Some Local History

History of Newcastle:

Newcastle in its current incarnation was incorporated in 1994. Seems like last century. The name comes from two earlier towns in the area. We still have a few artifacts from those early Newcastles including one of the original houses.

The first Newcastle was a mining camp that got moved to become the second Newcastle. Neither one incorporated but the name came from the big industrial coal city in England. People had big plans for coal back then.

Several of our local place names came from coal mining, such as Coalfield, Coal Creek, and Black Diamond. Coal mining was going to be profitable for a long time. That was the view in the 1860s anyway.

The last of the mines closed in the 1960s because the economy of mining and transporting coal evaporated. None of the mine entrances remain open because people would probably go into them and get lost – forever. Whenever an old mine entrance is found the people in charge of protecting us from ourselves plug it up with concrete. But we still find a new one to plug up every few years. Sometimes a yard suddenly sinks and hundreds of politicians gather around pledging to do something about it.

After the mines closed the Rabanco people started a landfill for construction material. They eventually created a mountain of debris and now there’s a golf course on top of it. So when a mine shaft collapses the hole fills with trash and golfers.

Glen, the Lake Boren Carp, was just another fish in the pond before coal was discovered in the Newcastle area. He was around to see most of the activity and has some interesting stories. In those early mining days the creeks had more water and Glen was smaller so he was able to get around easier. These days he has to travel at night to avoid upsetting folks who fear giant fish.

When the large coal vein was discovered in Newcastle in 1863 there were no rail lines to carry coal to Lake Washington. During those first years it was hauled in freight wagons drawn by mules. Glen tells me the wagons were very heavy and it took a lot of mules to pull them out of the hills. They would load a wagon with coal and then start hitching up mules. By the time the last mules were hitched the first pair had already reached the lake. Dock workers turned them around and sent them back toward the mine. That was convenient because the mule skinner (that’s the wagon driver) could check on his animals as they went by going the other way. It’s easy to see where that old wagon road was because things grow very well due to the natural fertilizer.

At the dock on Lake Washington coal was loaded on barges that carried it to the south end of Lake Union. We’ve heard of that lake before. Dock workers unloaded the coal and it took another wagon ride through Seattle to the Pike Street Pier. At that point it was loaded on ships headed for places like San Francisco. Seattle’s first train hauled coal from the South Lake Union docks to the Pike Street Pier beginning in 1872. Railroads replaced freight wagons in most coal mining areas by the late 1870s.

Descendents of those mules still roam the hills of Newcastle. Ha ha, that’s a joke. Mules can’t have offspring. Bet you didn’t know that.

Glen has seen continuous change during the past 160 years. When you drive through Newcastle today it looks a lot like an ordinary suburb (roads under construction) with houses and grocery stores. It’s hard to imagine people have been living and working in the area since 1853. Well, it’s hard to imagine people working there anyway.

One of the key reasons the coal barges stopped at Lake Union was rapids near the current location of the Ballard Locks. Barges and large boats could not negotiate the rapids. Therefore lake boats stayed in the lake and ocean going ships stayed in Puget Sound. In those days it was reasonable to haul coal by wagon, train, barge, and ship to sell in larger markets. After the Ballard Locks opened in 1913 ships could move between Lake Washington and Puget Sound.
In the South Lake Union area in 1890 the Seattle Electric Railway and Power Company successfully laid streetcar tracks to downtown Seattle in just five days. They used the same route as the old Seattle Coal and Transportation Company rail line which was no longer in use. This streetcar line was eventually extended to Fremont and Ballard. It finally closed in the late 1940s. In July 2006 the South Lake Union Streetcar (SLUT) track laying was started and took a year and a half to lay 1.3 miles. Times change.

In 1903 John Olmsted proposed a park on the shore at South Lake Union. They finally broke ground in 2006. That means soon the South Lake Union Streetcar will soon have someplace to go. In 1913 Henry Ford opened a Model T assembly plant there. The building is now a Public Storage facility. In 1998 the old Ford Building was designated a Seattle City Landmark. Be sure to check it out next time you ride the Trolley.

Given the slow progress in rail construction these days I think the rapid transit line connecting Newcastle to the rest of the Seattle metropolitan area will take some time. And that’s good because Glen has plenty of stories.

Al