Historic Hood River
Davenport Bros. Lumber Company
Notes
There is plenty of detail to explore in this image of the Davenport Brothers Lumber Company mill. The caption says, “This picture was taken from the west side of the planer end of flume, where ties and other lumber drop off after 10 mile trip in the flume.”
We know that in 1905 Davenport Bros. had a lumber yard between Cascade and Columbia, 5th and 6th Streets in Hood River. Here’s a 1904 account of their operations from the Hood River Glacier:
Davenport Bros.’ Lumber Co., Hood River, are cutting on an average about 50,000 feet per day with eleven man at their Parkertown mill at the end of their six-mile flume. The logs will run about five to the thousand and are sound red fir, perfectly adapted for ties and structural material. The logs are turned on the carriage by two peavey men, who certainly for celerity of movement can give the modern log turner cards and spades and then beat them. The logs are hauled out of a pond 700 feet up a log haul, by a 9½x11 W.I. & S.W. engine, which makes a turn every ten minutes, bringing up 2000 feet of logs. The company is building a new mill at Green Point, about two miles from the present mill, which will be dismantled and moved to the Green Point site. The officers of the company are: President and manager, Frank Davenport; vice president and assistant manager, A.M. Kelsay; secretary, C. Copple, who is also in charge of the planning mill at Ruthton, which is the rail shipping point. Warren E. Davenport is superintendent and manager of the local yard, while F.E. Newby is superintendent of Mill B, as the Parkertown mill is named. The company has a good operating force. An order for 150,000 ties for the Short Line is now being filled. The timber holdings consist of about two hundred million feet of yellow, red and white fir, with a sprinkling of hemlock, larch and white pine. The timber lies at an elevation of about 2500 feet, and will run on and average about 50,000 feet per acre. The ground is gently rolling, making an excellent logging chance. The timber holdings of the company embrace a territory which stretches from the Mount Hood Forest Reserve to the Columbia River. There is probably 500,000,000 feet of additional timber which will find an outlet to markets through the lands now owned by the Davenport Lumber Co. The timber is perfectly sound, with little underbrush and can be manufactured and sent to market by the aid of flumes at a minimum cost.
We saw their Parkertown Mill in this photo.
l.e.
Are those railroad ties?
l.e.
If I would read better I would know they were ties.
Frank Davenport must have had enough experience building lumber flumes that he knew an irrigation flume was feasible.
nels
How many log yard workers wear a white shirt, jacket, and hat nowadays?And those figures of 50,000’/acre is amazing. But the most poignant is that the forest from Mt. Hood to the river had little underbrush, meaning a mature forest. That must have been a beautiful woods to travel through.
AndrewB
Amazing, so this is in the big parking lot across from full sail?
Wow, what a different looking town it was.
I guess the present day condos would be up on that hillside to the right, and we would be facing HR cinemas?
Arthur
Andrew, I’m really not sure where this lumber mill is. I think Davenport had several sites– I didn’t mean to suggest this was downtown. The downtown facility was described as a "lumber yard" not a "mill" so I suspect this is somewhere else– perhaps their Parkertown mill which is described in the Glacier.
Arlen Sheldrake
WOW, a ten mile flume trip….it would be interesting to see this picture with the flume operating….must have been a REALLY damp spot there at the end of that flume.
One can only imagine how much effort it took to maintain 10 miles of flume…
Chase
According to the August 25, 1901 Oregonian, the Davenport flume burned on August 24, 1901.
Is the "Mill B, as the Parkertown mill is named" the mill that used to just a tad SW of Mitchell Pt. (not the Ruthton site, which is E)? Because I always thought that mill was just called the Newby Mill. Or is it the mill that existed before that closer to Viento (labeled on all my maps as "Saw Mill"?
Dedilee
This is confusing since Davenport had so many holdings, but he sold his holdings in 1905 to the Stanley-Smith Lumber Company, although he retained interest. This article from the Hood River News (Glacier?) in 1906 gives some more details on the different locations. http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~westklic/ssmills.html The three main flumes in 1906 ran from Gate Creek, which also used water from Black Lake, Rainy Lake and North Lake, down to the "Old Davenport Sawmill" at Green Point. From there a flume ran to Hood River.
Arthur
We have many more lumber mill pictures. I’ll post a bunch of them later this year so we can try to figure out which is which. We have some printed material (books, pamphlets) with some definitive id’s.
Joseph E Collin
this is my Great, Great Grandfathers Business or his brothers. I would love to know more. You can email me at joecollins@collinslaw.net
Beth Davenport Martin
Wow, impressive! This is my great grandfathers holding!! Someday I must visit this area! i would love to know more! bethrichmartin@gmail.com
Curt Davenport
Warren E. Davenport was my great-grandfather. Cool to see his name appear here and learn a little about his life in the lumber industry.
Gerald Davenport
Warren Ellis Davenport is my grandfather also! I have the written life story of my father Lavon H. Davenport, and the details of the family moving to Spray, Oregon. Love to hear from you.
Dr Joan L Jensen
Frank Davenport was my great-great grandfather, and with his brothers ran the lumber mill/s in Dee and Ruthton Point. My grandmother, Clarice, was born when the lived at Ruthton Point on the Columbia. Frank and Helen, and some of their children, moved to Spray in 1915. I have some photos. Would love to hear more details about their move to Spray. I understand that Frank and Helen also raised turkeys there. JoanJensen1863@gmail.com
Dr Joan L Jensen
I also have photos of the construction of the flume, from Dee to the Columbia
L. E.
Frank Davenport’s daughter Hazel Lufkin Davenport Lewis married Clarence Lewis. For many years they lived in the small community of Glenwood, Klickitat County Washington.
There are still descendants in the area.