Eastside Stories: Local Coal Mining Part 2

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article by Steve Williams

The Bagley Mine pictured above shows electrification and some of the 163,000 ton of coal produced in 1898. By then the hard-working mules and tiny steam engines had been replaced by electric haul motors called “tugs.” Then in 1905 the largest and most productive mine of all was opened just to the south. It was called the Ford Slope and went down five levels to 1,500 feet. At each level, horizontal gangways tunneled into the coal both east and west. Rock tunnels north and south gave access to a number of other coal seams, but all of the cars were pulled up the Ford Slope, and all of the coal was washed and sorted at the Coal Creek bunkers.

Today, the arched concrete entry to the Ford Slope has a picnic table, coal car and a large photo kiosk next to it at Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park. Downstream in Coal Creek Park, just across Lakemont Blvd, there is an impressive airshaft (sealed 20 feet down) and seven more interpretive signs explaining the 100-year history of local coal mining. Today, long portions of the rail grade serve as beautiful and easy walking trails in Coal Creek and May Creek Parks (again with good interpretive signs).

Our Northwest coal miners came from 14 or more European countries. The English, Welsh, Italians and Finns were prominent at Newcastle. There were also some local Indians, as well as black miners from Missouri who settled at Kennydale. Chinese laborers who settled at China Creek built most of the railroad, and Scandinavian loggers built two immense 1,200-foot long trestles over the May Creek valley. Coal trains ran twice a day, and the trip to the Seattle docks took just over an hour (something we commuters stuck in traffic might envy today).

The end of ‘Big’ mining here happened when the Coal Creek bunkers burned down in 1929 – just as demand for coal was shrinking due to a global financial crisis (the Great Depression). The California-based Pacific Coast Coal Company decided to close up shop, and the company-owned town was dismantled. Anything of value was carted off or sold, including miners’ homes, which were offered at $25 apiece. The rail line was abandoned in 1933 and the rails pulled out by 1937. Several local miners then started their own independent operations: Baima & Rubitino, Bianco Coal, Harris, Scalzo & Strain. However, oil was fast replacing coal as the fuel of choice, and after World War II both demand and production fell off quickly. The last local mines closed in 1963, a full century after coal was first discovered on the Eastside.

Coal fueled trains, steamships, factories and businesses. Seattle became a major port city, with the population of King County expanding from just over 300 in 1860 to well over 43,000 by 1890, and just over one million in the 1960’s. The legacy of coal for the Eastside has been a skilled, diverse and ambitious population and a landscape now preserved for housing and recreation. A half-century of history and science has now taught us that burning any carbon fuel (coal, oil, wood or natural gas) makes our planet hotter. If we are to survive globally, the history we make now needs to be one of converting to clean energy as quickly as possible.

Above photograph: A group of Bagley Seam miners are shown here. Photograph courtesy of Oliver Rouse and the Newcastle Historical Society

Eastside Stories: The Highland School Bell

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article by Barb Williams

Stevenson School has a wonderful thing,

If you touch it, you can make it ring.

It rang out over the countryside,

And graced the bell tower with scholarly pride.

The Bellevue School District is in the process of bringing its schools up to date technologically, educationally and facility-wise.  A new Wilburton Elementary School was completed in 2019 on Main Street at Wilburton Hill. A new Stevenson Elementary School was recently completed on NE 8th Street. And construction, of a remodeled Highland Middle School on Bel-Red Road, is in progress. Historically, two of these schools have something in common. But which two? The answer lies in the large bell that hangs at the front of Stevenson Elementary School. If you ring the bell, you will hear the deeply melodic sounds of history that rang out over the Highland countryside where the bell began it’s journey. So let us go back to a time before the bell arrived and was placed in the bell tower of the Old Highland School.

The Highland School bell in front of the new Stevenson Elementary School on NE 8th Street

In the mid-1880s, Matt Murdock and William Shiach came from Manitoba to settle in the Highland area of Bellevue. Murdock built a log cabin on his land, but decided to leave the area. At that time he sold the cabin and property to William Shiach. In 1887 the cabin became the first school in the area. It was known as the Claim Cabin School. There were thirteen students and one teacher; Mr. Daniel Collins, who was paid forty dollars per month. He worked a three-month term. The only roads nearby were the “Newcastle Trail” that ran close to the present 140th NE and connected Redmond to the coal mines at Newcastle. The other road (now 24th NE) ran from Lake Washington to the Highlands. Both were small, unpaved roads. It was along these roads that students came to the Claim Cabin School.

In 1890 a new school was built on an acre of land. It was called The Highland School. A.B. Huxford gave the land to the Highland School District No. 57. The land was given with the provision that it be used as a school for the next ten consecutive years. The building was improved and additions were added between 1910 and 1912. But the excitement came when in 1915 a huge 200 pound bell was placed in the bell tower. It’s melodic sound could be heard far and wide calling the children to school at 8:30am and again when it was time for students to enter the schoolhouse. The bell became the time piece for the local people. Perhaps Mrs. Tosh and Miss Albrecht, teachers at the Old Highland School in 1916, summoned their students to class by ringing the bell.  However, they were not the only teachers to ring the bell, Mr. Walter Stevenson may have rung it as well because he began teaching at the school in 1933. Then in 1935 he and the bell were moved to a new brick Highland school that was built at 15027 NE Bel-Red Road. The huge bell was set in the front yard between two concrete stantions. The school was built with Works Progress Administration (WPA) funds. The Old Highland School was sold to the W.A. Ashton family who fixed it up as a residence. They lived in the historic schoolhouse from the 1940s to 1960s. In the following years, the building was occupied by several businesses. Mrs. Camille Armor saved it from demolition when it was threatened by I-520 construction. The building was moved 400 yards from its original site to NE 29th Place. Corporate Express bought the historic building but it was later razed due to further road construction.

In 1955, a third Highland School was built at 142nd Avenue and NE 8th in Bellevue. The   brick building from the Highland Elementary School on Bel-Red Road was incorporated into the buildings of the new Highland Middle School. The old brick building is still visible today.

Mr. Stevenson, who had been a principal at the Old Highland School and also at the new brick Highland Elementary School, became principal at the NE 8th Street Highland Elementary School. He and the bell moved together to the new school. When he retired in 1964, the Highland Elementary School was renamed Stevenson Elementary School. The bell hung in a bell garden at the school with a plaque that read, “Stevenson Bell Garden dedicated May 31, 1991 by the students, staff and parents of Stevenson Elementary School to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Highland School bell originally dedicated September 23, 1915 and to commemorate the heritage of the Highland School 1887 - 1890 - 1935 - 1957  Walter S. Stevenson Elementary School”

Presently the bell and plaque have been moved to the new Stevenson Elementary School. You can experience both there --- a piece of tangible history.

Old Highland School teachers: Mrs. Tosh and Miss Albrecht 1916.

Many thanks to the Bellevue School District for preserving the bell: a treasured and historic artifact. Its journey through the Highland Schools is fascinating. And now you know what the Highland Middle School and Stevenson Elementary School have in common.

The Highland School bell in front of the new Stevenson Elementary School on NE 8th Street

Sources:

Bellevue Schools Timeline,   by Mary Ellen Piro

The Little Red Schoolhouse,   by Dixie Wynn

Eastside Stories: The Wake Robin Lodge

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article by: Barbara Williams

Its Sunday today, so where shall we go?

To the Wake Robin Lodge, don’t you know.

Receptions, dancing and chicken for all.

Teas and music, you’ll have a ball!

The Wake Robin Lodge was the former Enatai home of Sam Krueger. It was built around the time of the First World War (1914-1918). In 1926, Mr Krueger leased the building and the land to two African-American men from Seattle: A. Cunningham and C. James. They planned to open it as a roadhouse or restaurant. It would be the first African-American enterprise on the Eastside. They named it the Wake Robin Lodge. Wake Robin is the name of our local bird, the Spotted Towhee. It is also the South Carolina name for the Trillium flower. Both the bird and the flower are indigenous and common to this area.

The new owners remodeled the building to resemble a semi-bavarian chalet with a large stone fireplace in the main room, porches, wide front steps at the entry, inside balconies around three sides, and beautiful hardwood floors throughout the building. The Lodge was totally self-sufficient. An orchard with fruit trees framed the long driveway along which Mr. Cunningham often drove his shiny Nash car with wooden spoke wheels. There were chicken sheds, a water tank, a dairy and large vegetable garden. Almost everything that went on the tables was produced on-site. Not only that, being at the top of the hill, the building sported a lovely view to the east ..... the perfect destination for a day in the country.

When the two men opened the Lodge for business on Saturday, February 19, 1927, people were curious to sample the new restaurant. Word went out about the delicious chicken dinners, fresh vegetables and fruit, music and dancing, as well as, teas, receptions and celebrations. Visitors came flocking by ferry boat and automobile from places like Seattle and the surrounding towns to enjoy a good time. The Lodge was located just south of the junction of the paved Lake Washington Highway (Bellevue Way SE) and the Mercer Island Enatai road (108th Avenue SE) with a turn onto the long driveway (presently, SE 23rd Street). Sunday full course chicken dinners were served from 2 pm to 9 pm for $1.50 per plate. To make reservations visitors could phone: Lakeside 126. The food was delicious and the waiters, excellent. Waiters were older African American men and sometimes students from Garfield High School in Seattle. The students usually took the Leschi to Medina ferry. They worked late at night washing dishes and making five dollars a night.

Bellevue High School celebrated its 1933/1934 Junior-Senior banquet at the Wake Robin Lodge. Many celebrations happened at the Lodge including the wedding reception of Miss LaReine Renfro to Mr. Roland Putnam Burnham on June 30, 1934.

This special country inn situated just up the hill from Cecilia and Frederick Winters’s home and floral business on Bellevue Way SE, was a very popular outing for many people. However, when the Great Depression hit the country between the years of 1929 to 1933, it affected businesses such as the Wake Robin Lodge. People no longer had the money to eat out and the business began to flounder. Soon it closed. The property was then held by The Home Savings and Loan Association and the Lodge sat empty for many years. During that time, Leila Cook Martin and her sister, who grew up next door to the Lodge, loved to explore the grounds and buildings. With permission from their parents, they took their roller skates and skated around the wonderful hardwood floors. The doors were never locked and a Mr. Jones was caretaker of the white leghorn chickens. By 1941 the building was torn down. State Senator, Al Thompson bought the property. The Thompson family built a large house close to where the Lodge had stood and the land was subdivided. Today there are multiple houses in the area. The driveway is labeled SE 23rd Street and there is a sign at a loop in the road that reads “Wake Robin Farm Crescent”. So the Wake Robin Lodge and it’s people live on and with more research it’s light will become brighter and more colorful.

Photo: Aerial view showing the Winters house (light colored building on Bellevue Way SE) and the Wake Robin Lodge building (dark roof, lower left)

Resources:

Eastside Heritage Center Vertical File of newspapers and other ephemera

Book: Culinary History of a Pacific Northwest Town by Suzanne Knauss, 2007

Writings by Leila Cook Martin and her brother, Bill

Photographs:  Eastside Heritage Center data base, Barb Williams

Eastside Stories: Postal Women of the Eastside

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article from the Eastside Heritage Center

The month of March is Women’s History Month starting in 1986 when Congress adopted the holiday from several states who were already celebrating it. 1987 marked the first year with an official, nationally recognized month honoring women. Here on the Eastside of King County we have a history of remarkable women who rose to the occasion when their family and community needed them. One of the ways was ensuring that packages and correspondence made it to residents who were often far from friends and families as they started a new life. Without email or social media, letters were the only way to get news of the loved ones and keep up with business in other regions. This article discusses some of the women who helped keep the post going since the 1880s.

Isabella Bechtel was the widow of Isaac Bechtel who moved his family from Ontario, Canada after purchasing land in Bellevue. Isabella and her six children arrived in 1885. In 1886 Isaac became the postmaster for the growing town soon to be known as Bellevue, so that correspondence could reach the residents, and importantly, the school. At the time the post office did about $100.00 in business a year.

 On November 14, 1890 Isaac was caught in a logjam near Wildwood Park and killed. The next day Isabella declared that she would take over his duties as postmaster for the region. Isabella retired as postmaster only on a disputed date sometimes between 1891-1895 probably due to the financial hardship she faced after her husband’s death. In spite of having to leave the cabin where the Bechtel home and the first post office was located, Isabella landed on her feet, moving her family to a 40 acre tract of land she bought outright. Isabella Bechtel also is sometimes credited with naming Bellevue although the origins of the name is disputed. Because her post office needed an official designation when two postal inspectors visited, they titled the location based on the beautiful view from her house.  

After Isabella Bechtel stepped down as postmaster a man named William Ivey took over. Although he held the position for 23 years, under his guidance women were still a part of delivering the post. May Johnson, a Prussian immigrant carried mail from Houghton to Bellevue twice a week. Starting at the age of 41 she carried the mail for $50 a year. May traveled the almost 4 miles armed with a can of pepper to ward off animals.

Likewise, it is said that a woman ran the first post office in Northrup.  Ann Dunn named the location herself after a pioneering family and ran the post office out of her home. In addition to her post office Northup had a school, small store, and a railway stop.

 After these first post offices and basic routes on horseback women continued to make correspondence possible on the Eastside. In 1920 Regina Blackwood became the second woman to run the Bellevue Post office.  During World War One, Donald A. Wilson recalled having to moonlight at other jobs and being assisted by Mrs. Le Huquet for 6 weeks on his route from Newport Shores to Phantom lake and then Lake Sammamish.

Adelaide Belote also assisted him in the early years of the 1900s as he made the move from Seattle to the Eastside. She became in some ways locally famous for her long stint working in the post office all the way into the 40s and 50s. Adelaide Belote served as assistant postmaster for several generations continuing the long history of women in the postal service on King County’s Eastside.

Isabella Bechtel and her two daughters , Maude to her left and Jesse to her right, stand outside of the family home and the first post office in Bellevue.

May Johnson on her horse. The photo was taken near what is now the intersection of NE 8th and 100th NE.

United States Post Office employees on Nov. 9, 1956. Adelaide Belote sits in the front row four from the right in a collared dress.

Eastside Stories: Local Coal Mining Part 1

Eastside Stories is our way of sharing Eastside history through the many events, people places and interesting bits of information that we collect at the Eastside Heritage Center. We hope you enjoy these stories and share them with friends and family.

Article by: Steve Williams

It is hard for most of us today, to realize that coal mining was Seattle’s first major industry—centered right here on the east side of Lake Washington. Bands of coal were noted in a local stream in 1863, and that stream has been called “Coal Creek” ever since. The hills south of I-09 contain eleven different coal seams that brought skilled European miners and their families to the area. The mines brought prosperity and growth, and provided a valued export to the entire west coast. Listed below are some key points to remember:

COAL MINING – KEY POINTS

• 100 years at Newcastle/Coal Creek. 1863-1963. (From the time of the Civil War, to construction of the space Needle and Seattle’s World Fair!)

• Coal is carbonized plant material. (Warm swamp vegetation was covered by a rising Pacific Ocean and thousands of pounds of sand and mud from inland rivers. Over the next 35 million years, heat, pressure, and lack of oxygen converted the plants into ‘a compact rock that will burn.’)

• There are 11 coal seams, all tilted down north at an angle of about 42 degrees. This is due to 20 million years of plate tectonics uplifting and rumpling the land, followed by mountain-building. (Mt. Rainier is only 5 million years old!)

• Our coal is Bituminous ‘soft’ coal; 40% carbon 35% gasses. However, it made 10,000 BTUs of heat. Hotter than wood and much more compact – oil replaced coal for the same reason. (One bucket of coal was said to replace 20 stove logs).

• Mined ‘down-slope’ 200 feet, then sideways tunnels (gangways), then up-slope, widened to rooms every other 50 feet. (Pillars were left in-between to hold the roof up.)

• Removal by drilling & blasting with black powder, then pick ‘n shovel. (Coal rolled down to fill mine cars which were then winched up-slope to the surface.)

• 11 million tons dug here. (Enough to fill Seahawks stadium 2 miles high!)

• First railroad in Seattle built to get the coal. Arrived at Newcastle in 1878. (18 wooden trestles; two at May Creek 1200’ long and 138’ high!) Coal sent to San Francisco first by sail then by steamship. – Turned Seattle into a major port.

Bagley Mine Crew circa 1900. Courtesy of Newcastle Historical.