WHEN COAL WAS KING: Hawk-Lake Sawyer, 1983

Voice of the Valley explores Jim Hawk’s ambitious 1983 proposal to expand Lake Sawyer’s development with Palmer Coking Coal Company, envisioning 55 additional waterfront lots through dredging and canal systems. Though the project never materialized due to environmental laws like the Clean Water Act and Shoreline Management Act, Hawk later built Jade Greens Golf Course on S.E. Lake Holm Road east of Auburn in 1990, which operated for 27 years before closing in 2016. The article credits photo enhancements to Boomers Photography of Maple Valley.