www.redmondwashington.org

Luke McRedmond's obituary stated "He was also well known as one of the discoverers of the black diamond coal mines." We are looking for documentation of this.

In the 1880 Census, William McRedmond, oldest son of Luke and Kate McRedmond was mining for coal in Newcastle. source: Our Town REDMOND 

Judge William H. WHITE clients in private practice included the Black Diamond Coal Mine Company.

History Of King County, Washington by Clarence B. Bagley Chapter 13, Coal, Pages 280 - 300 excerpts below:

By the end of the year 1875 the mines at Renton were able to ship their coal by rail, and a short time after the road had reached the Newcastle mine and had made available the vast quantity stored in those rich hills which is not yet exhausted after sixty years of shipment.

In speaking of the Coal Creek (Newcastle) field, he says "The lower one alone of these three beds will probably furnish a greater mass of good coal in a given length and breadth than any mine yet worked on the Pacific Coast of America. It will not be easy to overestimate the future importance of the Seattle coal field to the commercial and productive interests of the Pacific Coast; notwithstanding the heavy outlay which will be required to open the mines upon a proper scale, and to put the coal in the market."