:

Renton Cooperative Coal Company, Organized February 16, 1895

The tracks leading into the shaft do not appear to be as steep as in the image above, but still descends into the shaft at a fairly steep angle like shown in the image above.

Coal cars and miners like this, were typical throughout all coal mining operations in and around Renton.  The work was physically hard, very dirty and often perilous as the coal was mined by hand.

Seen here, five miners (with shovel and coal car) take a moment to pose deep inside of a mine.  Note the timbers holding up the roof of the shaft.  Often times, the livelihoods of the coal and logging industries supported each other.

Coal cars, like this one, brought the "black diamonds" up from the mines.  Because coal seams quickly descended at sharp angles under the hills east of Renton, the incline and sudden changes in track angle required that the wheels of these coal cars be closely set together (as seen).   This prevented a "high center" condition when the angle of the tracks changed.

Before the early 1920s, mule teams pulled laden cars up from the shaft.  As seen in the images above, the shafts had to be wide enough to permit a team of mules to travel on either side of the tracks.

This image was taken at the Renton Coal Company mining operation and shows the several teams of mules and their drivers employed at the mine.  Before coal companies began using electric or steam engines to haul coal up from the mines, mules were used to pull the laden coal cars up from deep underground as well as do other heavy work at and in the mine.

Until Washington State legislation was passed, these mules were often stabled underground in the mines and rarely saw the light of day.  The new laws required that the mules be brought to the surface periodically for rest and recuperation.

Rustic log cabins were commonplace in the early coal mining (as well as logging) camps that dotted the hillsides and valleys east and to the north of Renton.  Buildings like this were Spartan, but fairly well sealed and comfortable inside.  In fact, the gaps between the logs were often "chinched" (CHINK-ed) with shredded Cedar bark and plaster to seal the gaps between the logs.

This photograph shows miners (perhaps loggers) outside a cookhouse, with the Cook standing in the doorway.  Working long hard hours, the miners often had only had only a short time to eat and rest.  Traveling a mile or so into town for a hot meal during the day was not an option. Cookhouses like this offered a simple, hot, and filling meal and a place to relax before heading back to the mines.

In this is rare image, the Renton Coal mine, as looking to the southeast, is captured.  In the center of this picture is what appears to be the "tailings" extracted from the mine.  It may be possible that the entrance to the mine is hidden behind these tailing piles.  However, this cannot be conclusively determined.  To the right is the coal processing plant.  The large house (on the hill) is the mine's Superintendent's home.

The Renton Coal mine was established in 1873 and produced coal continuously for the first ten years.  In 1885-86, amid labor disputes, the mine was closed until 1895.  Reopened by local men as the Renton Cooperative Coal Company, the site was sold to Seattle Electric in 1901.  In 1909, the mine employed 325 men and had a monthly payroll of $24,000 a month.  The mine produced 600 tons of coal per day.  In 1919, the mine was finally closed.

The entrance of the Renton Coal Mine, as shown here, belies it's nature.  In the lower right of the picture, laden coal cars are seen as they emerge from the mine.  The surrounding area was stripped of timber to fuel steam engines that supported the operation of the mine.

Closed in 1919, the mine site was abandoned and the entrance of the Renton Coal Mine was overgrown with vegetation and largely forgotten for many decades.  During the early 1960s, the work to construct I-405 uncovered the original mine entrance.  The entrance was finally filled in during the freeway's construction.  Today, the location of the mine's entrance lays under the busy roadbed of the I-405 freeway.

This is probably an image of the old Renton Coal Mine that was sunk into the hillside of Renton's "Renton Hill".   The picture description relates that the image was taken in 1912 by the famous local photographer Asahel Curtis.  The caption simply states "Group of people standing on bridge at coal mining site." 

The shadows seem to indicate that this photograph was taken looking to the north or perhaps to the east.  However, the bald "knob" in the background and the gully the bridge traverses looks hauntingly familiar to me.  I think I have stood there before as a child.  The path seen in the picture, that skirts the bald knob, appears to lead to the mine shaft(s) of the Renton Coal Mine itself.

This image was taken was taken around 1919 by an unknown photographer at the Renton Coal Mine.

Showing a little of the valley and hills in the background, this image definitely looks west.   The southwest corner of Renton can be see in the upper right.  The hill in the background is the southern end of Earlington (Bryn Mar/Skyway) hill.

Note the mounds (presumably coal) in the center left of the image.

Here is another view (at a different angle) of the Renton Coal Mine as shown in the image just above.  The image information states that the date was around 1919 as well.  This image may well have been taken at the same time as the image above, but from a different angle.  This image looks slightly more to the southwest.

By closely examining this and the above image, several buildings are common.  However, this images appears to have been taken slightly earlier than the previous image.

This 1919 image may have been taken from the roadway seen in the lower left corner of the previous image and at the same time as the two above images.  In the two previous images, this building was in the center as a focal point of the photograph.

In this image, looking northwest, the north side of Renton Hill is barren and slowly being eaten away by the operation of the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Company.  While this company was not in the business of mining and producing coal for fuel, it was a spin off of the coal mining industry

In 1905, the merger of industrial plants in Renton, Taylor and Van Asselt became the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Company.  The Renton and Taylor plants produced a wide range of products including sewer tiles, acid blocks, flue linings, conduits, clay shingles, drain tiles, fancy faced and paving bricks.

The Renton plant employed, on average, 350 to 500 workers.

During March 1927, Gladding-McBean & Company bought all Denny-Renton properties and merged with International Pipe & Ceramics in 1962 to become Interspace.  Later, the site would become the home of Stoneway Sand & Gravel (Concrete).

This image appears to have been taken from somewhere from the steep northern face of Renton Hill and looks northwest to Renton and Lake Washington.  Judging by the surrounding terrain, the location of the Denny-Renton Clay and Coal Company once stood on the sites where the present day Stoneway Concrete Company and Renton's Carco Park exists.

The hill at the upper right is often called "Cemetery Hill" as the historic Mount Ovlet Cemetery exists at the crest.  Faintly and to the upper left, the outline of Bryn Mawr Hill can be seen.  The southern end of Lake Washington is partly in view in the upper center of this picture.

This photograph looks more to the north than to the northwest as in the photograph above.  Placing both images together, a sort of panorama view of the entire operation can be seen.  Note the large fir tree standing pretty much alone.

Today, little if anything remains of the Denny Renton Clay & Coal Company - except for the steep cliffs on Renton Hill's north face where clay was extracted by high pressure water hoses and excavation.

A Forgotten Industry?

What's left of the coal mining industry in Renton?  Not too much these days, but its history has not been forgotten.  In this 2003 image, the approximate location of the Renton Coal Mine operations are noted.

North is at the top of the image.  Item #1 is now the present site of the "Sam's Club" store and warehouse.  Item #2 is Renton's City Hall.  Item #3 is Interstate 405, shown cutting into the steep hillside residential area of Renton Hill (Item #4).

Item #5 is a roadside historical marker of the coal mining operations.  At a wide spot along the Old Benson Highway, one of the old concrete footings that supported the machinery which supported the mining operations exists.  It bears a simple plaque which states that the original mine shaft was located directly under the I-405 roadbed.  This is the only point of interest that exists to this day, marking the coal mine's location.

The large red oval is where numerous concrete pourings, similar to that located by Item #5, exist.   Now largely forgotten and overgrown, these pourings most likely served similarly as mountings for steam or electric hoists or air ventilation units.  As I recall, the concrete pourings differed in shape and sizes.