Ronald is the sister town to Roslyn, with many old company houses. Ronald had its own coal mine, saloon, school, and store, but many of the people would travel to Roslyn to shop for goods.

In 1886, just before railway crews began to build the rail line across Stampede Pass, the Northern Pacific Company brought in around 400 Italian immigrants to open a coal mine called #3. Two years later, during a hostile strike, angry men attacked mine forman Alexander Ronald, and left him bound to the tracks just outside of town.