View Carbon River Valley in a larger map
Palmer Coking Coal Company history http://www.palmercc.com/history.htm
coal mining history http://www.washington.historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5158
History of King County, pages on Coal http://issaquahhistory.org/bagley/coal/coal.htm
Washington State Coal Mine Maps http://www.dnr.wa.gov/ResearchScience/Topics/GeologyPublicationsLibrary/Pages/coalmaps.aspx
Old maps for sale at www.historicmapworks.com
Last mine closed in 1975 http://historylink.org/index.cfm?DisplayPage=output.cfm&File_Id=5461
Book: Carbon River Coal Country, by Nancy Irene Hall, Heritage Quest Press, 1980 & 1994. ISBN-13: 9780945433330 - ISBN-10: 0945433336
As of 2010-10-29, Carbon River Coal Country is available from Heritage Quest Press, Orting, WA 360-893-5363
After World War I ended in 1918 all the coal mines--railroad and independent--faced the same problems, including that of labor (already described). A nationwide mining depression began in the 1920s. A few new mines, such as Columbia and Consumers, opened during this decade despite slow sales. The twenties depression in the coal industry deepened, however, as railroads switched to diesel fuel and homeowners to natural gas. Fewer mines opened in the thirties during the worldwide Great Depression. This downturn ended only when World War II pushed demands for Utah coal through the ceiling. Henry Kaiser then opened his mine near Sunnyside to help the war effort, and Horse Canyon opened a few miles east.
from http://historytogo.utah.gov/utah_chapters/mining_and_railroads/oldkingcoal.html
Visits
7/24/2010 (see below) http://picasaweb.google.com/mike.betz/20100724CarbonRiverValleyExpedition#
10/16/2010 Hiked to Summit Lake, then drove/hiked to Clipper Mine, then walked down the hill to Fairfax.
http://friendsofthecarboncanyon.org/
Carbon River items
map http://friendsofthecarboncanyon.org/Documents/Map%20of%20the%20Upper%20Carbon%20River%20Valley.pdf
Trails http://friendsofthecarboncanyon.org/Documents/Carbon%20Canyon%20Trails.pdf
Hikes http://www.seattlepi.com/getaways/042000/hike20.html
my map