Franklin, Washington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Franklin, Washington
|
|
|---|---|
.jpg)
Post office in Franklin (circa 1920)
|
|
 |
|
 Franklin, Washington
Location in Washington (state)
Franklin, Washington
Location in the United States
|
|
| Country | United States |
| State | Washington |
| County | King |
| Established | 1880s |
| Time zone | UTC-8 (Pacific (PST)) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC-7 (PDT) |
Franklin was once a busy coal mining town. It was located in eastern King County, Washington, close to the Green River. Today, it's about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Black Diamond. Franklin is now a ghost town, meaning no one lives there anymore.
Contents
The Story of Franklin
.jpg)
Early Days and Growth
The town of Franklin started in the 1880s. A post office, where people could send and receive mail, was opened by 1886. This showed the town was growing.
In May 1891, a difficult situation happened. Some workers in Franklin were on strike, meaning they refused to work to demand better conditions. To keep the mines running, new workers were brought in from states like Missouri and Kentucky. These new workers were African-American.
The white miners who were on strike did not like this. Tensions grew for about a month and a half. In early July, a serious conflict broke out. Two people died during this event. The Governor of Washington had to send in the National Guard to help bring peace back to the town.
Coal and Challenges
In 1885, a railroad line was built from Black Diamond to Franklin. This made it much easier to ship coal from Franklin's mines, especially to places like San Francisco.
However, a terrible event happened on August 24, 1894. A fire started in the Oregon Improvement Company mine in Franklin. This was the worst mine disaster in King County's history. Thirty-seven miners died because they couldn't breathe in the smoke-filled mine. Later, a jury decided that someone had started the fire on purpose. Sadly, the person responsible also died in the fire.
The Town's Decline
As the early 1900s arrived, the demand for coal began to drop. Also, it became harder to dig coal from the mines. Because of these problems, the main mine in Franklin eventually had to close.
The post office in Franklin closed in 1916. By 1919, almost all coal mining had stopped. Most of the people living in Franklin moved away. However, a few families, like the Moore family, stayed behind for a while. Ernest Moore, from that family, later wrote a book in 1982 called The Coal Miner Who Came West. It shared his African-American family's experiences in the town.
Later Mining and Discoveries
Even after the town emptied, some mining continued. From the late 1940s until 1971, the Palmer Coking Coal Company mined coal in and around Franklin. They used both surface mining (digging from the top) and underground mining.
This later mining ended in March 1971. A special ceremony was held where a bridge used for coal cars across the Green River was blasted down. Many important local people attended this event.
Years later, in 1984 and 1985, archaeologists from Green River Community College studied the abandoned town site. Archaeologists are like history detectives who dig up old things to learn about the past. They were led by Gerald Hedlund and Mark Vernon. Their findings were published in a report in 1994 called From Smoke to Mist: An archeological study of Franklin, WA. - A Turn of the Century Company Coal Town. This report used information from historian John Hanscom's research.
