WHEN COAL WAS KING: Tom Whitehouse, Kanaskat 1968

In July 1968, the Tacoma News Tribune interviewed 73-year-old Tom Whitehouse Jr., called the unofficial mayor of Kanaskat, who was born there in 1895 and represented the third generation of his family in the area. Whitehouse worked in coal mines starting at age 14, served in World War I, and later operated a grocery store, gas station, and auto-camp with his wife Katie along the Green River. By the mid-1950s, Whitehouse had assembled over 100 acres, with portions eventually becoming the Kanaskat-Palmer Recreation Area and State Park.