My Favorite Things About Wilkeson
Town of Wilkeson, Washington
Wilkeson was officially incorporated on July 24, 1909.
We beleave the town was built in the 1960's.
The community was named for Samuel Wilkeson, railroad official.
Wilkeson is a town in Pierce County,Washington, in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue metro area. The community is in the Pacific Standard time zone.
The latitude of Wilkeson is 47.105N. The longitude is -122.044W.
The estimated population, in 2003, was 396.
In the 1880s, mines were in operation in the towns of Wilkeson and Carbonado, in Pierce County. Leland Stanford of the Central Pacific Railroad owned the Carbonado mine. As with King County coal, the supply was sent to San Francisco to feed the engines of the Southern Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. In 1883, the United States Geological Service pronounced the region’s coal as “true bituminous coal, hard, solid, black and clear, not equal in heat producing capacity to the best Pittsburgh coal, but a good fuel for railroad and steamship purposes”(Mineral Resources of the United States).
1876 NP builds from Tacoma to Wilkeson coal fields (completed 1877). Wilkeson has the oldest elementary school in the state and is listed as a Historic Site.
Wilkeson was once considered a ghost town. During the past 21 years or so it has revived dramatically. We now have a population of around 430. Coming to Wilkeson is like taking a step back in time.
