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.
2020-03-26 @ 10:10 AM
I’m, writing a historical fiction novel on Seattle. After searching more sites than I can name I find it impossible to pin down consistent dates for creation of the Seattle Coal Co and Seattle Coal and Transportation Co. For SC&T I find dates of 1870 and 1872.For SCC I have both 1870 and 1871. Can you provide me any websites I might get a set of meaningful dates. I’m in San Jose, grew up in Renton, soon-line is my best option–especially right now with libraries all closed.
I’ve tried jstor, chronological history of Seattle, Bagley’s memoirs, historylink, Wikipedia, and local history links for towns.
2020-03-26 @ 2:39 PM
Hi Dale, SC&T was incorporated in San Francisco in 1871. My co-moderator here Kent actually managed to locate a copy of the original filing, linked here for your review and to download should you want a copy.
The Seattle Coal Co. was incorporated on January 31, 1870. I am emailing you a pdf of those incorporation documents.
2020-03-27 @ 1:35 PM
Hi Dale–I am happy to provide more info as well. A research group that Matt and I are part of (sponsored by the Newcastle Historical Society) have a TON of info.