Roslyn, Washington was a coal mining town located at the eastern base of the Cascade Mountains. The first commercial operations in Roslyn were initiated in 1886 by Logan M. Bullet, Vice President of the Northern Pacific Coal Company, (a subsidiary of the Northern Pacific Railroad). Within two years the town’s population grew to over 1,000 as miners from the eastern United States and Europe were attracted by the work the coal company offered. Dissatisfied with wages and working conditions, the white miners went on strike in 1888.  Company officials recruited strikebreakers including African Americans. The first black miners came to Roslyn under these circumstances.  James E. Shepperson was hired by the company to bring these black miners from Virginia, North Carolina and Kentucky to replace the striking miners.  Most of the African Americans did not know at the time they were being recruited to break an ongoing strike.  Approximately 300 black miners came to Roslyn Washington between 1888 and 1889.  Many brought their families, creating the single largest increase in the black population in the history of the Territory.  As could be expected, resentment grew among the white out-of-work miners. “Sheriff Samuel T. Packwood of Kittitas County reported to Territorial … Continue reading Roslyn, Washington (1886- )