I Win A Million Dollars!

In my dreams. And in this week's Friday Five.

You have just won one million dollars:

1. Who do you call first? Kate, if she's not within shouting distance. Then my folks.

2. What is the first thing you buy for yourself? That laptop I have been promising to get for the past two years. Then pay off the house.

3. What is the first thing you buy for someone else? First I put away college funds for the nieces and nephews. Then I take Kate back to the Kona Village Resort on the big island of Hawai'i to plan world conquest.

4. Do you give any away? If yes, to whom? After making sure family is secure, we've got a large number of causes that get a little boost - Sierra Club, Seattle Rep, Girl Scouts of America - Kate's got a list, of that I have no doubt.

5. Do you invest any? If so, how? Small local businesses - surprisingly staying away from game companies (sorry, guys). I'd like to buy my own Senator, but a million dollars doesn't go as far as it used to, anymore. :(

Coal Mine, Part II

Its interesting what you come up with when you start researching.

On the entry just below, I should note that William Renton was never a resident of Renton, since he died ten years before the town was named, and wouldn't have lived down here anyway, with all the noise and pollution created by his mines.

I also reported the impression that the Renton Coal Company was in operation the full time of its listed life, actually, it was closed for labor troubles for about ten years starting in the 1870's, reopening in 1886 as the Renton Cooperative Coal Company, owned by the workers.

The Black River has an interesting history to it, all its own. In short, it was the original outflow to Lake Washington. Flowing south, and then into the Duwamish river, then out to the sound. Early settlers came up the Black River. When they finished the Montlake Cut and put the Ship Canal in in 1916, the new water level was lower than the Black River, so the river died. I'll have more on this later.

And the town of Slaughter (later renamed Auburn) was originally named for a hero of the Indian War. Yep, the Seattle area had its own Indian War in 1856 or so. I'll have to find out more on this one as well.

Labor troubles, environmental disaster, and a Native American uprising. And I always thought this was just a sleepy suburb.

More later,