WHEN COAL WAS KING: Barney Baima Family

Barney Baima Family – Shown here are Bernard and Adriena Baima with their five sons: Joe, Peter, John, Valentino, and Adolf, also known as “Buff.” Barney, as he was known, and Adriena emigrated from Turin, Italy to Renton in 1901, before moving to Newcastle in 1902. Four years later the Baima family moved into Pacific Coast Company House #75, which was to be associated with the Baimas for the next eight decades. However, 15 years of coal mining left Barney “gasping, choking for air, a victim of mine smoke, powder dust, and coal dust,” according to his son Valentino. Following a long illness, Barney died in October 1916. His funeral saw a horse-drawn hearse carry his body to the graveyard near Lake Boren as friends and relatives looked on while the Newcastle band played. His sons Joe and Peter were members of that prize-winning band. All five sons eventually worked in the coal mining industry, most prominently Joe who despite an underground accident which crippled him for life, started the B & R Coal Company, with his lifelong friend Mike Rubatino in March 1932. Baima and Rubatino also worked coal seams at the Grand Ridge and Issaquah mines from 1938 to 1951. This photo comes courtesy of Vicki (Baima) Olson, John’s daughter. Next week the final installment on House #75, which still stands today, a testament to the Baima family’s legacy of coal mining.