45 results for: Pacific Coast Coal Co.
Photograph
Men at picking table at Cannon Mine bunkers, Franklin, circa 1915
A picking table was an area where the newly mined coal and slag would pass over a moving or vibrating table. Miners would separate the shiny, lighter coal from the heavier shale and rock. Laborers generally did this work above ground in large buildings called bunkers. Jobs on the picking table were often given to new and inexperienced help, or…
ID Number:1978.6585.43b
Date:Circa 1915
Photograph
Mouth of slope at Issaquah mine, circa 1900
Issaquah, Washington, was one of several King County towns which grew up around the coal mines. The Issaquah Coal Company mine was located near present-day Wildwood Boulevard and Mine Hill Road. This photo, probably taken sometime between 1895 and 1904, shows the mine entrance with loaded coal cars. Miners used the lumber stacked on the right to shore up the…
ID Number:1978.6585.53b
Date:Circa 1900
Photograph
Men working at picking table at Issaquah mine, circa 1913
Coal seams in King County, Washington are interlayered with clay, shale and other materials. As a result, cleaning and sorting were important parts of the mining process. This photo, probably taken around 1913, shows workers breaking out coal at the picking tables at the Issaquah & Superior Mine in Issaquah.
ID Number:1978.6585.53d
Date:Circa 1913
Photograph
Man using pneumatic drill in Issaquah mine, circa 1915
Coal miners drilled into the seams of coal to lay charges of dynamite. The exploding dynamite broke the coal loose. In this photo from Issaquah, Washington, probably taken around 1915, a coal miner uses a pneumatic drill to make holes about five feet deep for the dynamite charges. The air-powered drill is attached to the vertical post for stability.
ID Number:1978.6585.53e
Date:Circa 1915
Photograph
Issaquah & Superior Hotel, circa 1916
The Issaquah & Superior Hotel was built in 1913 on German Count Alvo von Alvensleben's Issaquah coal mining property. In 1919, shortly after the end of World War I, a nearby building blew up and badly damaged the unoccupied hotel. While most people believed that the explosion was an accident, there was some speculation that it might have been a…
ID Number:1978.6585.53g
Date:Circa 1916
Photograph
Miners' cottages at Issaquah, circa 1915
Sometime around 1913, German Count Alvo von Alvensleben bought 2,000 or so acres at Issaquah and planned a modern coal mining operation. Unlike other local companies, his Issaquah & Superior Coal Mining Company welcomed miners' unions and offered decent pay and work hours to the miners. Unfortunately, World War I put an end to Alvensleben's plans by cutting off funding…
ID Number:1978.6585.53i
Date:Circa 1915
Photograph
Mine office at Black Diamond, Washington, circa 1920
In the early 1880s, prospectors from the Black Diamond Coal Company, a California firm, found rich coal deposits in King County, Washington. Over the next fifty years, the mines at Black Diamond were among the county's highest producers.This photo, taken around 1920, shows the mine office in Black Diamond. It was located just west of the Pacific Coast Coal Company's…
ID Number:1978.6585.31
Date:Circa 1920
Photograph
Downtown Seattle from Seventh Avenue and Alder Street, 1914
In 1914 Seattle's population had reached an estimated 304,126. According to the 1914 Polk Seattle City Directory, Seattle boasted the "largest clay products plant on the Pacific Coast; largest shoe factory on Pacific Coast; largest jewelry manufacturing concern on Pacific Coast; largest condensed milk concern in the West; largest dry docks on Pacific Coast; largest fisheries and lumbering interests in…
ID Number:1980.6923.9
Date:1914
Photograph
Electric hauling motor at New Black Diamond Mine, circa 1927
By the late 1920s, electric hauling motors had replaced mules for getting coal out of mines in the Cascade Mountains. Engines were attached to the electric line by means of a boom similar to those seen today on top of Seattle's electric-powered buses.This photo shows an electric-powered mining train coming out of the New Black Diamond Mine at Black Diamond.…
ID Number:1983.10.647.1
Date:Circa 1927
Photograph
Coal bunkers at New Black Diamond Mine, March 1, 1927
In 1927, the Pacific Coast Coal Company opened its new Indian Mine at Black Diamond, Washington. The mine had large state-of-the-art bunkers where the lumps of coal were separated from rocks and then sorted. The coal then passed through a series of screens which separated it into different grades. The building was designed so that railroad cars could be pulled…
ID Number:1983.10.647.2
Date:1927