Identity elements
Reference code
Name and location of repository
Level of description
Collection
Title
Palmer Coking Coal Collection
Date(s)
- circa 1938-1951 (Creation)
Extent
5 boxes
Name of creator
Administrative history
Palmer Coking Coal Company is a producer, supplier, and retailer of a wide selection of sand, gravel, topsoil, beauty bark, red cinder, lava rock, and other construction and landscaping products. It is a family-owned and operated business incorporated in Durham, Washington on August 14, 1933. The company no longer mines coal, In the company name, �Palmer� comes from the generally forgotten town of Palmer-Kanaskat, Washington (near Durham), located in east King County. Coking refers to a type of coal which could be partially �cooked� to extract impurities. Coal was the mineral mined during the Great Depression, when thirty or more companies competing for market share in a declining industry around Seattle. During the 1950s Palmer acquired a land base which allowed expanded mining opportunities in Black Diamond, Ravensdale and�Franklin, Washington. Diversification into other extractive products soon followed: red cinders, clay, silica, timber, sand, gravel, and topsoil.
Content and structure elements
Scope and content
The Palmer Coking Coal Collection consists of 5 boxes of deeds and related records from the Pacific Coast Railroad. Most appear to be grants of right of way land to adjacent landowners when the lines to Newcastle and Taylor were abandoned, and are believed to have come into Palmer Coking Coal's possesion on their purchase of the local assets of the Pacific Coast Coal Company in the late 1950s.
System of arrangement
Conditions of access and use elements
Conditions governing access
Please see Section VII of the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive Collection Management Policy for further information.
Physical access
Technical access
Conditions governing reproduction
Please see the Pacific Northwest Railway Archives Reproduction Policy for further information.
Languages of the material
- English
Scripts of the material
- Latin
Language and script notes
Finding aids
A paper finding aid is located in the accession file.
Acquisition and appraisal elements
Custodial history
Ownership resides in the Pacific Northwest Railroad Archive.
Immediate source of acquisition
Donated by the Palmer Coking Coal Company under the authority of William Kombol, Manager. Accrual W2018-27 received 05/01/2018.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information
Accruals
W2018-27
Related materials elements
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related archival materials
Related descriptions
Notes element
Specialized notes
Alternative identifier(s)
Description control element
Rules or conventions
Describing Archives - A Content Standard (DACS) 2nd Edition 2013
Sources used
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Pacific Coast Railroad Company (Subject)