Pacific Coast Railroad drop bottom gondola PC 9041 was built in 1918 by Western Steel Car and Foundry Company of Hegewisch, Illinois. This riveted steel car is 41 feet 9.5 inches long. It was one of 250 cars built for the Great Northern Railway and was used to haul coal and other aggregates. Gondolas, often called gons, carry bulk commodities such as crushed rock, ore concentrate, and coal. Cars with low side rails can also carry tall poles, wire coils, scrap steel, or rail. Gondolas remain an important part of rail transportation, including high-capacity coal trains that move 12,000 tons between mines and sea ports or power stations. By 1951, the Pacific Coast had become a Great Northern operating subsidiary, and this car was assigned to what the PC Company called home road service. It later had a second life hauling gravel, including material from Cedar Creek near Grays Harbor. Coal and railroads were closely linked in early King County, where mines in present-day Newcastle, Issaquah, Franklin, Black Diamond, Renton, and Maple Valley supplied fuel for homes, businesses, steamships, and locomotives.