Archie Eltz was the smartest coal miner this columnist ever knew. Archie had a mind like a steel trap and decades later could recite minute details of coal mine history. During two hours of interviews conducted in February and August 1985, Eltz remembered scenes and events stretching back to the 1920s with the conversation’s running over 15,000 words.
Arthur Walter Eltz was born Sept. 30, 1915, in Butlerville, Utah, near Salt Lake City. His parents, Frank, and Annie (Zadnick) Eltz both hailed from Germany. After Frank Eltz worked hard rock mines in Spokane and Butte, Montana, plus a coal mine in Utah, the Eltz family moved to Black Diamond in 1921. Archie was six years old, and Black Diamond was paralyzed by a bitter strike starting in August 1921 over proposed wage reductions. A year after the end of World War I, coal prices fell precipitously, and the coal mine operators sought wage concessions that the United Mine Workers and their union members refused to accept. The lockout and strike were eventually settled, but bitterness within the town of Black Diamond remained for decades.
Two years later in June 1923, tragedy struck the Eltz family when a slab of rock fell from the roof of Mine 11 instantly killing Frank Eltz. He was 37 years old and left a widow with three orphaned children. The family lived across the highway from Mine 11, then the largest coal mine in King County.
During high school, Archie found employment working on the “Kummer cut-off” connection now called State Route 169 that created a direct connected between Black Diamond and Enumclaw. Eltz graduated from Black Diamond High School in 1934 and soon began packing timber for $4.70 per day in a nearby mine. Eltz was eager to learn and became a jack-of-all-trades. By the end of his career, he’d worked as a loader operator, rope rider, cager, mucker, hoist-man, surveyor, mechanic, pipelayer, and heavy equipment operator. He was equally ambitious often working two jobs at a time
In 1949, Eltz joined Palmer Coking Coal Company where he remained for the next 24 years before retiring in 1972. In addition to his day job, Archie often cut mine props on a contract basis supplying the timber to shore up the roofs of Palmer’s underground gangways and workings. With his “cherry picker” truck he cut Douglas fir trees of the required diameter, then bucked them to length, delivering the timber posts and collars to the mine. And from 1953-55, he worked part-time for Louie Draghi at his coal mine east of Highway 169 near Jones Lake. He also labored part-time for King County Water District No. 66 from 1956-59, a precursor to the Black Diamond water system. After retiring from Palmer, Eltz joined Black Diamond full-time, though he’d worked part-time for the City since 1966. He retired in 1982 at the age of 66.
During his retirement years, Archie continued volunteering around his hometown in whatever capacity was needed. He also was a constant presence in the mine office of Palmer Coking Coal where he delivered tutorials on surveying, coal mining, road building, local history, and anything else that came to mind. Archie died a happy man on July 2, 2000, at age 84. He was survived by his second wife, Agnes Eltz, and his three children, Archie Eltz Jr., Janet (Eltz) Chavanu, and Gary Eltz.
The full transcript of Archie Eltz’s 37-page interview is held at the Black Diamond Museum. This column is indebted to Frank Hammond who not only transcribed the interview but wrote a touching tribute celebrating Archie’s legacy that was published in the January 2008 issue of the Black Diamond Historical Society Newsletter.
This April 1974 photo by Barry Kombol shows Archie Eltz at the Rogers No. 3 mine portal as a five-ton coal car is hoisted up the tipple, a triangle structure where the coal was dumped for further processing. At the time he was no longer employed by Palmer Coking Coal but was delivering the timber he’d cut for mine props. The BPA powerlines in the background stretched over the opening to the Rogers No. 3 mine, located just north of Kent-Kangley Road in Ravensdale.
