Carbonado was one of several in the Carbon River valley to be settled during an economic boom in the region. The boom was brought on by the demand for raw material in nearby growing cities such as Seattle and Tacoma. Starting with the town of Wilkeson and moving on through Burnett, Carbonado, Montezuma, Fairfax, and finally Manley Moore, these settlements sprawled up the valley to the very boundary of Mount Rainier National Park. Most of these towns were company towns, meaning that they specialized in the harvest of raw materials on the plot of land on which the town was situated, which was owned by a commercial company. Often – and such was the case of Carbonado – the company owned the houses and energy resources as well. The energy resource in Carbonado was also the raw material that the citizens of the company town were harvesting, coal.
Passages that mention Carbonado, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Pierce County Washington1927 · page 734Read the page →
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struction of the railroad to Wilkeson and Carbonado, where coal mines were located. He was employed in laying the ties on the incline there, and later became bookkeeper for the Carbonado Coal Company, with which concern he remained until 1884. On September 14th of that year he came to South Prairie, opened the first store in this town, and has conducted it to the present time, it being now carried on under the firm name of F. Bisson & Son. He carries a stock of general merchandise, including groceries, clothing, shoes and kindred lines, and during all the years has commanded a large trade throughout this locality.
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History of Pierce County Washington1927 · page 496Read the page →
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year as interne in the City and County Hospital of San Francisco, after which he entered the employ of the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, as physician on the “Granada,” sailing between San Francisco and Panama. He held that position two years and then came to Carbonado as physician and surgeon for the Southern Pacific Railroad, remaining there two and a half years. In 1889 Dr. Sheets came to Buckley and has since engaged in private practice. He was the first physician to locate here and for some time was the only one between Puyallup and Ellensburg He has been more than ordinarily successful in practice and has always been a
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Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Carbonado, 1880 to 1942
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikimedia Commons (7), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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