George Savicke is shown here steadying a timber, called a mine prop that was used to hold up the roof of an underground coal mine. George was born in Black Diamond in 1914, graduating from Black Diamond High School in 1933. Shortly after graduating, he started working at a coal mine, retiring 43 later years. He left coal mining in January 1976, following the closure of the Rogers No. 3 mine in Ravensdale a month earlier. Operated by Palmer Coking Coal Co., Rogers No. 3 was the last underground coal mine in Washington state when its portal entry was blasted shut at 2:30 p.m. on Dec. 17, 1975. George had worked at that mine for 26 years.
Shortly after retiring from mining in Jan. 1976, George developed a case of black lung under liberalized rules that had expanded eligibility. During an interview with Diane and Cory Olson who published “Mining the Memories: An Oral History of Black Diamond,” George spoke of his black lung diagnosis. While visiting his physician, the revered Dr. J. Gordon Adams who practiced in Enumclaw for over 50 years, George asked where he should give up smoking cigarettes. “Doctor Adams said the best thing to do is to keep on smoking because if I quit smoking, that fluid will drain in our lungs and eventually you can’t cough it out. He said by smoking in the morning, you cough if free for the day.”
George Savicke was a witty man who enjoyed quips, one of his favorites about cutting firewood. “Firewood warms you twice, first when you cut it and then when you burn it.” George also related how he felt about his life mining coal. “I worked 43 years. I wouldn’t want to go through it again, I tell you. Oh, I really enjoyed it!”
It’s believed that George first worked in the mines around Black Diamond after graduation. In 1946, he moved to Anchorage to work for the Healy River Coal Company for five years, then came back to Washington for a short stint with the Northwest Improvement Company and later with Ed Johnson’s coal mine at Kummer. In 1950, Savicke joined Palmer Coking Coal Co. where he worked at their mines in Franklin, Landsburg, and finally Ravensdale.
For over 60 years, George Savicke was a dedicated union man for the United Mine Workers of America. He served as president of the local union #6481 for 27 years. George was a member of the Black Diamond Eagles as well as an avid fisherman along the Green River. He loved telling stories of the coal mines in which he worked. His prized possession was a chunk of coal removed from one of the deepest veins. In the center of the coal was a perfectly preserved clam shell. George marveled at the fact that the coal he mined was once a living mosaic of plants and animals buried over 50 million years ago.
In 1937, George married May L. Miller and they raised one daughter, Donna (Casper). At the time of his and May’s death, they had two grandchildren, Melinda Carlino and Robert Casper (now deceased), and two great-grandchildren, James and Stephen Carlino, plus many nieces and nephews. George passed away in Sept. 1995 and his wife, May, in Oct. 2006.
Barry Kombol took this April 24, 1974 photo of George Savicke on the 3rd level of Rogers No. 3 mine, about 600 feet underground. At the time Savicke was working with John Streepy to repair failing mine timber in the main haulage tunnel called the gangway. For three days that month, Kombol, who later became an attorney in Black Diamond, worked his regular day shift then during the cross-shift photographed his fellow coal miners performing their daily tasks. Next week, more about the life and family of George Savicke.
