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.
Remember, when searching online, to consider the trustworthiness of websites. URLs ending in .gov (government sites), .edu (sites by universities and educational institutions), and .org (sites by non-profit organizations) will usually yield the most accurate information. You can limit your search results to trustworthy domain names by adding "inurl:edu" or "inurl:gov" or "inurl:org" to your search (see below).
Using this technique, you can find many primary resources online. The following are only a sampling of the sites that offer digital collections of photos, documents, and more.
Alaska, Western Canada and United States Collection (University of Washington)
This digital collection features historic photographs documenting the geographic area of Alaska, the western United States and the Canadian provinces of Yukon Territory and British Columbia. The collection features images of Oregon, Idaho, and areas of interest in Alaska and the Yukon Territory relating to the Gold Rush of 1898-1900.
American Memory
This site by the Library of Congress contains more than 9 million manuscripts, photographs, posters, maps, sound recordings, motion pictures, books, pamphlets, and pieces of music pertaining to the history of the United States.
Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy
Yale Law School hosts this collection of primary materials dating from 4000 B.C.E. to the 21st century. Included are the full text of laws, colony charters, acts, and declarations, presidential proclamations, treaties and formal negotiations affecting the United States judiciary system and governmental foreign policy in general.
Central Washington University ScholarWorks
This is the institutional repsoitory of scholarship from Central Washington University faculty and students. It also contains collections that highlight the history, nature and culture of Central Washington University and the central Washington region. Community Projects have digitized content related to regional history including many oral history interviews in hte Suncadia collections. Within University Archives are CWU yearbooks, newspapers, newsletters, and meeting minutes, as well as photos of campus buildings and surrounding areas.
Digital Collections (University of Washington)
See these collections for thousands of photographs, maps, newspapers, posters, reports and other media on topics relevant to the Pacific Northwest.
Eric A. Hegg Photographs (University of Washington)
Photographs documenting the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes from 1897 - 1901. Images include depictions of frontier life in Dawson City, the Yukon Territory, and Skagway and Nome, Alaska.
Washington State Digital Archives
This digital archives is dedicated to the preservation of electronic records from both state and local agencies that have permanent legal, fiscal or historical value in Washington state. Archival materials include audits, death records, birth records, property records, maps, surveys, family histories, court cases, and more.
WSU Archives Digital Collections
Includes photographs, documents, and maps on the history of eastern Washington, Native Americans, and more.
Ask CWU Libraries