Early Newcastle was a coal town. That meant that everything — land and buildings — was owned by the coal company and the only jobs were associated with mining, separating, washing and delivering the black diamonds.

Conditions were hard and dangerous. As one account from that time noted, “There was a man killed in the mine last night. Mr. Oakley (a director) sent the coal car, with others in it, whizzing down into the mine. He fell out and it ran over him.”

As a result of these conditions, unions arrived and strikes became fairly frequent.

The Knights of Labor representing 50 of the 250 workers was on the scene. It operated from 1881 until 1891 and was noted for being anti-black and anti-Chinese. 

There were some short strikes during the first five years, but in 1886, a major protest began over an employee reassigned to work with better pay. The Knights, however, did not feel he was entitled to such a move.

The 200 nonmembers were OK with the move and the company ignored the complaint.  The Knights recruited 200 protesters from Issaquah and closed the mine and threatened to blow up buildings.

The company responded by bringing in an additional 24 deputies from Portland. The ensuing skirmish (the sheriff and deputy were conveniently absent) left one dead and many wounded. The mine reopened after three weeks.

In 1891, another strike led to the company bringing in 650 workers as strikebreakers at wages 15 percent to 20 percent less than the whites. This eventually caused the end of the Knights.

Throughout most of the mining period, there was no such thing as paid retirement or Social Security. When a man could no longer handle a strenuous job, he was assigned to the screen tables. This is where the one-legged, one-eyed, one-lunged and elderly survivors found work. Sorting rock from coal was a miserable job.

Mine strikes occurred on and off for the next 20 years, but those were generally good times. The workers were then covered under the United Mine Workers union.

In 1919, a very serious protest took place. The company had worked hard on cost controls in order to compete with coal from Montana and Wyoming. The miners had enough and went on strike. In response, the workers were forced out of their company-owned homes and miners from Montana were brought in. The lease agreements allowed the company to reclaim the rented houses if there was a work stoppage.

The displaced miners set up camp at “Uniontown.” This was county property near the present day corner of Coal Creek Parkway and Southeast 89th Place. The strike lasted the better part of two years and the miners built some homes (two of which still exist with major modifications) and a few stores, and many found jobs in Renton.

The strike ended in 1922 and many of the workers returned to the coal mines. The company did not want another strike, so it resolved complaints and established a much-improved atmosphere with worker involvement in major decisions.

This collegial atmosphere lasted until 1927, when the Pacific Coast Coal Co. decided to close the mines and began the process of tearing down the buildings and removing all the railroad track. Most of the miners not involved in the teardown found work in other mining towns such as Issaquah, Black Diamond and Roslyn.

Newcastle drivers should be aware of a few upcoming traffic impacts connected to various construction projects.

First, Lakemont Boulevard Southeast will be closed between Forest Drive Southeast and 155th Avenue Southeast starting at 5 a.m. June 20. It will reopen at 5 a.m. June 22 with alternating one-way traffic.

Drivers will be detoured onto Forest Drive Southeast, Coal Creek Parkway or Newcastle Golf Club Road, depending on where they are coming from. View the full detour map here.

While Lakemont Boulevard is not in Newcastle, many residents use it as an alternate way into the city, especially those coming from Issaquah. The closure is necessary to complete a city of Bellevue roadway improvement project.

The other traffic impact is connected to construction of the new Renton School District middle school at the corner of Newcastle Way and 116th Avenue Southeast.

Expect delays as street improvements take place in conjunction with the school’s construction. Lane closures aren’t expected, but lanes will be shifted and flaggers will be on site to direct traffic.

Work is expected to begin on Newcastle Way as early as the third week of June and expected to be completed by Aug. 31.

When the original mining town of Old Newcastle was established in 1863, the primary source of drinking water was a little creek to the south that began up on Cougar Mountain and emptied into what is now Lake Boren.

It was normally a gentle flow of water, but during heavy rains the creek would overflow and created a large flood plain to the north of the current lake. The lake was bigger and deeper than it is today, and also was swampy on the Eastside.

Chinese workers came into the area in the early 1870s, primarily to work on the railroads, but some came to Newcastle and worked for the mining company.

The earliest news item we have found is from 1873 about an attempted suicide by a Chinese worker. There were evidently race issues, and in 1876, 40 Chinese workers were driven out of the mining camp.

In 1876 and 1877, more than 300 Chinese workers were employed in building the railroad extension from Renton into Newcastle. After the line was completed, many of those men came to work in the coal mines at New Newcastle.

They mostly worked in the bunkers at the picking tables sorting coal by size. They were housed in company-owned buildings until 1885, when race issues arose and all of the Chinese-occupied housing was burned.

The workers (all men) left the camp and built small huts among the trees near a creek away from the camp. They planted narrow gardens along the creek bank and coops for chickens and ducks. Over time, the creek became known as China Creek.

The creek continued feeding into Lake Boren, overflowing onto the flood plain and dropping rich silt during the winter.

The rich flood plain was used for grazing livestock in the summers. That condition changed in the 1960s when, according to the late Milt Swanson, Robin Peterson, owner of the property west of the current Coal Creek Parkway and north of the lake, began creating a concrete channel for the creek bed.

Peterson worked for Stoneway Concrete as a mechanic and was able to bring home surplus concrete, which he dumped into the bed. He created a stable channel that no longer overflowed during storm events and went directly into the north end of the lake.

Eliminating the flooding allowed the lakefront to be developed, and we have homes there today. China Creek continues to bring silt into the lake during storm events and the outflow must be cleaned periodically, or local flooding does occur.

Workers from many nations were instrumental in the success of coal mining in Newcastle and the eventual creation of the city, but only the Chinese have a named legacy in China Creek.

The Newcastle City Council recently voted to purchase a maintenance and storage building from the Coal Creek Utility District. In exchange for receiving a discounted price, the city agreed to a 10-year moratorium on the potential assumption of direct responsibility for water and sewer services.

Several current and former members of the City Council have registered vocal objections. They argue that the agreement is (a) illegal because it encumbers future councils, (b) unwise because it takes a reasonable option off the table and (c) it’s an unnecessary expense.

Limitations on future council action are neither illegal nor unusual. The city occupies office space under a long-term lease. Commitments to purchase and maintain our parks and to upgrade Coal Creek Parkway affected budgets over several years. Any issuance of municipal bonds requires repayment over an extended period. And the city attorney (an actual lawyer) approved the purchase.

It is true that the agreement delays a potential city takeover of the utilities. But as I understand, this possibility has been discussed and debated since incorporation, with no resolution in sight. The moratorium will provide more time to consider what is truly best for the city.

Finally, while the purchase of the building involves a cash outlay, it is not an expense. It is simply a conversion of assets from cash to real estate. If and when the city found itself short of funds, the building could be sold and our coffers restored. And since the negotiated purchase price for the property is well below what the parties believe to be its market value, the city could pocket the difference as a windfall.

I understand that this is an election year, and that potential candidates are in search of controversial issues on which to base their campaigns. This should not be one.

John Gordon

Newcastle

Editor’s Note: John Gordon is the husband of Newcastle City Councilwoman Carol Simpson.

Between Friday, Jan. 23, and Saturday, Jan. 24, suspects stole a large amount of copper wire along Coal Creek Parkway. Thieves entered the electrical panels in the sidewalk and cement barrier to gain access.

The areas hit were at Southeast 81st and Coal Creek Parkway, and multiple locations between Southeast May Creek Park Drive and May Valley Road.

If you saw any activity, such as a truck or people working in the area in the past week that were not using marked Newcastle vehicles, contact Detective Christy Marsalisi at 649-4444 and refer to case 15-026666. You can also submit an anonymous tip at www.ci.newcastle.wa.us/police/anonymous_tip.htm.

If you ever see anyone crouched over a metal utility box in a sidewalk or planter strip near streetlights, or noncity vehicles in the area, especially outside of regular city business hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), call 911 to have officers investigate the individuals.

Some thieves have worn orange utility vests in order to look legitimate. Newcastle employees working throughout the city have vehicles with clear city of Newcastle markings on the sides.

In a 4-2 vote, with Deputy Mayor John Drescher absent, the council elected to take an annually allowable 1 percent increase in property tax and a 3 percent banked property tax increase.

The move will bring the city more than $150,000 in revenue, with an eye toward using it to pay for an additional police officer, said Councilman John Dulcich, who made the motion proposing the increase.

“It fixes a lot of problems and it funds a police officer,” Dulcich said.

Residents can expect the city’s portion of their property taxes to increase an additional $44 next year for a $500,000 home, according to Finance Director Chris Olson.

Cities are allowed to annually impose a 1 percent property tax increase. For the past two years, the council has decided against it.

As for the banked capacity, the state Legislature allows local governments to levy less than the maximum increase in property taxes without losing the ability to levy higher taxes later, if necessary, according to the Washington State Department of Revenue’s website.

The 1986 provision encouraged districts to levy only what they needed, rather than the maximum. Prior to that, governments that took less than the maximum would permanently use some of their levying capacity — essentially using it or losing it.

“The banked capacity concept allowed districts to be more fiscally conservative without being penalized,” the website said.

Earlier in the meeting, Councilman Rich Crispo expressed concerns about how the city would pay for a new officer in 2016. He applauded Dulcich’s problem solving in suggesting the tax solution.

“I think this is the way you have to start dealing with the long term,” Crispo said.

Mayor Steve Buri and Councilman Gordon Bisset did not agree with the tax raise, especially since the city has a surplus.

“I think it’s too much money to take at this time,” Bisset said.

The council spent most of the Nov. 4 and 18 meetings making changes to City Manager Rob Wyman’s preliminary 2015 budget.

They removed funds for a $10,000 customer service survey, took out a proposed parks manager position and nixed Southeast 73rd Place pedestrian improvements in favor of traffic calming measures, just to name a few.

They also added a $25,000 contribution to A Regional Coalition for Housing. ARCH is a partnership of the East King County cities that have joined together to assist with preserving and increasing the supply of housing for low– and moderate-income households in the region.

The 2015 budget includes investment in several transportation capital projects, including a $1 million, grant-dependent plan for Newcastle Golf Club Road improvements and installation of flashing left-turn signals along Coal Creek Parkway.

The City Council approved the 2015 operating and capital budget by a 5-1 vote, with Drescher absent, Nov. 18.

Bisset was the lone dissent, voting against the budget because of the tax increase.

“As always, it sometimes seems like a messy, prolonged process,” Councilwoman Lisa Jensen said, “but I think we come out with a good result as far as the budget.”

The proposed budget places emphasis on public safety, setting the groundwork for an additional police officer in 2016, and outlines a robust capital investment program.

“I truly feel that the budget presented here provides a great value for the residents of Newcastle while reflecting the appropriate priorities, such as public safety,” Wyman wrote in the budget’s introduction.

The city could spend upward of $2.5 million on transportation projects if the budget is approved as is. In addition to the $550,000 the council commits annually to a pavement overlay program, residents could see projects such as pedestrian improvements to Southeast 73rd Place and the installation of flashing left-turn signals along Coal Creek Parkway in 2015.

There are also initial plans to pursue a $750,000 grant for improvements on Newcastle Golf Club Road. The project would widen and add bike lanes to the road, which would offer continuity after a 2015 city of Bellevue project makes improvements on the roadway just east of Newcastle city limits.

The Newcastle Golf Club Road project would cost about $1 million, and would only move forward if the city gets the grant.

The budget also includes $305,000 for a rock-fall stabilization project. To address concerns that rocks could fall on the roadway along Coal Creek Parkway, the project would stabilize the slope along the east side of Coal Creek Parkway between Newcastle Golf Club Road and Southeast 79th Place.

After funding a full-time detective for the Newcastle police force last year, the 2015 budget sets the stage for adding another patrol officer to the department in 2016.

“Hiring an officer requires paying salary for nine months to the King County Sheriff’s Office in advance of the officer being available for duty,” Wyman explained in the budget document. “This delay is because the county has to send a recruit through the police academy and train them for duty.”

The preliminary 2015 budget doesn’t have any funds for the new officer; instead, the cost — about $138,000 for nine months of pay — is being set aside out of the 2014 surplus.

“The benefit of this approach is twofold,” Wyman said. “First, it allows us to meet our financial policy of not allowing expenditures to exceed revenues. Secondly, it gives us the rest of 2014 to figure out the appropriate revenue source to pay for the ongoing costs of this additional officer.”

The city, which contracts with the King County Sheriff’s Office, currently has an eight-member police department, and that includes Police Chief Melinda Irvine and the full-time detective. The number of Newcastle patrol officers has not increased since 1999, Wyman said.

The preliminary budget also has line items for a city website redesign, a new snow removal truck, a resident customer-service survey and an Energize Eastside consultant.

The proposed 2015 budget does currently include an allowable 1 percent property tax increase, though the council has elected not to take the increase for the past two years.

The Newcastle City Council will continue to discuss and make changes to the budget at its November meetings, including a final public hearing to be held 7 p.m. Nov. 18 at City Hall. Final budget adoption is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 18.

Garry Kampen

This year is the 20th anniversary of Newcastle, a small city that ranks high in livability, and the 15th anniversary of Newcastle Trails, a nonprofit citizens group that has worked for parks, trails and open space, in close cooperation with the city, since 1999.

I’m writing to celebrate Newcastle’s amazing and still-growing trail system, and to encourage you to explore it and enjoy it. Check NT’s website, www.newcastletrails.org; download our latest map and trail guide; join NT by emailing info@newcastletrails.org (for trail news, no dues); attend our Oct. 6 board meeting (7 p.m. at Regency Newcastle); and consider volunteering for the board, or lending a hand with trail work, computer work (GIS, web, writing), lobbying, fundraising — whatever you’d like to do.

Newcastle’s trails are part of a regional network used by walkers, joggers, cyclists and equestrians. The city lies within a Grand Loop, a triangle of trail corridors with its base on the existing Lake Washington Trail (future Eastside Rail Trail) and its apex in Cougar Mountain.

The sides of the triangle are the May Creek Greenway (mostly in Newcastle) and the Coal Creek section of the Mountains to Sound Greenway (mostly in Bellevue). The triangle is crossed north-to-south by Coal Creek Parkway (continuous sidewalks) and the heavily used Waterline Trail (few sidewalks, many trees), with downtown Newcastle and Lake Boren Park sandwiched between.

You can walk the loop and its cross-trails now, with two exceptions: Renton’s May Creek Trail (partly complete, bridge needed), and the parkway underpass for the Coal Creek Trail (due soon). The Grand Loop is mostly wooded nature trails: The May Creek and Coal Creek trails include creeks, waterfalls, bridges, historic sites and sections of an old railroad; the Terrace Trail has switchbacks, lovely rock steps, views, fallen trees and giant moss-covered boulders. The Marshall’s Hill and Red Town trails (in Cougar Mountain Wilderness Park) link wilderness trails with the remains of Old Newcastle and its coal mines.

The west-to-east CrossTown Trail is Newcastle’s major urban trail (nature trails and sidewalks), a central connector linking schools, parks, neighborhoods and north-south trails. It starts near 116th Avenue Southeast and Newcastle Way, and winds past or through Hazelwood Elementary School, Hazelwood Park, Donegal Park, the historic Newcastle Cemetery and Lake Boren Park, continuing on sidewalks to Beit Tikvah and, after a gap, southeast along the DeLeo Wall (woods, views) from Newcastle Vista to Cougar Mountain.

Fall projects include new trail signs citywide, and changes to the CrossTown Trail: rerouting it at the new middle school and the planned Renton School District Newcastle development (between Olympus and Hazelwood), and rebuilding sections of trail between Newcastle Vista and Cougar Mountain.

Newcastle’s trail system has benefited from the cooperation of many groups, including Renton, Bellevue, King County and the Issaquah Alps Trails Club (check their websites for trail maps and guided walks). Volunteers were also essential. Much of the trail work was done by Boy Scouts, and parents, from Newcastle’s Hazelwood Troop, and other troops from Bellevue, Kirkland and Renton.

Bellevue utilities crews will close the outside, northbound lane on Coal Creek Parkway at Forest Drive, Tuesday, Sept. 2, from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The closure is necessary to make repairs to the sidewalk, manhole and wastewater system. If crews find repairs are going to take longer than one day, the lane closure may last multiple days.

For questions on the road closure, call Bellevue Utilities Operations and Maintenance at 452-7840.

You can find longtime Newcastle residents Jim and Peggy Price on the trails in rain or shine, though.

The husband-and-wife team is very active when it comes to preserving and expanding Newcastle’s walking trails. They were among the founders of the Newcastle Trails organization and continue to remain deeply involved in the nonprofit.

Peggy had a direct hand in designing, routing and building the Terrace Trail and the eastern portion of the May Creek Trail. She now spends a large portion of her weeks working on the CrossTown Trail, which will span from Coal Creek Parkway to Cougar Mountain Regional Wildland Park.

Many Eagle Scouts have her to thank for helping them complete their final projects while she dutifully supervised and assisted on their trail extensions.

You can’t talk about the Newcastle trails, without mentioning the Prices, but to them, their passion for the outdoors is just a way of life.

Peggy’s love of trails started early, thanks to annual family camping trips, while Jim picked his up as a boy growing up in Illinois.

The duo met as University of Washington students when Peggy joined Jim’s hiking club.

“After about four hikes, the club was down to two people — the ones who would hike and camp in the rain,” Peggy said.

The last ones standing eventually married a year and a half later, before relocating to Alaska, which features a playground of outdoor activities for the two. They moved to Newcastle in 1986.

The Newcastle Chamber of Commerce has already honored both with Diamond Awards, but with the work they do to promote and expand the city’s greatest recreational amenity, they could easily be nominated every year.

Up next, the Prices will continue their work on the city’s trails and take time to hike a newly rebuilt section of the Pacific Crest Trail near Glacier Peak this summer. The Pacific Crest Trail stretches from Canada to Mexico.