When this photo was taken in Sept. 1947, John H. Morris, center with hands in pocket, had mined coal and run mines for over 30 years. He would continue doing so as President of Palmer Coking Coal Co. (Palmer), for another 17 years before retiring in 1964. Morris was born Aug. 12, 1894, in Wilkeson, a coal mining town of east Pierce County. His parents immigrated from Wales to Pennsylvania in 1881, before heading west with their growing family. They spent time for jobs in both Peoria, Illinois and Bellevue, Idaho, before arriving in Wilkeson about 1890.
Known as Jack, he was the 8th of 11 children born to George and Mary Ann (Williams) Morris. Jack graduated from Buckley High School and soon went to work at the family-owned South Willis Coal Mining Company in nearby Spiketon. When that mine closed, the extended family moved to Durham, where he and Frank Merritt formed Morris Brothers Coal Mining Company in 1921. In 1933, two days after his 39th birthday, Jack Morris founded Palmer with three brothers, Jonas, Ed, and Bill; attorney, J.G. Raley, and an old Polish miner known as “Millionaire’ Joe Kiewlak, who boarded at the Durham Hotel.
Left to right at the Mine #11 wash plant in Black Diamond are: Al Jensen, Jack Morris, Ed Morris, Bill Morris, and Frank Manowski, who operated this plant for 32 more years after this picture was snapped. Al Jensen was a friend who owned a wheat ranch in Bickleton, WA, where Jack and his wife, Marie Morris often visited.
