“None of the early settlements in Maple Valley has been more thoroughly ‘lost’ than the town of Taylor, once a busy mining, manufacturing and logging center about seven miles east of Maple Valley.” So begins Morda Slauson’s chapter on Taylor in her excellent local history book, “One Hundred Years on the Cedar.” This undated photo shows a portion of the town founded in 1892 after Sam Galloway discovered coal and clay deposits on his homestead and the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad built a branch line from Maple Valley through Hobart. Taylor possessed four key ingredients critical for success: coal, clay, water, and a railroad. Coal powered the town and fired furnaces which dried wet clay into finished products such as tile and clay pipe. Clay was the main ingredient. Water from Taylor Creek and Lake Webster were important to the brick-making process. And the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad provided the crucial transportation link during an era where goods moved by boxcar and flatbeds not trucks. In addition to the coal mine and brick factory, Taylor also boasted a sawmill operated by Joe Donnell.
Taylor was a company town owned by the Denny-Renton Clay & Coal Co. By 1928, the coal veins ran out so fuel was shipped in from mines at Cedar Mountain or Ravensdale. By 1946, the Seattle Water Department won their condemnation lawsuit so the dismantling of Taylor would soon begin. Machinery was moved to Renton, ten homes were taken to Hobart, and the remaining buildings torn down. The site was closed and eventually public access forbidden. Morda Slauson ends her Taylor chapter with a quote from an old timer, “A gate cannot fence out the memories of those who lived in and loved the little town in the foothills.” This photo comes courtesy of the Maple Valley Historical Society. Next week, more about Taylor.
