The Hard-Won Coal of Wilkeson
A persistent mining operation in Wilkeson struggles with geological faults and shifting veins to keep the fuel moving toward the Puget Sound.
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.
While in town, the train arrived from Wilkeson with some 50 tons of Puyallup coal on six freight cars. This looked as if the mines were not an entire failure. Soon after, Mr. Fallows, the superintendent of the mine, and Mr. Fields were met on the Zephyr. Messrs. Fields and Fallows are putting up the coal-town cheese factory. Mr. Fields is to be in charge of the factory while Mr. Fallows will remain at Wilkeson in charge of the mine. They will have the factory running by the 10th of this month and will be able to make from 800 to 1,000 pounds of cheese per day during the best part of the season.
The newspaper accounts have been so conflicting for the past three months in regard to the coal mine at Wilkeson that it was with great pleasure the opportunity was availed of in getting an intelligent account from Mr. Fallows of the present state of the mine. The main gangway was run into the hill on the Carbonado Vein, 875 feet in a southerly direction. The mouth of the gangway was still thirty-four feet above the level of the creek at the foot of the hill where the vein was first discovered. Where the gangway was run, the hill was composed of loose gravel, a drift 150 feet in height above the level of the gangway. It was supposed that a tunnel, nearly horizontal, would be low enough down to strike a large quantity of coal above it, the vein dipping to the west some sixty degrees. In place of that, the gangway only ran along the upper edge of the coal, frequently running out of the vein altogether. This, with the faults and dislocated strata found on the upper edge of the vein, finally compelled them to give up this attempt. They are now running an incline down some three hundred feet lower than the gangway, commencing near its mouth so as to come out on the same track and use the same bunkers. This incline is in some distance; the heavy work for the hoisting works is already in, and as soon as it is completed, there is no doubt they can profitably mine this excellent coal in unlimited quantities at paying rates.
“The newspaper accounts have been so conflicting for the past three months in regard to the coal mine at Wilkeson that it was with great pleasure the opportunity was availed of in getting an intelligent account.”
Wilkeson remains a historic coal town, though its industry has shifted from extraction to preservation. Like many Washington towns, its history is defined by the tension between speculative mining booms and the grueling, unpredictable reality of the ground beneath the miners' feet.
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