Another lover and seeker of Cedar Mountain, Dow D., contacted me about the Scale House from the 1930s. He had new information after speaking with a local resident walking his dog at the site which currently is Belmondo’s Reach King County Park.

This gentleman’s most exciting information was the location of the Scale House. Dow and I met at the park. He asked me what I saw there on the edge of the parking lot. I saw nothing. Then he pointed next to where we were standing. The foundation was right under my noses at the SE corner of the parking lot. Part of it was even visible except a few leaves and grass. Who would have thought it would be that easy?

Before we got to digging Dow told me about his new information on where the Railroad Depot was located. Stay tuned for another article on that exciting news.

Let’s get down to business on the Scale House. For those who are new to the hunt for Cedar Mountain, the park we were digging in was once a bustling place. There was a town, several coal mines, and a railroad ran though the area. At the bottom of the post is a link to other articles if you seek more info on this mysterious place of the past. Here is an overview to get you orientated to the area and where the scale house is located.

This is what the site looked like before we got digging. Just this little berm of concrete showing.

Next I did an overlay of the 1934 mine map on top of how the area looks today. Finding the location of this building helped orientate where the railroad spur would have crossed the area. See where the railroad trestle crosses the river to the big mine on the other side. There used to be old pilings in the river. Need to see if they still exist or if the newer island is covering them.

How about what it looked like after we dug around the exposed pieces? You will see it is pretty big. The edges we dug out have a lower lip where the scale plate rested.

As you know still photos just don’t quite give the whole picture. I will leave you with two videos of the excavated Scale House at Cedar Mountain. Aproximately 90 years after it was built.

And here is the second one we shot of our work.

If you want to read more about my search for lost coal mines here is a link to my directory of articles.

Shoot me any questions or better yet any information you have to add. This is a never ending deep dig into 100 year old coal mine history.

Remember Times are a changing.  Blink and all will be changed.

Locating Lost Old Coal Mines of King County