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mean-scarlet-deceiver · 3 years

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I was mostly talking about just Skarloey himself as an engine.... but now that you’ve reminded me of your human au I more intersted in that for the little engines lol :3c

Ty for the ask <3 I definitely don’t think as deeply about the narrow-gauge railway as the standard-gauge but I would like to change that, tbh. (Peter Sam and Sir Handel are def my favorite narrow-gauge characters, too, so it’s good for me to take stock of where I am with the others!)

1) This is... implied?... in the books, but I always try to bear in mind and visualize Skarloey as *animated* and *hammy*. He is just charisma-plus, and a lot of his early foolish years are partly because he is just so irresistibly lovable that it was easy for his people to spoil him. Anyway, Skarloey is the sort who can read the phone book aloud and make it sound interesting. <3 He just so *passionately* believes anything he ever says. 200% sincerity and honesty at all times.

2) Also in the early years, the Skarloey Railway, like the Talyllyn Railway in the 1900s, shedded its two engines separately (there was a “one engine in steam” at a time policy and the “working engine” would be stationed at one end and the “idle” at another). But the S.R. changed that policy, even before Skarloey and Rheneas became friends—in a shameless attempt to try to make them friends, hoping it would Calm Skarloey Down. Actually, throwing them together definitely made their relationship worse for a while; they fought like cats and dogs (the crews were like “wow where did they even LEARN some of these words?” “must be you, it wasn’t ME...”), and the policy was reversed! *Then* after they became friends they soon campaigned to be housed together again.

3) Although they are very fond of their Talyllyn Railway twins, Skarloey and Rheneas are a *bit* weirded out at just *how* attached Talyllyn and Dolgoch are to them respectively. To be precise, they are weirded out by how Talyllyn and Dolgoch are not nearly as close as they are, and therefore place more stock in the “twin” relationship than in the “foster brother” one. Again, Skarloey and Rheneas care very much for their twins, but their relationship with each other is more important, and they can’t fathom how the other two can even survive the way that they do.

4) Currently Skarloey, like Talyllyn, is away for ten-year overhaul, and Rheneas misses him especially because he feels like Skarloey would be so great at dealing with the COVID crisis. Like, Skarloey has never had any problems “bossing” the passengers, but in a way they find charming and somehow never take offense at, and Rheneas is sure he would keep lax maskers in line, as well as be super excited to “model” his own engine-sized mask. (Currently Rheneas is, but he just feels stupid doing it. He definitely feels like fate timed everything wrong with the coronavirus and their maintenance schedules.)

5) This is really just canon, but let’s never forget Skarloey’s willingness to scold everyone and anyone! “I’m ashamed of you, X!” What happens if you turn the tables on him? *To this day* (older and calmer, my arse!) he’ll immediately flare up and argue with you... but later on, if you were right, it sinks in, and he takes it with good grace. He’s no hypocrite.

6) Skarloey (and Rheneas) find Duke gets on their nerves quite a bit. But they make a real effort to keep the peace, esp. for the sake of Sir Handel and Peter Sam. Eventually, after about forty or so years, Skarloey and Duke find that they can just toss zingers at each other and that this is actually much more comfortable for them both than being polite and stiff.

7) Sorry, I don’t think I’ll get too much into the humanization here because I feel like I need to supply some more info in that universe before really digging into the S.R. But I will say that Skarloey himself is far less interested in conversion than you might think. He’s a bbbbbbbit of a diva, and he’s observed that the average Joe human gets far less attention than the average Joe steam engine. Rheneas is far more intrigued, actually, which surprises everyone *except* Skarloey, who of course knows his brother very well... and perhaps is the only one who really knows Rheneas, who can be a bit of an enigma to others.

#... sorry mate #i asked which you wanted and then kind of reversed it #i never even thought i had this much to say about skarloey <3 #and the post kinda got away from me #ty! i've had fun with this one #chatter #ttte skarloey

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doctorjeremyxvandamme · 4 years

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“Yesterday, upon the stair, / I met a man who wasn't t h e r e! / He wasn't there again today. / Oh how I wish he'd go away!”

Below the cut, you can find Jeremy’s basic info, key story points, full bio, and a handful of possible connections, although I am open to most plots! Triggers include death mentions, blood mentions, and a handful of horror elements. Please do feel free to reach out if I can provide context without mention of those topics.

basics

Name: Dr. Jeremy van Damme

Gender/Pronouns: Cismale | He/Him

Date of Birth: January 22, 1981

Age: 39

Hometown: Jersey City, NJ

Length of time in Crescent Harbor: 5 Years

Neighborhood: Hemlock Docks

Occupation: Professor of Anthropology at Crescent College

Faceclaim: Matthias Schoenaerts

key points

An only child, the son of a Belgian-born painter of some renown, but primarily among art types with an interest in niche work

Has a doctorate in anthropology from New York University and now teaches the discipline at Crescent College. Completed his undergrad education in Washington

Devotes most of his research to modern folklore, urban legends, and what he calls ritualistic play: games like Bloody Mary or Charlie Charlie, the latest variation of Juego de la Lapicera, meant to summon something, communicate with something, or achieve specific ends through strict adherence to pre-determined rules or conditions

A history buff. Knows much about the origins of Crescent Harbor and is now actively involved in historical preservation efforts. His interests encompass the periods both prior to and following the actual founding of the town.

Something of a pack-rat. Collects oddities and antiques and allows visitors to poke around his overcrowded house.

full bio (tw: death, blood, horror elements)

If he angled his neck just right, face pressed against the glass, held there by tiny, marker-covered hands, he could just barely see the monster from his bedroom window. The gangling, wide-eyed thing, all teeth and blackened pupils, was caught in an eternal snarl by the glint of the corner street lamp (which had been broken for some time and blinked erratically every few minutes). The light has stay on because the light keeps it there, he would think. So long as the light stays on, it has to stay there and cannot come here. For as long as the boy could remember, though, this massive graffiti creature, the handiwork of some unknown artist or another, had been spray-painted there, overseeing its domain from the red brick facade of an already defunct paper packaging warehouse. And it certainly had not escaped yet. But this particular piece of street art had long frightened the young Jeremy van Damme, who would spend his nights watching it from the safety of his heightened perch.

At that time, he lived with his father (a native of Flanders and painter of some niche surrealist renown) and mother (a full-time college dean and part-time muse to her artiste husband) in a tall brown apartment building that swayed with the wind. The groaning of the foundation, the creaking of the pipes, and the unpleasant damp sweetness, an almost bloody smell, that occasionally wafted out an uncovered vent after a storm, instilled in the boy an early sense of fantastic terror. More often than not, Jeremy van Damme was afraid. At the age of six, he discovered in a forgotten photo album a picture of himself he could not recall taking. And there, he abruptly decided some other Jeremy, a doppelganger or double or mimic, not only existed, but was waiting for the opportunity to strike and swallow him whole. At the age of seven, he got it into his head that a family of venomous lizards had taken up residence in the basement washing machine; he could hear them hissing if he listened closely. And at the age of eight, the death of the elderly woman down the hall gave birth to a new series of existential horrors, of the terrible uncertainty of the afterlife, of restless ghosts, and of white-haired specters that stalked hallways by night in search of little boys to do whatever it is ghosts do.

Nevertheless, the apartment was not vacant for long, and in the weeks that followed, Jeremy struck up a new friendship with a girl his age who had moved into the building with her family. And with how cheery they had painted the place, one could almost forget what happened to poor old Mrs. Hansen there. It was through this new companion, however, that Jeremy himself, albeit wide-eyed and screaming, was introduced to the sort of ritualistic play that would eventually guide his career. With nothing but a pack of stolen matches and the misguided goal of “putting the spirit to rest,” the pair of them locked themselves in her bathroom to chant into the mirror, spin in circles, and search for faces in the glass. And while they never found them, these games did instill in the young Jeremy a new sense of bravery and morbid curiosity. After all, if a ghost could be banished away by something as simple as blowing out a match, maybe they were not so frightening after all.

Still, he had always been curious. His mother was, after all, a career academic, and to that end, Jeremy had little hope of genuinely shirking his homework. He did well in school and read often. Small and eager to be helpful, he was even, in some ways, a natural teacher’s pet, eager to spend more time among the adults than the playground bullies. Eventually, Jeremy attended a nearby “all boys” Catholic high school, and while the AV Club was already dying by that time, he and a few friends began borrowing their camera equipment to “record psychic phenomena,” which largely consisted of them trying to unsuccessfully move rubber balls with their minds.

At sixteen, however, one of the boys got his own car, and the unlikely group was able to finally take part in a bit of local legend that involved circling an abandoned house several times, honking one’s horn, and then flashing one’s headlights. The result was the ghost of “Clarice” appearing in an upper story window to chase the intruders away. Every time they did this ritual, someone in the vehicle would shout that they had seen her (although it was never more than one person at a time). Following one such excursion, one boy disappeared from school with the flu for a week, and there was, at least, a successful rumor he had been spirited away. That was sort of fun.

Upon graduating, near but not quite at the top of his class, Jeremy ultimately attended the University of Washington, eager to spread his wings to the West Coast although Stanford had rejected him. While he began his higher education as a History major, he eventually shifted his focus to cultural anthropology, in which he earned his Bachelor’s degree. Graduate School, a Master’s degree, and a Doctorate from New York University eventually followed, and Jeremy began focusing his field of study more specifically on the role of folklore and legend in the modern world. His first and only full-length book, a small academic piece, entitled Creating Clarice: An Anthropological Case Study on the Invention of a Ghost, sprung to life when he, upon digging through an academic database, discovered the phantom woman he had tried so vehemently to conjure as a teenager had never actually existed.

Combining local interviews, in-depth real estate research, historical records, and a dive into the roots of ritualistic children’s games themselves, he tried, with varying levels of success, to trace the story to its source and frame it in the context of the community that had created it. This research, while mostly published for classroom use, did eventually earn him a position at Crescent College, where he still teaches today.

In his five years in town, Jeremy has since become something of an undisputed expert in local history, collecting trivia in the same way others might collect stamps. That said, Jeremy remains, to this day, a collector in the most traditional sense. His small home, an old building near the docks, has its charms and is known to be full of oddities, antiques, and other things that have caught the owner’s fancy. Most are of local interest, and Jeremy has rather seriously involved himself in town preservation efforts.

possible connections

The Student - Jeremy is a professor at Crescent College and teaches a variety of anthropology courses for all skill levels. This person is either a former or current student. Perhaps Jeremy mentors them, or perhaps they were an eternal thorn in his side.

The Curious - Jeremy collects all sorts of odd objects he finds. From 19th century tea sets, to old letters and photographs, to “haunted” mirrors and dolls, he welcomes this person regularly to poke around the antiques and maybe even goes shopping with them.

The Adventurous - Jeremy’s primary areas of expertise are modern folklore and ritualistic play. He and this person team up to test out the latest spooky games and legends, from trying to summon up a mirror ghost or see if they can get someone from beyond the grave talk with them through a disconnected telephone.

The Historian - Jeremy is well-versed in the history of the town and its founding families. Perhaps this person wants or needs to learn more about some obscure local topic, and the professor is here to help.

#crescent:intro #intro #about #bio #tw: death #tw: blood

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areiton · 5 years

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practical gifts

Part 1 in a Irondad & Spiderson series! Enjoy!!

Read on AO3 | Follow the series | Series Tag

~*~

They buried her on a Wednesday, in the same graveyard where Ben was buried.

It was sunny, sunny enough that Peter wore sunglasses to hide behind.

It wasn't shocking. They'd known for almost six months that this day was coming. But it still hurt.

It still made him want to scream and run away, somewhere he could pretend this wasn't real.

Tony's hand on his shoulder was the only thing keeping him in place.

They buried her on a Wednesday and through all the crying the condolences offered and words (fucking meaningless words) said, all Peter could think was, I'm all alone now.

~*~

After the wake--a special, unending kind of hell--Tony steers him back to the waiting cars. Happy isn't driving. He took May's death hard, the unacknowledged romance between them snuffed out the first time she winced and stumbled over flat ground.

They were superheros, unwound the worst disaster the universe had ever seen--but they couldn't fix this. Not even Loki and all his many magics and tricks could fix May.

Peter thinks that is a special kind of hell, and he deserves it.

He deserves it.

If he didn't, why the hell would this keep happening?

~*~

He read. Not at first, but when he had cycled through denial and anger and bargaining a few times, when May was down to ninety-five pounds and slept twenty hours a day--he read. He was sixteen now, almost seventeen--emancipation wouldn't be hard. And he had money. Not much, but enough. He could get by.

He turns it over and over in his head, during the too long wake and on the drive back to the brownstone. Mr. Stark is silent, the way he rarely is.

He isn't sure what will happen with Mr. Stark. He lives upstate, now, alone. He doesn't talk about why, after they undid everything Thanos did, he was alone. Why Pepper lived in the massive brownstone on Fifth Ave and he lived in the woods in the middle of nowhere. And it was fine. He spent three weekends a month there, and after May got sick, they practically moved in. He cared, even if he was hiding from the rest of the world.

It’d change now.

Now that May was gone and Peter was on his own. It would change, like everything else.

He closes his eyes and tries not to think about it.

~*~

“Ms Potts?”

Pepper is in the kitchen. He isn’t a hundred percent sure why she’s letting him and Tony stay in the brownstone--it seems strange, given they aren’t together but it means he doesn’t have to go back to his and May’s empty, quiet apartment tonight, so he isn’t looking too close at it.

“I thought you went to bed, sweetheart,” she says and he shrugs. Shakes his head.

“I...um. I had a question?”

Her head tilts, and she leans back against the counter, her attention trained on him and he feels a frission of nerves. “I was wondering--could I talk to one of the SI lawyers?”

Her eyes widen and he almost backtracks. Almost bolts. But this is too important.

He can take care of himself. He knows he can. He’s done his research and he’s looked at the money and it’s doable. But he can’t handle the expense of a lawyer. “I just--I hate asking? But I need a lawyer to file my emancipation papers. And I can’t--I was wondering if you had any who do pro bono work? Or--” his heart is pounding, too hard, and he feels tears burning in his eyes.

He wants to run.

He wants May.

“I can--I can pay, I just--”

“Peter, stop,” she says, sharply, and he does, so abruptly it feels like slamming into a wall. She doesn’t look angry, though. Her eyes are bright and worried, but there’s no anger there. Just bright clear worry and that familiar sympathetic pity he’s too used to.

This is the fourth parent he’s lost. It’s not like this is new to him.

“If you want to talk to a lawyer, of course, you can. If I’m not mistaken, Tony has assigned a team to be your legal counsel. I’ll make sure FRIDAY sends that info to you by morning. But--sweetheart,” she takes a tentative step forward. There’s something lurking in her eyes that he isn’t used to, and it makes his heartbeat speed up.

He stumbles back a step and it makes her freeze, grief spasming across her face, before it goes carefully blank. “I think, Peter, you need to talk to Tony.”

~*~

He sits in his bedroom. It’s not his but he’s been in the same guest bedroom for almost two weeks, so it kinda feels like it might be.

The information Pepper promised is on his Starkpad and in true Mr. Stark form, there isn’t a single lawyer--it’s a team of ten.

It’s ridiculous. What the hell does he need with ten lawyers.

That’s the thing about Mr. Stark though--he likes giving things, and he doesn’t always think about the practicality of it. May was good at practical. She laughed herself sick when Mr. Stark tried to give him a Porsche for his birthday--what the hell is he going to do with a Porsche, Tony?--and carefully redirected him, to a laptop that was still ridiculous and a trip to California that was insane but it was a little more manageable than a car.

A tap on the door comes just a second before Mr. Stark opens it and slips into his room. The curtains are still pulled, but he can see Mr. Stark in the glow of his tablet, and the light glow of the housing unit on his chest.

He looks worried, and maybe, just a little angry. “Sleep ok?” he asks, and Peter shrugs. He hasn’t slept ok since before May died. They both know it.

“What’s wrong?” Peter asks, and Tony’s lips twist a little. Bitter and self-mocking.

He could write a book on the many expressions on Mr. Stark’s face.

“You aren’t supposed to be worrying about me, you know, kiddo.”

Peter shrugs. It’s easier to think about Mr. Stark than everything he’s lost, and everything looming in front of him. He bites back that confession and waits, patiently.

“Pep told me about your request. You got your lawyer’s info?” Mr. Stark pauses, and Peter nods, obediently. “Good. Good.”

“That’s why you’re upset,” Peter says, softly, and that doesn’t make sense.

Mr. Stark is generous to a fault--he wouldn’t begrudge Peter a few hours of free legal advice, certainly not when he’s given him ten freaking lawyers.

“Why do you want to be emancipated?” Mr. Stark bursts out, and oh.

Oh.

“I don’t,” Peter says, quietly, picking at his blankets. “But--there’s not a lot of options? It’d be better than going into the foster system.”

“The fos--Pete, what the hell?” Mr. Stark demands.

Peter blinks at him and Mr. Stark shoves a hand through his hair, agitated. “I know I’m a mess, but I thought I’d be a step above working at Delmar’s to make the rent.”

“Y--you?” Peter whispers.

Mr. Stark stares at him, and there’s--god there’s so much there.

Sadness and guilt and relief and maybe a little bit of hope and so much love it takes Peter’s breath away. “Yeah, kid. Me. You didn’t really think I’d kick you out on your ass, did you?”

He doesn’t answer. Doesn’t know how to answer. Because--no, of course he didn’t. But this isn’t weekend mentoring and over the top presents and midnight phone calls when Peter has nightmares. This is--”Why?” Peter croaks out, and he’s crying again, he can hear it, feel them sliding down his cheeks, hot and salty on his lips and he’s so fucking tired of crying. “It’s--it’s too much, Mr. Stark!”

“Kid,” Mr. Stark says, helpless, and he shifts, sitting on the bed next to Peter, tugs him impatiently until Peter uncurls with a soft noise and collapses in Mr. Stark’s arms.

“Kid, I rewrote the universe to bring you back. Do you really think there’s ever going to be too much?”

Peter sobs, and clings to him, and the tension pushing his grief down--it dissolves, sugar under hot water, sand under the tide, as Mr Stark murmurs, “You aren’t alone, Pete. I promise.”

#in the aftermath #irondad #spiderson #irondad fic #practical gifts #arei writes fic

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thebatgurrl · 4 years

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I have been drawn down a rabbit hole to find out more about the three brothers that found the Jones Slope Coal Mine.

What started all this research into someone else’s family and legacy you ask? It started when my latest lost coal mine search became the New Black Diamond Coal Mine (NBD) (aka Indian Coal Mine).

Indian Mine (New Black Diamond Coal Mine) Maintenance Building under construction with bunker in background

This was no small mining operation and it required a lot of hiking, photography and research. And a bunch of it was around the three brothers and the Jones Slope Complex. I have mentioned in my posts a certain amount of magic and serendipity that kept occurring. Plus my finding against the odds their 100 year old hoist foundation buried in the brush.

About a month into my research I found this photo on the University of Washington Digital Archives. I found it because Renton History Museum directed us there for their on-line content.

Jones Brothers posing at their mine entrance at the 1925 Opening

This was pretty exciting because from all of my research and visits to the site I knew this was from the Jones Slope and not the main entrance down at river level. However, I stumbled onto a mystery. Which brother is on the left? Here is a quote from my email to the Black Diamond Museum for help finding a photo of Ben or Ed after Renton History Museum gave me what they had.

I inquired to Liz at the Renton History Museum if they had any more info on the photo. She told me it was Ed Jones on the Right and Tom on the left. We were pretty sure the Jim Jones reference on the UW site was an error. Plus, she gave me enough information to sort out that this photo was taken on the Oct 1925 opening of the New Black Diamond Mine. It is not of the main tunnel down by the Maple Valley Highway but is from the Jones Slope area up near Lake Desire.

Then I found the Seattle Times article (March 1927) with this same photo in it. It says it is Ben & Tom Jones.

Can you help me find a photo of Ben or Ed to sort out who is on the left? We know for sure it is Tom on the right from an obituary photo in the Seattle Times.

Now I was in deep. I could look into the faces of the Jones Brothers. I have been hesitant to mention that several times I would see people around the site and when I looked closer they would be gone. Could be my imagination but perhaps I had a helper

As of this article I still only have the photos of Tom & Ed. Several folks owe me responses for a Ben photo. My gut tells me it is Ed but I won’t bore you at this point why I think that.

Tom Jones photo Seattle Times 1936

Ed Jones Photo 1903

Needless to say these brothers got into my head and with my trusty computer in hand I pieced together their family story.

It all starts with their parents immigration to the Washington Territories via Victoria BC in 1869. Benjamin P Jones and Ann Jones were both from Wales. He was born in January 26, 1841. Ann was also born in 1841. They had married in Wales the same year they immigrated. In the 1870 census they were 29 years old and resided in Freeport, King County, Washington. Ben was a Machinist and Ann a housewife.

Where is Freeport in King County, Washington I asked myself? I found that it was an early name for a place in West Seattle. Many of you may know Youngstown on Delridge or where the Steel Mill is. That was called Freeport and a thriving Sawmill was established there in the mid 1860’s. I live in West Seattle which is another coincidence.

Ben established one of the the first Machinist shop in Seattle. However due to his declining health he closed it and they homesteaded on the Cedar River in 1878.

By the 1880 census they bore three sons and Ben had died in June of 1879. This left Ann a widow with 3 young children to make her way in the wild Pacific Northwest. That census lists her sons, John “Ed” (born 1870), Thomas Livingston (born 1871) & Benjamin Ivan (born 1875). She also had John Jones (brother) and Atta Mills a teacher that boarded with them. I think John must have been Ben’s brother because I have found Ann’s maiden name was Edwards.

I received from my Black Diamond contact Ken Jensen an article on Ann. This had some great info. It states that when they moved to Cedar River it was only accessed by horse on Indian Trails. Their neighbors were the Indians and only 5 other settler families. Mrs Jones was fluent in Chinook and Siwash plus the Indians liked her. It also states that she moved to Black Diamond and established the first hotel there. More on that below.

Ann Jones Article from Black Diamond History Museum archives

A few years after the Jones moved to Cedar River a community called Cedar Mountain opened up river from them. Nothing is really left of it these days. It was established around coal and the mine that was there and across the Cedar River. The coal seam would be found and lost and then found again. Eventually becoming the future New Black Diamond Coal Mine which was just around the bend of the river and about 1 mile west on the Maple Valley – Renton Highway.

Here is a bit of an article and a link from the Black Diamond History Blog called Lost towns of King County: Busy Cedar Mountain of former years now is only a memory

In 1862 Martin L. Cavanaugh, a homesteader in the Duwamish Valley, near present Boeing Field, discovered coal on the hillside at this point while on a survey party. He made the mistake of talking about his find. By the time he went to Olympia to file on a mineral claim, it already was down in the books in James M. Colman’s name.

The Cedar Mountain Coal Co., with Samuel Blair as president, Lawrence Colman as secretary, and J.M. Colman, manager, bided time until a railroad existed to move the product. When the Cedar River extension of the Seattle and Walla Walla Railroad was completed to Black Diamond in 1884, this mine produced 1,732 tons before the end of the year.

Plus a bit from an article in the Voice of the Valley –

Coal Mining began at the base of Cedar Mountain in 1884 and ended in 1944. It never produced a large amount of coal, but it produced enough to form the little town.

It had all the fixing of a coal company town: stores, a hotel, bunkhouses, a school, a church, mines, a post office and a railroad station. Miners cabins consisted of three rooms. The officials and their families lived in larger homes.

All of this existed where Maple Valley – Renton Highway (Hwy 169) is intersected with 196th Ave SE and SE Jones Road. Hmmmm… Jones Road?

In 1885 to help support her family Ann went into the hotel/boarding house business that housed miners. The family moved to BD and establish the first hotel there. According to an Obituary on Ben’s son it was the Black Diamond Hotel. Here is a picture of it from BD History.

The Hotel & other buildings were located where the Green River Eagles #1490 is today

BD got the RR in 1884 after several years of mining without heavy machinery. The coal boom began with the town growing and with machinery could get to serious mining.

In a letter from Morgan Morgan to his grandfather Walter in 1882 he describes his trek to BD from Seattle. It includes two horses from their friend Mr Jones. They declined to stay overnight at Jones Ranch & went straight on to BD. Could this be John Jones (Brother) – eldest son Ed was only 12 at the time. In June of 1913 BD Hotel & Gibbons Hotel plus the meat market (in picture above) burned down. At the time the hotel was owned by Frank W Bishop.

When did Ann end her Black Diamond Hotel ownership? I have a few clues. Ann along with Ed were running another hotel in downtown Seattle by 1910 census. In 1904 Pacific Coast Coal Company bought the Black Diamond mines and most of the town.

Another clue is from a Washington Census in 1889. It has her and all three of the boys listed as farmers on their Cedar River Farm. Found another reference in my BD history book about a butcher in 1890 buying cattle from farmer near Cedar Grove. Could this be our Jones family?

My educated guess is she ran both properties till Pacific Coast Coal Company came along. They owned the land under the buildings and that made Ann determine she didn’t need the hotel any more.

The next census of 1900 found Ann still in Cedar Mountain but the boys are like straws in the wind. Want to point out it would have been nice to have the 1890 census but it was burned up in a 1920’s fire.

What that census contains confirms my assumption on the hotel as she is listed as owner of her property and Land Lady. She had retained the property on Jones Road plus was still running the hotel in Black Diamond. A woman to be admired in how she stepped up to support her family in a man’s world.

I found Tom in the 1900 census as a clerk and a boarder in downtown Seattle. In a Bio sent to me by the Renton History Museum Tom was a “Railroad Man” from 1892. He worked for the Northern Pacific eventually making it to conductor. His Obituary in the Seattle Times gives us more clues on his whereabouts around 1900. It states:

In the early 1880’s he was employed by Columbia Puget Sound Railroad (one of the lines was from Renton to Black Diamond), went to Alaska in the 1898 Gold Rush and mined for 4 years there. He was a conductor on the White Pass & Yukon Railroad and then returned to Renton in 1917 from Alaska.

Ed was also on the 1900 census. He was found on a passenger list for the SS Victoria out of Seattle listed with occupation as miner. Bet he was going to Alaska even though the heat of the Gold Rush had been over in 1898. Perhaps he was mining with his brother Tom?

Then we come to Ben. I cannot find him in the 1900 census. However, we do know that his son Ivan was born in 1903 in Charleston which is a community of Bremerton. He was a machinist so he might have been working at the Navy Ship Yard that was opened around the turn of the century. Perhaps in 1900 he was in Alaska with his big brothers? All an educated guess.

Another bit of the story is Ed Jones made a name for himself by running for mayor of Renton and he was elected the second mayor of the city for the 1904 – 1908 term. Prior to that the Bio I received from Renton History Museum has him as a Stationary engineer in charge of Seattle Electric Co. mine in Renton around 1903. He lived on his farm on Jones road with his mom and they also had a house in Renton on William & Walla Walla across from Tonkin Park. This fits in with Ann leaving the Black Diamond Hotel around 1904 & PCCC owning Black Diamond.

In the 1910 census we can find Ed & Ann as Hotel Keepers on 414 – 4th Avenue, Seattle, WA. Currently this property is a parking lot between two buildings – north side built in 1924 & south 1909. The 1909 building is called the Crouley Building and was the Reynolds Hotel. Maybe that is it but the address is not perfect. All of this is across the street from the City Hall Park and King County Courthouse & Administration buildings.

In that 1910 census Ben is now in Raymond, Washington down by Willapa Bay along the Pacific Ocean Coast. He was a Machinist at an Iron Foundry and was with his wife Edith and two children Ivan and Bernice.

Tom was in Alaska per his Obituary and I cannot find him in the census. Guess he was mining and railroading in the wilds of Alaska.

We have now arrived at the brothers finding the Jones Seam and the Indian Coal Mine. In mid 1918 Ed obtained a lease from Fred & Edith Cavanaugh who owned the property around Cedar Mountain. This lease was for 25 years starting January 1, 1918. Here they found the Jones Seam and opened it up in a small way. This is substantiated by the Washington DNR Coal Mine Map of the Jones Slope/Indian Mine and future maps when it was developed into the New Black Diamond Coal Mine.

I believe that somewhere along the line the Jones bought out the Cavanaughs because in a 1920 Seattle Times article it mentions PCCC buying the property from the Jones and the adjacent properties from the Campion Family who owned the Coleman Estate. Coleman was the original owner of the property to the east where coal was orginally found. Remember how he beat Martin Cavanaugh (Fred’s father) out of the rights. In turn Cavanaugh bought other properties on the hill plus where Valley View Mobile Home Park is today on the Maple Valley – Renton Highway.

The Jones family hit the jackpot at this point and sold their rights to Pacific Coast Coal Company. In one of many articles I have they sold their working rights in 1925 which they must have kept in the original sale.

The Jones wasted no time in finding a nice place to retire and bought a house in the Mount Baker neighborhood of Seattle.

The house in Mt Baker that Jones Slope Coal bought

Back of the house that the Jones Family purchased after selling the Indian Coal Mine

In the 1920 census the whole family was living in this house. That included Ann, Ed, Tom, Ben with his wife Edith and two kids Ivan and Bernice.

A decade later they were still all in the same house along with Ed & Tom’s wives Edna & Vivian. Guess when they retired they had time and money to get hitched.

Ben dies in 1933 and Tom in 1936. Fairly young guys with both of them in their mid 60’s.

The Jones Farm was on the Jones Road and best I can tell from the description in Ann’s Obituary above it is located across the river from where the 76 station is on the Maple Valley – Renton Highway. It is a large horse farm that is famous for raising and training horses. I am awaiting info from them and will update if and when they respond.

To wrap up things I went for a visit to Lakeview Cemetery in Seattle near Volunteer Park. This is one of the cities original pioneer graveyards with many of our founders buried there.

The cemetery was most helpful with the location and who was buried where in the plot. It is in very close proximity to Bruce Lee and Brandon Lee’s graves. As I was documenting and leaving coal and roses at the Jones graves it was a revolving door of people visiting the Lees. I also went up there when the crowd split and found this little grave next to theirs. I felt bad for this guy buried decades before the famous father & son. (actually the same year as the Jones Brothers Father was buried)

Mr Malon Grave next to Bruce Lee at Lakeview CemetaryBenjamin P, Ann, Ed, Tom, Ben I, Edna (Ed’s wife), Edith (Ben’s wife), Ivan (Ben’s son), and Bernice Crisp (Ben’s daughter) are interned there. There is a Jones Family Monument with several of their names inscribed upon it. Ben P has his own ground marker from 1879. However Ann, Ed & Tom have no true markings that they lay there with the family.

Jones Family Monument at Lakeview Cemetery Seattle, WA

Close up of Jones Monument with Coal from the Indian Coal Mine

Benjamin P Jones grave marker

In my research I realized that Find-A-Grave did not have photos nor complete information around this pioneer family of Renton and Coal Mining. I posted my photos on all 9 of them, linked the family together and wrote bios. The site took all my changes and updates. Mission accomplished.

So here we are in the middle of a terrible time for our world. We are plagued by a terrible virus, the USA is divided politically, regionally and culturally. Many of us including myself feel a helpless sadness overwhelming our lives. Perhaps this is why I have gone down this rabbit hole of history to bring some order to the world.

But we must remember Times are a changing. Blink and all will be changed.

Yes Time does change everything. It may take longer than we want it to but look what can happen in 100 years. Coal was king then and now it is looked down on as a contributor to global warming. The Jones Family would be astonished at the changes. In the flash not only has our way of life changed drastically but we overcame depression, a World War, civil rights, Vietnam, an industrial revolution, and a technical revolution. May the story of the Jones Family show us that we too can overcome the odds and win.

For those that want to read my adventures on the NBD & Jones Slope I created a directory of my Coal Mine Hunter series. The NBD and the Jones Slope articles are towards the bottom of the list. Lost Coal Mines of King County

Perhaps you will be inspired to go on your own adventure and let serendipity lead the way.

Postscript – I wondered why Vivian Jones (Tom’s wife) was not buried at Lakeview like all the rest of the family. She was a clerk at Dupont Powder Company in the January 1920 census & married Tom in December of that same year. She was about 20 years younger than Tom. Dupont must have supplied the dynamite and blasting powder used by the Jones Brothers.

What I found is she lived until 1970 and is buried in Glendale, California. She remarried in 1939 Earl J Klingaman and they lived in a rather nice apartment building that still exists today – The Marlborough. It was built in 1928 as the first high rise residential building.

The Marlborough in Seattle built in 1928 – photo today in 2020

I also found that Earl was a car salesman in California before he enlisted in WWI. He became a flyer but never went to Europe. He married twice before marrying Vivian. In 1921 and in 1931. Gave up on finding if he divorced any of his three wives since the sites I found want money. I have my suspicions but will leave you to ponder this yourself. Just hope Tom was happy the years they were married.

Jones Brothers – Their Story behind the Coal Mine I have been drawn down a rabbit hole to find out more about the three brothers that found the Jones Slope Coal Mine.

#Coal Mine HIstory #Indian Coal Mine #Jones Brothers #Jones Brothers Coal Mine #Jones Slope Hoist Investigation #Lost Coal Mines #New Black Diamond Coal Mine

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randomtowns · 4 years

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25 Worst, Rebutted

Continuing the list from the previous post. In that previous post, I found most of the towns on the USA Today list to be not deserving of their place. There seemed to be a particular bias against Georgia. Others were expected, and others were obvious given their statistics. All of these trends continue for the top 25 worst places to live as follows. Let’s get started with more Georgia bashing...

Avon Park, FL Been there? No

Avon Lake is one of a string of towns along US 98 south of Orlando. It features several housing developments from the 1950s, where unchecked land speculation created networks of streets plotted in otherwise undesirable stretches of land, offering housing sites with little or no infrastructure just on their location in Florida. Coastal Florida is one thing, but its inland is another entirely. It’s an agricultural region, with cattle ranching and timber vital regional industries. That sort of industry often creates what exists here: a large community of poor with just a few in the wealthy ownership classes. The article points to Avon Park's nearly 20% unemployment rate, and that 1/3 of its residents are below the national poverty line. Its also adjacent to a bombing range that bears its name.

Lawrenceville, GA Been there? Yes

Lawrenceville is a bit of a microcosm of how the Atlanta suburbs, particularly in Gwinnett County, have changed in the past 20 years. It developed as a bedroom community for the city early on, with its easy access to freeways, but gradually saw an influx of African-Americans and Latinos, changing the dynamic of the area and bringing down housing values. Lawrenceville now has a poverty rate of over 21%, and the article likely zeroes in on the town due to its higher cost of living being so close to Atlanta, and it has one of the highest median home values for any town on the list.

Winton, CA Been there? No

Winton is a small, unincorporated town located on the railroad tracks between Merced and Turlock. Like many towns in the region, it’s majority Latino (71%) and is focused on agriculture. The article points to its high 20% unemployment rate and its staggering 24% poverty rate. Looking on StreetView, it looks like a nice enough town, with well-kept middle-class homes and no real signs of blight. Even its downtown area looks pretty healthy. I couldn’t find much info on why Winton has such poor numbers, so it would be interesting to talk to people to find out what’s going on here.

Phelan, CA Been there? Yes

Yes, there had to be at least one town from this region on this list. Maybe I’m just not getting it, but the High Desert region north of San Bernardino, anchored by Victorville, has always seemed like such an awful place to live. Phelan is a network of unzoned neighborhoods etched into the desert, centered on a couple of strip malls north of Highway 138. Phelan’s median home price is the highest on the list, at over $200,000. It’s too close to the Inland Empire to reap the benefits of cheap desert land. People come out to buy acreage and to not live on top of one another. But there are few services, as pointed out by the article, and it’s still a poor area, with an 18% poverty rate.

Robstown, TX Been there? No

Robstown is a small town just outside Corpus Christi. Robstown is 93% Hispanic, most of them poor, as it has a 41% poverty rate, one of the highest on this list. Robstown has several colonias on its fringes. Colonias are federally-recognized neighborhoods, usually in incorporated areas, where housing is substandard and infrastructure, such as clean water, is lacking. Robstown is also reported as having a crime issue, something that was disputed formally by city officials, which seems to have caused the mention of it to be removed, but its ranking mostly unchanged.

Douglas, AZ Been there? Yes

Aw, Douglas... It’s an isolated border community in Cochise County. Yes, it’s a dumpy town with a lot of abandonment. And the article points out that it’s poor, with a 29% poverty rate. Douglas was an important mining and railroad town through much of the 20th century. In the later part of the last and into this century, the community saw an economic boom from the Border Patrol and the influx of retirees. But this is waning, and the town is estimated to have lost 8% of its population in 2018. Douglas’ fortunes may have changed.

Buenaventura Lakes, FL Been there? No

A large neighborhood south of Orlando and east of Disney World that has been lumped into its own CDP. The area looks nice enough, with sweeping suburban streets lined with middle-class homes, several parks and even a library branch. But the article points out the tough realities: the median income here is well below the national rate while its proximity to Orlando means its cost of living in relatively high. The article points to a lack of supermarket access, but I counted two on the north side of the community and two to its south, including a Publix. This may seem like the town is undeserving, but the crime rate here is also 49% higher than the national average. The neighborhood is heavily Hispanic, with 44% reporting Puerto Rican heritage and 69% reporting speaking a language other than English in the home. This is not the first time we’ll see the Orlando area on here.

Chaparral, NM Been there? Yes

I remember reading about Chaparral years ago. The author had heard about the community, and drove through it, noting the menacing looks he received from people and the run-down nature of the community. It’s a small community etched into the Chihuahuan Desert north of El Paso, just over the state line. Its proximity to Fort Bliss likely means it’s largely reliant on it for employment. And its straddling of both state and county lines means that services are likely lacking, particularly police protection. But the article points to a sobering fact: the poverty rate here is over 43%, the highest on the list and making it one of the poorest places in the country.

Immokalee, FL Been there? No

Unlike its neighbor, Lehigh Acres, who also makes an appearance on this list, Immokalee is an agricultural community established as a railroad town in the 19th century. Immokalee has continued to grow as local tomato farming has flourished, but the town remains horribly poor, with a poverty rate of 42%, which makes it potentially the poorest town in Florida. The population is just 3% white, with the majority (70%) being Hispanic. This is made more ironic by the location of Ave Maria, a newer, very wealthy, Catholic planned community, started by the founder of Domino’s Pizza, just a few miles south of Immokalee. The town additionally sits adjacent to Seminole tribal lands, and they’ve put in a casino on the south side of town.

Lancaster, SC Been there? No

We had to have at least one South Carolina town on the list. Lancaster sits between Charlotte and Columbia, well east of Interstate 77. Andrew Jackson, the controversial president more associated with Tennessee, was born here. With a university campus and a number of historic sites, it seems like Lancaster would be okay, but it is horribly poor. The article lists a 34% poverty rate, a 15% unemployment rate, and points out that half of the town’s residents live on less than $31,000 per year.

Micco, FL Been there? No

Coastal Florida on the list? The article seems to hit Micco on its opioid death rate. The income levels are somewhat misleading as it’s largely a retiree community, with a median age of 69, and mostly composed of mobile home communities, including the massive Barefoot Bay development at the CDP’s northern edge. Most of the community is a few unrelated neighborhoods, with its commercial core along Highway 1. Brevard County in general is known to suck, but I’m not sure that Micco should be singled out as the suckiest.

Berea, SC Been there? Yes

Located just northwest of Greenville, Berea seems like any suburban area, with a mix of middle-class and mobile homes. The article mainly hammers on the 25% poverty rate, and with a reasonable median home price, that does potentially cause issues. In driving through (I believe this is the location of the Walgreens where the cashier seemed horrified that I was buying condoms), I recall it being a little run-down, but not particularly poor. But there may be more going on here than what’s in the numbers or what can be seen from the roads.

Laurinburg, NC Been there? No

Laurinburg sits near the South Carolina state line about 50 miles southwest of Fayetteville. Despite being an education center, with the Laurinburg Institute preparatory school and St. Andrews University located within town, the article points out that the town is flush with poverty. Over 1/3 of its residents are below the poverty line, and the unemployment rate sits at 14%. Additionally, the town has had a long streak of stagnated growth, growing less than 1% between 2000 and 2010, and losing an estimated 5% of its population between 2010 and 2018. The town seems to have crime issues as well, with above-average rates. Until 2019, the town regularly appeared on “most dangerous towns” lists for North Carolina.

Beverly Hills, FL Been there? No

Beverly Hills is a small CDP of mostly a namesake neighborhood located about 90 minutes north of Tampa, between Highways 19 and 41. The crime rate is slightly elevated, the unemployment rate is above average, and the poverty rate is very high, at 28%. Looking at the median home value plus a general StreetView scan, I think this has to do with the late 2000s real estate crash hitting this isolated exurb particularly hard, and it’s just had a slow but steady comeback. Low home values are going to inevitably attract lower-income people, and lower-income people often mean elevated crime rates. This doesn’t seem to be a particularly bad town though, especially when you consider how generally awful this mess of sprawl that oozes north from Tampa is in terms of quality of life. So I don’t know why this area was singled out. Residents seem to agree, as an article published in response to this in a local paper printed incensed responses from local officials and a valid general criticism of these lists.

Silver Springs Shores, FL Been there? No

Located just outside Ocala, the CDP is mainly a neighborhood. The article again points out high unemployment and a poverty rate also above 28%. And I think the same is happening here: a hard crash in home values and a slow recovery has depressed the community, resulting in elevated crime (making recovery harder) and a lower income rate. On StreetView, it’s easy to see that there are still a number of abandoned homes in the area, with others appearing run-down or not maintained. Again though, it’s a little unfair to single out a downtrodden neighborhood in a crappy part of Florida, so I don’t know that this needs to have its place in the search engine dynamic ruined by this appearance.

Shady Hills, FL Been there? No

The article may just be trying to prove my point about the rural counties north of Tampa being particularly crappy. Unlike nearby Beverly Hills though, I think this one is a little more deserving. There are A LOT of abandoned and dilapidated homes in this area. A lack of zoning and sensible development has left the area all over the place in terms of what’s around, but it’s mostly small houses and mobile homes. The article doesn’t like its elevated poverty rate (ironically well below that of both Beverly Hills and Silver Springs Shores) or lack of services, and points out a slightly elevated drug death rate. I don’t know that anyone is going to be upset about its place here unless they are trying to sell local property.

La Homa, TX Been there? No

Let’s get off the Deep South’s back and go back to bashing poor sections of Texas. 38% poverty and 14% unemployment are striking without the context of the region. La Homa is a CDP on the western edge of the Rio Grande Valley’s urban area. It’s pretty much all colonias (see Robstown above), but appears to mostly have running water, trash collection, and paved roads. The population is over 97% Hispanic. If you’re familiar with this region, then none of this will be particularly surprising. The Valley is a tremendously poor region of mostly recent immigrants and first-generation citizens. Services are few, economic opportunities fewer, and it’s a pretty depressing place to live, it seems.

Conyers, GA Been there? Yes

Conyers is a majority-black suburb of Atlanta and the county seat of Rockdale County. Its place on the list mostly seems to be due to its poverty rate, at 30%, and it’s slightly elevated median home price, which means that it’s likely a large portion of residents are spending way too much on rent. In fact, the article also points out that the homeownership rate in Conyers is just 28%. It’s a small, middle-class bedroom community, but it also has a sizable retail district with its place on Interstate 20. It doesn’t seem particularly poor or particularly bad for Georgia. In fact, its location among pine-covered hills is attractive. However, it does have a crime problem, with a rate more than double the national average, but mostly elevated by its property crime rate.

Golden Valley, AZ Been there? Yes

This is a rough area. Like a few other communities on this list, Golden Valley is less town more than a lot of roads laid out haphazardly across the empty desert and parceled out. You can build pretty much what you want and live how you want out here, in this community 90 minutes or so from Las Vegas and just west of Kingman. Driving the back roads is a little scary due to the area’s reputation as a meth production hub. There’s good people out there, of course, but there are also people who would kill you for your shoes. The article mainly knocks it on its unemployment and poverty rates, and points out its isolation. And it is really is isolated. There are a couple of gas stations and other businesses along Highway 68, which bisects the CDP, but residents are entirely reliant on Kingman.

Poinciana, FL Been there? No

I’ve never been to Poinciana (it’s out there), but I’m familiar with it. It’s the largest community on this list, at over 67,000 people, but it’s still an unincorporated CDP of subdivisions etched out into the swamplands south of Orlando. And what a distance to Orlando: it’s a minimum 1-hour drive into town, on roads that are constantly plagued with traffic. But I mainly know Poinciana for its place as the poster child of the late 2000s housing crash in Florida. A small retirement community up to that point, Poinciana was heavily developed just before the crash, with most construction being large houses. The values plummeted, and people left when their underwater mortgages were foreclosed on. The homes were resold to poorer, mostly non-white residents, while the wealthier found homes in areas closer in. But the article points to the area’s lack of services as its main issue. For almost 70,000 residents, there is a Walmart, a Publix, and a small Latino-focused supermarket, surrounding by just a few restaurants along a single strip of roadway. This puts residents at the northern end of the community at a minimum of 5 miles from any sort of retail businesses. To make things worse, the main route north out of Poinciana is a two-lane toll road.

Irondale, GA Been there? No

Irondale is a far-flung Atlanta suburb, along US 41 just south of Jonesboro. It has a high poverty rate, at 26%, but the article focuses on its violent crime rate, which is significantly higher than the national average. The median home value is likely statistically offset by a huge mobile home park included as part of the CDP, but the home values appear to decreasing as the area becomes less desirable and its distance from Atlanta more of an issue.

Beecher, MI Been there? No

Anyone familiar with Michigan is probably surprised to see that this is the state’s only appearance on this list. But leave it to Flint. It’s not quite Flint: Beecher is a CDP just north of Flint and outside the city limits. However, it’s pretty much suburban Flint. Many of the long-abandoned homes have been demolished, but what’s left are overgrown, empty plots next to small and dilapidated homes. There are well-maintained houses and pretty lawns, but there are also unpaved streets. The article points to its crippling unemployment rate of 23%, one of the highest on the list, and that that rate has been sustained and likely resulted in the 38% poverty rate. But past the terrible weather, the perpetually dismal economy and having to say you’re from Flint, Beecher’s crime rate is at least close to the national average.

Fair Oaks, GA Been there? Yes

The list wasn’t quite done with suburban Atlanta, and finishes its trashing of the region by rounding out each side of the city with a shot at one of its small northern CDP suburbs. Fair Oaks sits directly across the road from Dobbins Air Force Base, stuck between the cities of Smyrna and Marietta. Many of the homes were built before the base, and the base only worked to depress their values. Restrictions on flights over the community have been periodically negotiated, but the small sizes of the homes and its location in the heart of Cobb County has brought in a large number of poorer Latino and African-American residents. With a 32% poverty rate and an excessive crime rate 38% above the national average, only its relatively close proximity to freeways and much wealthier areas to the east make it seem like it has hope still.

Donaldsonville, LA Been there? No

In Louisiana, being a majority African-American town is not a good sign. Not because there’s anything wrong with the people, but it means that racism is going to keep a lot of people away. Historically, it shows that not many people want to live there, especially when it’s a town of this size. Donaldsonville is poor. A 39% poverty rate places it as the poorest place in Louisiana. It’s struggled economically. An industrial and river town, historically, the town has seen little if any benefit from the energy production to the south partially due to the highway configuration, which routes traffic well around the town to use the nearby Sunshine Bridge. Though it’s located along the famous River Road, Louisiana Highway 1, Donaldsonville is too far from the plantations and on the wrong side of the river to be viable as a stop, with its portion taken up by heavy industry, including the nearby ammonia plant.

Yazoo City, MS Been there? No

And you thought that there was just going to be that one little entry from the Mississippi Delta? No, the authors continue their bashing of the South by pointing to the oddly-named town’s embarrassing numbers: 20% unemployment, and a 42% poverty rate. Plus, they point out maybe the worst statistic: 20% of resident households live on an income of $10,000 or less per year. Like most of the area, Yazoo is majority African-American. Well away from the Mississippi River, it doesn’t seem to reap much benefit from its location beyond the typical Mississippi involvement in timber. The downtown area is mostly abandoned, with boarded-up shops, made all the more sad by music perpetually piped in on outdoor speakers. With its Amtrak station and Delta location, Yazoo has attempted to make good on the region’s Blues tourism. But it seems like the generational poverty so famous here is going to stick around for a few more generations, unless someone can offer a dramatic solution.

#worstcities #worsttowns #worstplaces

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fmservers · 5 years

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Transportation Weekly: Didi woes, how Nuro met Softbank, Amazon’s appetite

Welcome back to Transportation Weekly; I’m your host Kirsten Korosec, senior transportation reporter at TechCrunch. This is the second edition and seriously people, what happened this week? Too much. Too much!

Never heard of TechCrunch’s Transportation Weekly? Catch up here. As I’ve written before, consider this a soft launch. Follow me on Twitter @kirstenkorosec to ensure you see it each week. (An email subscription is coming).

Off we go … vroom.

ONM …

There are OEMs in the automotive world. And here, (wait for it) there are ONMs — original news manufacturers. (Cymbal clash!) This is where investigative reporting, enterprise pieces and analysis on transportation lives.

This week, we’ve got some insider info on Didi, China’s largest ride-hailing firm. China-based TechCrunch reporter Rita Liao learned from sources that Didi plans to lay off 15 percent of its employees, or about 2,000 people this year. CEO Cheng Wei made the announcement during an internal meeting Friday morning.

Read about it here.

Didi’s troubles with regulators and its backlash from two high-profile passenger murders last year don’t exist in a vacuum. Their struggles are in line with what is happening in the ride-hailing industry, particularly in more mature markets where the novelty has worn off and cities have woken up.

For companies like Didi, Uber, Lyft and other emerging players, this means more resources (capital and people) spent working with cities as well as looking for ways to diversify their businesses. All the while, they must still plug away at the nagging problems of reducing costs and keeping drivers and riders.

Just look at Uber. As Megan Rose Dickey reports, Uber’s stiff losses continued in the fourth quarter. The upshot: Its losses can be attributed to increased competition and significant investment in bigger bets like micro mobility and Elevate. And apparently legal fees. Uber, The Verge reports, sued NYC on Friday to overturn a law that caps drivers.

Dig In

This week, TechCrunch editor Devin Coldewey digs into the development of a system that can estimate not just where a pedestrian is headed, but their pose and gait too.

The University of Michigan, well known for its efforts in self-driving car tech, has been working on an improved algorithm for predicting the movements of pedestrians.

These algorithms can be as simple as identifying a human and seeing how many pixels move over a few frames, then extrapolating from there. But naturally, human movement is a bit more complex than that. Few companies advertise the exact level of detail with which they resolve human shapes and movement. This level of granularity seems beyond what we’ve seen.

UM’s new system uses LiDar and stereo camera systems to estimate not just the trajectory of a person, but their pose and gait. Pose can indicate whether a person is looking towards or away from the car, or using a cane, or stooped over a phone; gait indicates speed and intention.

Is someone glancing over their shoulder? Maybe they’re going to turn around, or walk into traffic. This additional data helps a system predict motion and makes for a more complete set of navigation plans and contingencies.

Importantly, it performs well with only a handful of frames to work with — perhaps comprising a single step and swing of the arm. That’s enough to make a prediction that beats simpler models handily, a critical measure of performance as one cannot assume that a pedestrian will be visible for any more than a few frames between obstructions.

Not too much can be done with this noisy, little-studied data right now, but perceiving and cataloguing it is the first step to making it an integral part of an AV’s vision system.

— Devin Coldewey

A little bird …

We hear a lot. But we’re not selfish. Let’s share.

Every big funding round has an origin story — that magic moment when planets align and a capitally-flush investor gazes across a room at just the right time and spots the perfect company in need of funds and guidance.

One of this week’s biggest deals — see below — was the $940 million that Softbank Vision Fund invested in autonomous delivery robot Nuro. How (and when) Nuro met Softbank is almost as big a story as the funding round itself. OK, well maybe not AS BIG. But interesting, nonetheless.

It turns out that Cruise, the self-driving unit of GM, was in early talks with Nuro, but the parties couldn’t quite meet in the middle, people familiar with the deal told me. Sources wouldn’t elaborate whether Cruise was seeking to acquire Nuro or take a minority stake in the company.

It all worked out in the end, though. The folks at Cruise introduced Nuro to Softbank. That means Cruise and Nuro now share the same investor. Softbank agreed in May 2018 to invest $2.25 billion in GM Cruise Holdings LLC.

Got a tip or overheard something in the world of transportation? Email me or send a direct message to @kirstenkorosec.

Deal(s) of the week

We have a tie this week, which began with news that Softbank’s Vision Fund invested in autonomous delivery robot Nuro. The week closed with electric automaker Rivian announcing a $700 million funding round led by Amazon.

First Nuro. Michael Ronen, managing partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, and the same person who was a big part of its investment in Cruise, told TechCrunch that the winners in this market will need to address a diverse mix of technological questions. In his view, that’s Nuro.

“Nuro has built a team of brilliant problem solvers whose combined backgrounds in robotics, machine learning, autonomous driving and consumer electronics give them a compelling advantage,” Ronen said.

Amazon’s investment in Rivian is important, particularly when you step back and take a more holistic and historic view. Consider this: The logistics giant stealthily acquired an urban delivery robot startup called Dispatch in 2017 (a discovery Mark Harris made and reported for us last week). Amazon showed off the fruit of that acquisition — its own delivery robot Scout — in January 2018.

Last week, self-driving vehicle startup Aurora raised more than $530 million in a Series B funding round led by Sequoia and with “significant” investments from Amazon and T. Rowe Price. Now, Amazon is backing Rivian.

Based on the deals that we know about, Amazon’s hands are now deep into autonomous delivery, self-driving vehicle software and electric vehicles. Let that sink in.

Other deals that got our attention this week:

Autonomous truck startup TuSimple hits unicorn status in latest round

AV shuttle company May Mobility raises $22 million: We talked to May’s Alisyn Malek (watch for this)

C2A raises $6.2 million for its in-car cybersecurity platform

Audio tech supplier to Rolls Royce and Xiaomi secures another $13.2 million

BeliMobilGue raises $10M for its used-car sales platform in Indonesia

WiTricity acquired some IP assets from Qualcomm that gives the company more than 1,500 patents and patent applications related to wireless charging. Qualcomm Inc. is now a minority WiTricity shareholder.

Snapshot

Sure, TechCrunch focuses on startups. Why auto loans? Because auto loan data can be one of the canaries in the coal mine that is the automotive industry and on a larger scale, the economy. And, delinquency rates ripple through the rest of the transportation world, affecting public transit and ride-hailing too.

The New York Federal Reserve this week released a collection of economic data, including auto loans, which have been climbing since 2011. Auto loans increased by $9 billion this year, a figure boosted by historically strong levels of newly originated loans that will put 2018 in the record books. There were $584 billion in new auto loans and leases appearing on credit reports in 2018, the highest level in the 19-year history of the loan origination data.

Why I’m watching this? Because according to the Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit:

The flow into 90+ day delinquency for auto loan balances has been slowly trending upward since 2012

Serious delinquency of auto loans held by borrowers under 30 years old between 2014 and 2016 rose (see chart)

Rising overall delinquency rates remain below 2010 peak levels. However, there were more than 7 million Americans with auto loans that were 90 or more days delinquent at the end of 2018

Tiny but mighty micro mobility

It was a bit quiet on the micro-mobility front this week, but here’s what jumped out. Unsurprisingly, San Francisco denied Lime’s appeal to operate electric scooters in the city. This is the same decision the city landed on pertaining to both Uber’s Jump and Ford’s Spin appeals. On the bright side for these companies, there may be hope for them to deploy scooters during phase two of the city’s pilot program, which starts in April.

Also in the SF Bay Area, Lyft donated $700,000 to TransForm, an organization focused on improving access to transportation in underserved areas throughout California. In partnership with Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Lyft and TransForm will invest in a free bike library and community “parklets” in Oakland, Calif.

Meanwhile, over in Tel Aviv, Lime deployed its electric scooters, joining electric scooter startup Bird. Lime also reportedly plans to deploy its scooters throughout the country of Israel. Next up will be cities in the Gush Dan region.

In case you thought e-scooters were a new thing, here's a lady riding one in 1916. Timing is everything.https://t.co/bb6NtmThTC pic.twitter.com/UyzIKapbk3

— David E. Weekly (@dweekly) February 15, 2019

Also in micro mobility …

We read corporate updates to terms of service in our spare time. And this week, Skip sent out an update that included an interesting nugget. It reads:

We’ve updated specific provisions on camera footage. We’ve updated and made more clear that our scooters may be equipped with video camera equipment which we may use to help ensure that our scooters are used properly and in accordance with laws, rules, regulations and policies, to protect against crimes such as theft and vandalism, to help us determine if scooters are being used properly at speeds, locations and on surfaces that are proper and allowed as well as to improve our Services.

In December, Skip unveiled two new scooters — one with a rear-facing camera. The company tested 200 of these scooter in Washington, D.C. (and later rolled out to San Francisco) to monitor whether people were riding on the sidewalk and generally riding safely. At the time, Skip said it wasn’t sure what it would do with the data collected from the cameras.

In other words, Skip’s cameras are on. How they intend to use that data — whether via a warning to the rider, a message after the ride is complete, or remotely slowing the scooter down, isn’t clear.

One startup that is poised to capture this new market of scooter accountability is Fantasmo. The augmented reality mapping startup has a new scooter positioning camera that captures video and then matches that against a map to reliably identify how the scooter is being used. Fantasmo’s camera system is not being used by Skip.

Notable reads

If you’re waiting for the big autonomous vehicle disengagement hot take story from me, you’ll be waiting for awhile. Let me explain.

This week, the California Department of Motor Vehicles released the “disengagement reports” of autonomous vehicle companies with permits to test on public roads in the state. These reports are meant to track each time a self-driving vehicle disengages out of autonomous mode. There are 48 companies that issued reports, which when you combine all the data, drove more than 2 million miles on public roads in autonomous mode between December 2017 and November 2018. That’s a four-fold increase from the year before.

Companies that receive AV testing permits in California, which are issued by the DMV, are required to submit these annually. It’s not that these reports are worthless. They are useful to determine if a company is ramping up its testing on public roads, adding more AVs to its fleet, helpful for spotting trends like ‘why did disengagements suddenly end?’ or to determine if a company is even testing anymore.

And I’ve discovered some interesting information that will become bigger stories or end up as footnotes in the world of AVs. (For instance, Faraday Future says it will begin testing on public roads late this year).

But disengagement reports are not a meaningful way to make comparisons on how companies stack up against each other. Why? Because it’s not an “apples-to-apples” comparison for one, companies report the data in different ways and there is no transparency into the specifics of when and where each disengagement occurred.

Another problem is the miles-per-disengagement figure that we (the media) typically focus on. This data isn’t super useful on its own. This shouldn’t be treated like a report card. As one engineer told me once, you learn only from occasions in which the system does, or wants to do, something different from a good human. The smart AV companies will take the disengagement data and combine it with other information taken from simulation and other forms of offline testing.

The “miles per disengagement” data point doesn’t start to mean anything on its own until a company reaches the validation phase, which is when miles driven are the truest representation of naturalistic driving in the domain and application of interest. How many are at this point? I’m hearing one or two.

Testing and deployments

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Much of the talk and marketing materials around flying cars, or eVTOLs, focuses on well-dressed business folks standing on top of skyscrapers, preparing to be whisked away — up and over the terrible traffic below. Other startups have focused on last-mile delivery. But what about long-distance cargo delivery to remote and urban areas?

Elroy Air is one company that is working on this problem. The San Francisco-based startup has been developing an autonomous vertical takeoff and landing cargo transport system that can operate outside of airport infrastructure and carry up to 500 pounds of cargo over 300 miles. Elroy Air just closed a $9.2 million round that included investors Catapult Ventures, Levitate Capital, Lemnos, Precursor Ventures, Haystack, Shasta Ventures, Homebrew, 122West, Amplify Partners, Hemisphere Ventures, the E14 Fund and DiamondStream Partners.

The company said this week it will begin testing its unmanned vertical-takeoff-and-landing drone for commercial deliveries — called the Chaparral — this year and launch a commercial shipping service in 2020.

These vehicles will be monitored by trained operators at all times during the testing phase, the company said.

On our radar

Let’s not forget that people are using buses and trains everyday. Not in a year. Not in 10. Right now. These transit systems, many of which need expensive upgrades, carry millions of people every day. One of the more interesting examples of the challenges with transit is the L train shutdown in New York.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority needs to repair a subway tunnel under the East River and initially had planned to shut down the entire tunnel for 15 months, starting in late April. The L train carries 275,000 people between Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn and Eighth Avenue in Manhattan, the effected section, every day.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo intervened and now there’s a new plan, which involves running trains through one tunnel tube while repairs are carried out in the other tube. The NYT has the back story.

There’s an upcoming “L Train Shutdown” event this month in Brooklyn that we’re keeping an eye on. URBAN-X, the startup accelerator backed by automotive brand MINI, is hosting a discussion on the future of the L-train and alternative modes of transport. Some interesting folks will be participating, including Lime’s chief program officer Scott Kubly. The event will be held 6:30 pm to 8:30 pm, Feb. 19 at A/D/O, 29 Norman Ave, Brooklyn, NY.

Thanks for reading. There might be content you like or something you hate. Feel free to reach out to me at [email protected] to share those thoughts, opinions or tips.

Nos vemos la próxima vez.

Via Kirsten Korosec https://techcrunch.com

#TechCrunch

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