Issaquah Coal Miners Walk Out
150 miners strike after company denies work-sharing with displaced employees from the closed Grand Ridge mine.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
ISSAQUAH, June 28. — A strike that threatens to be one of the most stubborn that has occurred in years in this portion of the state was declared yesterday when 150 miners employed by the Issaquah Coal Company stopped work. The trouble between the corporation and the employes has been pending for several weeks and culminated yesterday when the miners presented their ultimatum to the operators, which was refused by the latter. The principal ground for complaint on the part of the men lies in the fact that the company refuses to allow those thrown out of employment by the closing down of the Grand Ridge mine, also owned and operated by the corporation, to share the work in the mine at this place equally with permanent employes. Twenty-five men from Grand Ridge are out of work and have been for three weeks. A demand had been presented by the men to the operators that they be allowed to work on shift as many hours per week as the local men.
“The principal ground for complaint on the part of the men lies in the fact that the company refuses to allow those thrown out of employment... to share the work in the mine at this place equally.”
This strike reflects the long history of coal extraction in the Issaquah Alps, where labor tensions often centered on job security and resource allocation. Today, the mining infrastructure is gone, replaced by suburban trails, but the tension between corporate efficiency and worker community remains a central theme in regional labor history.
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