Franklin was a coal mining

Coal mining

The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...

 town located in east King County, Washington

King County, Washington

King County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. The population in the 2010 census was 1,931,249. King is the most populous county in Washington, and the 14th most populous in the United States....

, near the current Hanging Gardens State Park.

History

The community was established in the 1880s, with a post office established by 1886. In May 1891, labor recruiters brought African-Americans to Franklin from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, and Tennessee with offers of good paying jobs and free transportation. The white miners who were on strike took exception to the African-American strikebreakers and tensions grew for a month and a half. In early July, a riot broke out resulting in the deaths of two people and the Governor called out the National Guard to restore order.

In 1885 the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad

Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad

The Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad was the first railroad in Seattle, Washington...

 was extended from Black Diamond

Black Diamond, Washington

Black Diamond is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 4,151 at the 2010 census.Based on per capita income, one of the more reliable measures of affluence, Black Diamond ranks 64th of 522 areas in the state of Washington to be ranked.-History:Black Diamond was...

 to the town, allowing most of the coal to be shipped to San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. On August 24, 1894, the worst mine disaster in King County history occurred at the Oregon Improvement Company mine in Franklin. A fire caused thirty-seven miners to suffocate in the mine. A jury later found that the fire had been intentionally set

Arson

Arson is the crime of intentionally or maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas. It may be distinguished from other causes such as spontaneous combustion and natural wildfires...

, but the person responsible had also perished in the disaster.

By the early Twentieth Century, demand fell and mining became more difficult, causing the mine to shut down. The post office closed in 1916. By 1919 nearly all mining had ceased at Franklin and residents vacated, though a few families including the Moore family remained behind. Ernest Moore later wrote a book about his African-American family's experiences in "The Coal Miner Who Came West" (copyright 1982).

From the late 1940s through 1971, Palmer Coking Coal Company mined both surface and underground coal in and around the town site of Franklin. This mining ended in late March 1971 when a coal car bridge across the Green River was blasted in a ceremony attended by many local dignitaries. In 1984-1985 the Green River Community College

Green River Community College

Green River Community College is a community college located in Auburn, Washington, USA. It has a student body of approximately 10,000.-History:...

 archaeology department, led by Gerald Hedlund and Mark Vernon, conducted digs at the abandoned town site. The report, From Smoke to Mist: An archeological study of Franklin, WA. - A Turn of the Century Company Coal Town was published in 1994 which in turn relied on research by historian John Hanscom.

Franklin is located at 47°18′11"N 121°58′16"W, northeast of Enumclaw, Washington

Enumclaw, Washington

Enumclaw is a city in King County, Washington, United States. The population was 10,669 at the 2010 census.The Enumclaw Plateau, on which the city resides, was formed by a volcanic mudflow from Mount Rainier approximately 5,700 years ago....

 along the Green River

Green River (Washington)

The Green River is a long river in the state of Washington in the United States, arising on the western slopes of the Cascade Mountains south of I-90....

.