Historic Hood River
End of the Line
Notes
These railroad ties have traveled at least ten miles to get to this spot at the side of the OR&N Railroad track at Ruthton (bottom of Morton Road). The trees were probably logged up above Green Point (now Kingsley), arrived by flume to the mill at Green Point, where they were shaped into rough lumber. They traveled by flume all the way through Post Canyon to the planer mill we saw yesterday, where they may have been shaped some more, before finishing the flume ride down to this mill at Ruthton.
We know railroad ties were one of the main products to come out of this forest. I’m not sure which mill specialized in what operations, but the flume network was such that raw logs couldn’t just travel down to a single mill for milling. Raw logs became cants which became dimensioned lumber.
The reverse of this image says, “This picture was taken from the west side of the plane. End of flume, where ties and other lumber drop off after a 10 mile trip in flume. Davenport Bros. Lumber Company.” Stanley Smith Lumber Company purchased Davenport Bros. sometime around 1906.
Here’s another view of the end of the line at Ruthton.
Tags: Davenport, Davenport Mill, flume, Green Point, logging, mill, railroad, Ruthton, Stanley Smith
Kalley
This is an interesting topic and took me to a deeper dive into sawmills. My son works at the former Hanel’s Mill (Mt Hood Forest Products)on Hwy. 35. Thanks Arthur for the post this morning!