What does Seattle Coal & Transportation have to do with Kirkland history?

On the one hand, SC&T has very little to do with Kirkland history, and this post is simply a shameless plug for “Seattle’s First Railroad”, a multi-year research project in which Matt and I are involved. Part of what has made this project so compelling is the people who are on the team with us: Harry Dursch, Gary Dutt, Mike Intlekofer, Eva Lundahl, and Russ Segner, all members of the Newcastle Historical Society. Every member has brought vital expertise to the project, from deep knowledge on mining equipment, to the history of early Puget Sound watercraft, and everything in between.

On the other hand, there are strong thematic links between SC&T and the Kirkland boom, especially the ill-fated steel mill. Both are part of the decades-long push to industrialize the entire eastern shore of Lake Washington. Imagine how different the Eastside would be if the full vision had materialized!

Our team was thrilled to catch the interest of Jean Sherrard, Paul Dorpat, and Clay Eals, who create the wonderful Then and Now history capsules for the Pacific magazine in the Seattle Times. An article on our research went live yesterday and will be in Sunday’s print edition. There’s also a post on their blog with a tad more content.

We hope you can join us at an upcoming talk on this topic, on September 26 at 7pm, at the Bellevue downtown library. More information: https://kcls.bibliocommons.com/events/5d6081727a559e3a0018b97a.