When Coal Was King

This bird’s eye view was seen from the upper branch of the Summit-Landsburg Road near where it intersects Landsburg Road S.E. Without vegetation the Cedar River would be visible in the background as the site is about 1/4 mile downstream from the Landsburg Bridge. This photo of the Danville mine was taken circa 1950. The mine tipple is visible in the center right. The mine site was accessed from the lower branch of the Summit-Landsburg Road more commonly known as S.E. 253rd but historically named the Morris Mine Connection Road. Mining in this area of Ravensdale commenced in 1896 when the Danville Coal Company opened a water level portal called the Davis mine. Like other coal seams in the area, exploration was aided by the gorge cut through bedrock by the Cedar River allowing easy discovery of the seam. In the early years Danville’s mines proved difficult to operate and a series of coal companies with names such as Vesuvius, Success, Tullock, Desimone, Gebo-Drake, and Landsburg all failed. In 1937 Palmer Coking Coal Company announced plans to reopen the Danville mine and the deposit finally had an operator worthy of its potential. For the next 38 years PCCC operated a number of mines in the area originally called Danville but eventually rechristened as Landsburg. In total nearly 1.2 million tons of coal were mined from this area by Palmer, including tonnage from the last underground coal mine in the state of Washington, the Rogers No. 3. To learn more about this area’s development, go to www.HistoryLink.org and type Danville in the search box. Supplied by Bill Kombol - Black Diamond.