Many of the stones at the Franklin Cemetery bear the names of infants.
Mary Llewellyn: born 1890, died two years later. Edey Standridge: born 1892 - died 1893, "Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep, from which none ever wakes to weep." Marie Myers: March to May 1901. Alice Johnson, who lived six days in January 1902.
The overgrown cemetery also includes men, most in their 20s and 30s. Luici Farro, 32, died Aug. 24, 1894, in the mines along with Rocco Tittara, 37, and Filippo Dimarino, 27. All three share a single headstone. Nearby, another stone reveals 27-year-old James Gibson died the same day.
Almost 1,200 people lived in the vanished coal town of Franklin at the turn of the century, most working in the nearby mines that made the Black Diamond area briefly famous. The former town site - marked only by three slabs of cut sandstone rising like Mayan temples - is just one of the attractions of the Hanging Gardens State Conservation Area along the Green River Gorge.
The hanging gardens themselves are at Cedar Grove Point in the Green River, reached by trail from the area's south access gate along the Franklin-Enumclaw Road. After winding along a ridge of lush mixed forest - a paradise of ferns and moss-draped trees - the steep dirt trail descends 600 feet to a small rocky beach along a sharp bend in the river.
Aromatic cedar trees tower 200 feet in the shadow of the sheer vertical rock face, dripping with maidenhair ferns and ivy. The sandstone rock cliff, worn smooth and sculpted by long-gone torrents, reveals variously colored strata amid jutting ledges sporting shrubs and small trees (and bright splashes of flowers in season).
The peaceful stillness of the scenery is broken by the sound of gently rushing rapids at each side of the finger-like bend in the river. During rafting season, the isolated beach is a good site to view kayakers braving the river.
Hanging over the river are moss-covered trees with 30-foot-long branches providing exciting launch platforms for sure-footed divers, who plunge over their heads into the clear, cold green water. (The river can be forded at chest height to the right of the largest tree, but reaching and traversing the branch requires caution.) The river also offers safe wading and swimming.
To reach the cemetery and town site across the river, drive around the conservation area to the north access gate just across the Franklin Bridge.
A half-mile down the main trail (two grassy side paths go down 700 feet to the river) is the old grade of the Franklin-Black Diamond Railroad. The town site is another half-mile down the T-junction's right spur, dotted with ivy-decorated poplars, blackberries and white roses.
The left-hand spur continues uphill to the west a quarter-mile to Million Dollar Hole, the abandoned Franklin No. 2 coal-mine shaft covered with a grate in 1987 by the federal Office of Surface Mining. Toss a stone into the black pit - said to go 1,500 feet down - and listen for a splash.
The level railroad grade continues past the hole to the cemetery, adjacent to the Black Diamond Water District's service road.
About a mile from the highway, just past the service road, the level railroad grade slopes down to the left into a cool cedar forest. Three-quarters of a mile from the railroad grade is a large river terrace - one of the few in the gorge - overlooking the river 375 feet below.
Spanning the river here is a water pipeline supported by a swinging maintenance footbridge leading nowhere. Downstream, where the service road ends in a cottonwood grove, a path descends to the gravel bar with good views of fishers and kayakers.Got a great idea for a local getaway? Give us a call at 946-3970 or write to us at South County Life, 31620 23rd Ave. S., Suite 312, Federal Way, WA 98003. ------------------------------------------------------------------- Access south of Green River: Beyond Black Diamond drive south on Highway 169 across Kummer Bridge 1.5 miles and turn northeast on Southeast 385th-Franklin Enumclaw Road. In 2.4 miles turn left onto an obscure cable-gated logging road and park. Follow path 3/4 mile into woods and past fence.
ccess north of Green River: From center of Black Diamond, turn off Highway 169 east onto Lawson Street-Green River Gorge Road. After 4.3 miles turn into gated clearing on right just before Franklin Bridge. Head west 200 feet to interior white gate.
