The Black Diamond Historical Society is working on plans to erect a memorial statue and wall outside of its building.

According to President Keith Watson, the historical society started the project about two months ago after members visited the coal mining town of Roslyn near Cle Elum.

There, they were impressed by the town’s memorial statue and wall dedicated to its miner population. Inspired to erect one in Black Diamond, the design includes a miner statue measuring nearly 6-foot-8 standing on top of a granite pedestal.

Watson said the statue would be situated by the tracks outside of the museum in a position where it will be visible from all three of the nearby roads in town. The boardwalk outside of the museum would be expanded to include the statue.

Ellensburg artist Paul Crites has already completed an 18 inch statue to base the full size version on.

The memorial would also include a cascading granite wall, based off of a war memorial that has a more natural look and feel to it.

Rather than merely have the names of Black Diamond miners, Watson said, they plan to include the names of every Washington miner killed in a coal mine accident in addition to all the miners who worked in Black Diamond.

The reason for this, he said, is because miners often moved around to find work and consequently ended up in different towns such as Franklin, Lawson and Ravensdale.

There were also miners who may have survived accidents but were unable to work anymore.

“It’s going to be really nice,” Watson said.

Currently members of the historical society are pouring over its own records to collect the names of the miners

The cost for the project is estimated to be $100,000, which they will rely mostly on donations and grants to cover the price tag.

At the moment historical society members are dealing with another dilemma. They need a catchphrase or slogan for the project.

“We need something that’ll be simple,” Watson said. “It’ll catch the attention of the people and explain what we’re doing.”

Although they’ve come up with several ideas, historical society members are still looking for suggestions.

Anyone with an idea can send it to Keith Watson at kcwdoc@comcast.net.