This collection contains items and interviews gathered in Roslyn, Cle Elum, and Ronald, Washington, to document the region's history--in particular, the local history of coal mining in the 20th century.
These oral histories were collected by local social studies teacher Frederick Krueger, his students and colleagues between the 1970s and 2000s. In each interview, a resident of upper Kittitas County speaks about the ethnic, racial, cultural, and industrial history of Kittitas County and in particular the history of coal mining at Roslyn, Cle Elum, and Ronald, Washington.
Please note: To access the following audio and video recordings, click on "Link to Audio/Video File" after opening each record. If you have trouble playing the videos, you may have better success using a different Internet browser such as Safari or Chrome. If problems persist, please contact the site administrator at scholarworks@cwu.edu with a note about the title of the video you were attempting to access, the URL, and the browser you were using.
This collection of oral histories from the people of upper Kittitas county help document the social, economic, and cultural changes in the area. The Roslyn, Ronald, Cle Elum Heritage Club, in partnership with CWU Libraries, are conducting these interviews to preserve local history. These interviews document the history of the area and changes seen over time since settlement. The rich history of the central cascades can now be shared with the world.
Roslyn, Ronald and Cle Elum are in the northwestern part of Kittitas County (locally known as “the upper county), in Central Washington State. It is a beautiful area on the east slopes of the Cascades where settlers in the late 1800’s created towns that thrived on numerous coal mines, timber, the railroad and other pursuits. Although the mines closed long ago, our club is a Washington non-profit corporation that, consistent with our Mission, Vision, and Values Statements, seeks to keep that rich and diverse heritage alive.
These interviews follow up and compliment interviews conducted by Fred Krueger when he taught High School in Cle Elum and later conducted interviews for Suncadia.
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