mining crew of the Denny Clay Company on February 27, 1905
Shown here is the mining crew of the Denny Clay Company on February 27, 1905, in Taylor, Washington. The photo was probably taken outside the hotel or boarding house where many miners would have lodged. Exactly why the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad built a branch line to Taylor in 1892 remains a mystery. Some claim it was to access big stands of old growth timber in this area of the Cascade lowlands. However, rich stands of timber were common throughout western Washington.
The rail line ended in Section 3, which was then owned by Northern Pacific as part of a land grant of every odd section in a township to build a railroad to the Puget Sound. Arthur Denny was one of Seattle’s founders who capitalized his clay company in 1892.
The Seattle fire of 1889 was probably the greatest single factor in stimulating the use of clay bricks as people looked for non-combustible materials to rebuild the city. This fact caused Denny to search for sites with brick-making opportunities. Stars aligned in 1893 when NPRR deeded Section 3 to the Denny Clay Company in 1893 and the town of Taylor came into existence. Taylor had four key components critical for success: coal, clay, water, and a railroad. Coal powered the town and fired the furnaces which dried wet clay into finished products. Clay is the main ingredient in bricks and tile.
Water from Taylor Creek and Lake Webster were important to the brick-making process. And the railroad provided critical transportation links in an era where goods moved in boxcars not trucks. There are two competing claims for the naming of Taylor. Some say the name came from one of the clay company’s managers, William T.W. Taylor. While others contend the town was named for a Virginia prospector, named James Taylor who may have discovered the coal and clay seams, perhaps while working for the railroad. A prospector named Taylor did work for railroad in 1881 exploring the Cle Elum region.
This photo #86.92.2 comes courtesy of the Maple Valley Historical Society while research for the caption was aided by Bruce Schneider’s blog, “Taylor – the ‘Lost’ town that helped build Seattle.”
