Editing Black Diamond, Washington (section)

===Coal mining===
Beginning in the 1880s Black Diamond was a rural [[coal mining]] area, developed by the [[Black Diamond Coal Mining Company]] of [[California]], which owned and operated the mine.<ref name="Jbyer">The move of coal miners from Nortonville, California to Black Diamond, Washington Territory, 1885 by Jacqueline Byer Dial, 1980.</ref>  The original residents were largely composed of former workers, from the company's previous coal mining operation in [[Nortonville, California]], which primarily sold coal to the thriving new metropolis of [[San Francisco]].<ref name="olson">Black Diamond: Mining the Memories, edited by Diane and Cory Olson, 1988.</ref>  A combination of low quality coal from the Nortonville mines, water intrusion into the workings there, and the discovery and economical transport of higher-quality Washington coal to San Francisco spelled the demise of Nortonville in the early 1880s.<ref name="kishaba">The History of Nortonville, by Robert Kishaba, 1961.</ref> The town was home to around 3,500 people by the early 1900s, many of them European [[immigrants]]; most of the working men were involved in producing coal. This coal was transported to [[Seattle]] via the [[Pacific Coast Coal]] train. Before 1911, the miners were affiliated with the [[United Mine Workers of America]] (UMWA), but by March 1911 had left en masse to join the [[Industrial Workers of the World]] (IWW).<ref name="IWWYearbook1911">{{cite web|last=Bragg |first=Nick |title=IWW Yearbook 1911 |url=http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1911.shtml |website=IWW History Project |publisher=[[University of Washington]] |access-date=April 20, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160602022347/http://depts.washington.edu/iww/iwwyearbook1911.shtml |archive-date=June 2, 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="IW_1911_03_09">{{cite news |author=<!--No author listed.--> |publication-date=March 9, 1911 |title=A New Local |volume=2 |issue=51 |page=3 |newspaper=[[Industrial Worker]] |url=https://archive.org/details/v2n51-w103-mar-09-1911-IW}}</ref>

After [[World War I]], the town shut down the mine as it was no longer viable. A second mining boom spurred growth in the town in the early 1930s on the strength of multiple mining operations promoted by the Morris brothers through the Palmer Coking Coal Company.  Mining has continued until recently through the Pacific Coast Coal Company, formerly of San Francisco.{{Citation needed|date=January 2024}}

The main building of the Black Diamond Historical Museum is the former train station, which served the [[Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad]] 1884–1916 and the Pacific Coast Railway 1916–1951. Regular passenger service ended in 1925, but a train still brought men to the mine until 1931, and trains continued to haul coal and freight into the 1940s.{{cn|date=February 2025}}