0407, 2022

Wilkeson’s Historic Coke Ovens

Washington Our Home
July 4, 2022
History, Mining, Podcast, Western Washington
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Boasting a population of just under 500, the small community of Wilkeson, Washington, lies in the heart of Pierce County’s Carbon River Valley. Once a lively and vibrant mining community, it has withstood the test of time…despite seeing an end to its primary economic driver. But rather than resign itself to a fate of joining the ranks of dozens of other ghost towns throughout the state, Wilkeson has endured. And

0103, 2021

The 1910 Wellington Train Disaster

Washington Our Home
March 1, 2021
Disasters, Ghost Towns, Hikes, History, Railroad, Western Washington
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Just after one o’clock in the morning, on a frigid, starless night in March 1910, more than a hundred souls aboard Great Northern Railway’s Spokane Local No. 25, a passenger train, and Fast Mail Train No. 27 slept tightly bundled in their cars. They’d been stuck near Wellington in King County, Washington, for almost a week…waiting as railroad crews attempted to clear the tracks of snow, which had been accumulating

1411, 2014

Robert Peloli and Wilkeson’s coal mining history

My thanks to 91-year-old Robert Peloli – the last living coal miner in Wilkeson, his family, Wilkeson Mayor Bob Walker, Pierce County, and Dave Kellman, my intrepid videographer for this story. I think this is the best video we’ve done, and it’s a story near and dear to my heart. I hope you all enjoy watching it as much as I enjoyed making it!