Underground coal mines were like any other business – subject to failure for any number of reasons. And the miners who worked the coal seams knew this better than most. Miners were unwilling to purchase homes in a coal town knowing that a mine explosion or company failure would certainly doom their investment. In order to attract employees the coal companies were forced to erect company homes, which they furnished to miners with families at a reasonable cost.
Hotels and boarding houses primarily served the needs of bachelors or those whose families remained behind. This 1927 photo of the John Barkley Hotel in Black Diamond appeared in the July/August 1977 calendar series as published by the Black Diamond Historical Society. It comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah researcher.
This large structure known as Pacific Coast building #125 was located at First and Baker Street south of the current post office. Nearby at the site of the current Black Diamond Eagles was the Pacific Coast Coal Company hotel with 67 rooms. However, 1927 marked the year that Black Diamond’s largest and most successful Mine #11 finally closed after 31 years of continuous production. That event no doubt sounded the death knell for this hotel. It is not known when the building finally came down, though by 1936 aerial photos show a vacant lot where the hotel once stood.
