This picture postcard mailed from Black Diamond in August 1908 shows a group of ladies playing Jacks. The photo of the four unidentified women is looking east across the Black Diamond ballfield towards what is now Highway 169. The home to the left of the ladies was long owned by the Darby family. To the right were homes later owned by the Rossi, Grgurich, and Tonkin families. The Black Diamond ballfield was an early fixture in the coal mining town featuring popular soccer matches and baseball games. Pacific Coast Coal Co. deeded the 4.6-acre site to the school district with restrictions that the property be used only for athletic and recreation purposes plus rights granted to town inhabitants to use the area for sports.
Post cards like this one were the Instagram of their day, allowing people to share pictures and stories. The message on the back of this one was written in German by Johan and addressed to John Fuorhl in Cle Elum. As to the game of Jacks, in earlier days the game was played differently. One method involved hooking the ball or stone in a cup at the end of the stick, like those being held by three of the ladies. This photo comes courtesy of JoAnne Matsumura, an Issaquah historian and collector of vintage postcards, with additional background information provided by the late Dorothy Corlett.
