The Green River Region lies about 30 miles southeast of Seattle on a flat benchland of glacial gravel.  Its perimeters are older sedimentary mountains to the west and north, with the Cedar River forming a snaking northern boundary; towering Cascade foothills to the east; and the lush Enumclaw floodplain to the south.  Black Diamond lies in the heart of the Green River Region.

Millions of years ago, an array of geologic occurrences converged in this area to create difficult and expensive to mine coal beds, and impoverished possibilities for farming and forestry.  The area is cooler than Seattle and twice as wet, which means much of Black Diamond's History took place in the rain.
The Black Diamond Coal Company was organized and started work in 1864, in Nortonville, Contra Costa County, California.  In 1873 four men took up claim in the Green River area and formed the Green River Coal Company.  About the same time California speculators, aware of the fact that the abundant Mt. Diablo mine at Nortonville, California would soon be depleted, began their investigations in the Pacific Northwest.  One of them bought out the Green River Coal Company, but because of the low quality of exposed coal, the fields were not developed.  In the spring of 1880, P.B. Cornwall, President of the Black Diamond Coal Mining Company, sent Victor Tull to explore the possibilities on Puget Sound.  He discovered an abundance of higher quality coal outcropping a few miles north in the future Black Diamond - Franklin - Ravensdale district.
B.B. Jones, a coal expert, was sent north to continue the prospecting.  The Company started immediately to open the firest big Black Diamond mine, No. 14.  On April 7th, 1882, 800 pounds of Black Diamond coal was sent to San Francisco for testing.  Its quality so impressed Cornwall and Morgan Morgans, his superintendent, that they came north in June.
By 1885, Mt. Diablo was dead and the predominantly Welsh Nortonville miners moved into the Green River Region, giving birth to Black Diamond and its surrounding settlements.

A scramble for possession of the newly discovered veins involving Seattle, San Francisco and New York set the stage for two crucial processes - one was the development of a huge monopoly over Northwest transportation by a New York financier, Henry Villard, through NP and the Oregon Improvement Company, and the other a several million dollar survey of soil, timber and mineral potential which Villard inspired.
By 1882 the pattern for Green River economics had been determined.  The Black Diamond Company and Oregon Improvement Company along with Northern Pacific developed the mines and dominated the Green River field throughout its history.
Any hope for immediate prosperity for the area was an illusion.  The coal was hard to mine; gas, faults, dust and steeply-pitched beds added to production costs.  But by March 1885 coal, in large quantities, was being mined from the new tunnels.  The end of that year saw 43,868 tons produced.  During the first 20 years production continued to increase, rising from 115,028 tons in 1895 to 234,028 tons in 1914.  The 1873 Coal Land Act specified 160 square acre plot limits per individual, ignoring the meandering deposits and uneven surfaces, thus seriously limiting successful mining and giving rise to fraudulent purchasing.  English and Australian merchant ships carried high-quality coal as ballast, flooding the market with superior and very cheap coal.  British Columbia used Chinese labor to keep its cost down. 
By the mid-1890's the entire Green River Field had a reputation for failure, but the peak years for the Black Diamond mines were still ahead.
Labor-Management clashes were numerous during the period of 1880-1915.  As in other mining areas across the country, issues of wages, hours, safety, workmen's compensation and union recognition were sources of frequent strikes, lockouts and incredible hardships for mining families.

Those difficulties were further compounded by periodic, national economic depressions.  By the year 1907, however, the Pacific Coast Coal Company signed an agreement with the United Mine Workers, and by 1914 the mines of the entire Green River Valley were unionized.  The year 1907 was also Black Diamond's peak production year - 970,000 tons; and the year 1915 saw some 1,400 miners employed in the Green River fields.  Neither the production or employment level was ever achieved again.
In almost every respect, economic, social and physical, the town of Black Diamond was shaped by the demands of the industry and its management.  The land on which most of the homes were built remained the property of the company; and the mine superintendent, Morgan Morgans, determined who could buy and sell to whom - and at what price.  He donated the town cemetery; controlled liquor, electricity, medical care and political rallies; permitted collection of relief funds, determined mine holidays, and attended the state constitutional convention.
The Company, however, did not operate the limited retail facilities.  The town's residents had to travel to Seattle for major purchases such as bulk staple, clothing and household furnishings.  Even at the turn of the century, Black Diamond with a population of 1,000, did not have the wide variety of businesses and services which characterized most other towns of similar size.

The "Company Store", which typified most mining communities, did not come into being in the Black Diamond area until 1904, when the new mine owners sought to increase their revenues by raising the merchants rents.  Eventually, a company store and company coupons were introduced.
Following World War I, after substantial wage increases had been achieved by the miners, the Black Diamond area became even more susceptible to national trends in the economy than it had been in earlier decades.  Nationwide strikes in the industry coupled with the replacement of coal by oil and electricity in many industry which had been a major market for coal, contributed to both a declining market and weakening of the unions.  The 1920's witnessed some of the most tragic and violent labor disputes in the history of the State of Washington.
By the year 1927 the Pacific Coast Coal Company closed the Number 11 mine within the community and developed the new Black Diamond mine about six miles south of Renton.  Many of the miners transferred to that area.  During the 1930's a new mine was started in Section 6 and the Franklin mine was reopened.

In the late 1930's, the company disposed of Black Diamond and its residences, bringing to an end the company's total domination of the community's economic and social life.  Miners were given the opportunity to buy their houses.  If they did not choose to buy, the houses were sold to any interested party.
By 1946, the Pacific Coast Coal Company's holdings were acquired by the Palmer Coal and Coking Company.

During the mining era and after the end of major mining activities, most community services were provided by King County.  There was much dissatisfaction with county services, and Black Diamond citizens discussed the possibilities of municipal incorporation.  An incorporation petition was initiated and presented to King County officials.  The issue was determined by a favorable majority vote on January 20, 1959; and the first official meeting of the Black Diamond City Council was held on March 3, 1959.
HISTORIC ASPECTS OF BLACK DIAMOND
RAILROAD AVENUE: From the intersection of First Avenue to the intersection of Jones Lake Road.  This is perhaps the most important historic area.  The avenue is the abandoned right-of-way of the Old Great Northern Railroad which now terminates at Roberts Drive.  This segment of Railroad Avenue includes the following buildings. 
THE DEPOT:  At the intersection of Commission Avenue.

The train depot now houses the Historical Society and is sitting on the original site.  The depot was built around 1886 by the Oregon Improvement Company that owned the Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad.  It was added on to in 1904 and remodeled in 1915 before being sold in 1916 to Pacific Coast Coal, a large conglomerate out of New York City.

The first train arrived in 1886 and the line continued to run until the early thirties.  In the intervening years the depot has been a cafe, phone exchange, Library, Water Department and city storage building.  When the Bicentennial came around, a group of citizens formed the Historical Society and gradually over the years hae taken over the building.  They started restoring it in 1978 and are continually improving it every day.  Many items, from 1882 to the present time, have been donated by the citizens of Black Diamond and the surrounding area.

The Society has installed approximately 125 feet of railroad track in front of the depot where it originally laid.  The railroad ties were donated by people in memory of past loved ones and thier names are on a plaque on the front of the depot.

If you are ever in this area and are a history buff this building is a must see.
THE JAIL:  Circa 1910, the only one Black Diamond has ever had, is sitting to the south of the depot.  When it was first built it was sitting down the hill, west behind the depot along with a saloon, blacksmith shop and a livery.  It has two small cells, a small stove and one chair for the guard.  It was moved int he early thirties to a site east of the depot where it slowly deteriorated over the years until Society moved it to its present site in 1980 and began restoration.