This structure was a close relative to the Carbon Hill Coal Company's brick store that sat directly across from it on Pershing Avenue. Right around 1880, this building held Carbonado's first Post Office. It's known that a barber shop once inhabited a corner and a dentist hung his shingle here. The "Company" owned the whole shebang, including all the homes and the "Canteen," which was the first watering hole in town. Miners' paychecks came in the form of script. Your rent was deducted from your weekly pay and whatever was left could be spent at the Company Store or the "Canteen." Many times miners found themselves financially in the hole, hence the song
"I Owe My Soul to the Company Store."
During the peak mining years, Carbonado sported three taverns. But all the while, miners still brewed moonshine in the dense forests surrounding the town. Even though it was illegal to possess your own liquor or beer, the company knew they'd have a war on its hands if they prohibited it. Otherwise, if the miners and their families followed the Company's rules, they were left alone.
Carbonado's mines petered out during the Great Depression, while the coal company called it quits in 1937. The homes were sold off, and the Canteen continued to operate thru private hands. In the 1940's and 50's, bottled and canned beer were sold to the adults and there was a Coca Cola cooler and candy counter for the children. Later on, draft beer came to Carbonado and in the 1990's, hard liquor made its appearance on the back bar.
The "Canteen," later known as the "Tavern" and now the "Carbonado Saloon," has been quenching the thirst of locals and visitors alike for more than 130 years. A town that once boasted one of the biggest mining operations on the Pacific Coast, is now one of the smallest incorporated towns in the State of Washington.
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