Melmont

Melmont is a ghost town in Pierce County, Washington, born from the coal industry. In 1900, the Northwest Improvement Company — a subsidiary of Northern Pacific Railway — opened a coal mine here, and a small working community quickly took shape around it. The town included a schoolhouse, a train depot, a hotel, a saloon, and rows of miners' cottages arranged by nationality, with residents apparently self-segregating by ethnic background. The coal extracted was used exclusively by Northern Pacific, and when that arrangement ended, so did the town.

Today Melmont is a quiet remnant in the Pierce County landscape. Visitors interested in industrial and social history will find it an evocative stop, though the site rewards those who come with realistic expectations: this is a place of foundations, echoes, and atmosphere rather than restored structures. Photography and quiet exploration are the main draws.