Mining, Military Drills, and a Skunk's Demise in Black Diamond
An 1885 dispatch from the Black Diamond coal fields details civic improvements, the formation of a local militia company, and a comical, if ill-fated, experiment involving a captive skunk.
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.
Life at Black Diamond is very busy with the rush, as the miners of the year are drawn to the feeler that the place will be opened up to the outside world. I have just returned from Black Diamond, a place which the suburb road is destined to reach in the near future. Aside from work in connection with the mine, the most striking feature by way of improvement is the residence being built for the superintendent, Mr. B. B. Jones. It is now well along, and when finished, will be a building that would do credit to the Queen City.
It is very pleasant to note the interest that the Black Diamond people are taking in beautifying their homes by fencing, plants, and otherwise. Nearly every one who has seen much of mining towns is agreeably disappointed with this one. Mr. Jones has made a successful management of it. Mr. M. M. Wright, having finished the bunkhouse at No. 14, is now engaged in building others at No. 11. Mr. W. is also building Mr. Jones' residence. In fact, he has about all the carpenters in and about the camp.
Speaking of skunks, Black Diamond seems to excel in them. Dr. K. has it pretty bad in his way. That the beast lay upon the doctor's hands very heavily. The doctor has a love for pets, and of late has been very anxious to secure a skunk—this is the only case I know for the reason. He concluded that they made the best kind of pet, and had decided to tame one on the first chance. He had not much more than made his want known before his heart was made glad; one of the boys had caught one in a box trap, and made a present of it to the doctor. The doctor did not know it, but he did not determine to near it, nor did he care to have too much affection shown for Mr. Skunk. He knew a bath would do his pet no particular good. He still maintained there was not enough water in Lake Jones to eradicate the [scent] that his new pet produced. So the doctor struck an idea. He would chloroform it. With the assistance of one or two, he went at it, but not until he had used a good-sized bottle of the drug did the little fellow die up, and then it was dangerous to lift the lid of the box. The little arrival was as quiet as though he had been dead all the while. The skunk was thoroughly under the influence of the drug, and the doctor prepared to take a pet of his little friend.
“Nearly every one who has seen much of mining towns is agreeably disappointed with this one.”
While Black Diamond eventually evolved from a bustling mining camp into a modern suburb, the text captures a universal pioneer sentiment: the desire for civic beautification and 'Queen City' status. The eccentric local interest in domesticating skunks provides a sharp, human-interest contrast to the industrial reality of coal extraction—reminding us that, regardless of the era, community life is often defined as much by its odd characters as its economic output.
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