Two fatal airplane crashes gripped the mill-town of Selleck in April 1953. They happened just days apart. The first, on April 14
th saw a DC-3 carrying 22 soldiers and three crew members come down during snow flurries, in the upper Cedar River basin about 10 miles east of Selleck. Seven ultimately died after one engine failed and the plane fell to the forest below. More than 200 rescue workers and town folk were involved in that rescue and recovery. Just nine days later, on April 23, an American Air Transport C-46 went down on a nearby ridge misidentified as Cedar Mountain. While the DC-3 crash received extensive newspaper coverage, the C-46 downing received almost none.
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“It all began with the railroad,” applies doubly to Black Diamond’s founding in 1882. Without coal, there would have been no railroad. But without a railroad the coal would have never been mined. The Columbia & Puget Sound’s narrow-gauge railroad reached Black Diamond on December 12, 1884, with tracks later connecting to Franklin. Four months later the first coal train left town destined for shipment to California from Seattle ports.
In 1897, the narrow-gauge rails were replaced by standard gauge, allowing C&PS freight to easily transfer to and from other lines. This image of Engine #9 was likely taken that year and was reputed to be the first standard gauge engine to arrive in town. The location is near the Black Diamond Museum, which was originally constructed as the town’s train station. The engine is pulling a coal tender, a special rail vehicle hauled behind a steam locomotive containing its fuel and water. Trailing is a special rail car used for
This building has a storied past. Constructed in Black Diamond’s commercial district around 1900, it became the Black Diamond Store (also called People’s Store). In 1910, after the explosion of the Lawson mine, Pacific Coast Coal moved their Company store onto the adjacent lot. The Company store was later taken over by the Zumek brothers who eventually closed the original and in 1962 opened a supermarket on Highway 169, now home to a variety of shops. The Black Diamond or People’s Store was eventually converted into an automotive garage. In time the building was divided in two parts. The south half was successively a warehouse, butcher shop, Ford dealership, garage, and then the Diamond Stage bus line office. The north half was used as a pool hall and tavern, the most successful of which was King’s Tavern.
In a famous scene from âItâs a Wonderful Life,â George and Mary Bailey present three housewarming gifts to the Martinis consisting of: âBread â that this house may never know hunger; Salt â that life may always have flavor; and Wine â that joy and prosperity may reign forever.â Black Diamondâs local bakery has been baking bread leavened with salt for as long as wineâs been made by the townâs Italian coal miners. This photo for a Dec. 18, 1976 Seattle Times article shows Wallace Smith, left with son Doug and daughter Sandra removing loaves from the brick oven that made the Black Diamond Bakery famous. The brick ovens were built by Willard (Bill) Hadley in 1902.
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