Historic Hood River
Stanley Smith Lumber Co. Planing Mill
4-29-2014
Notes
Here’s a 1905 image of the Stanley Smith Lumber Company’s planing mill. Notes indicate it was located on Belmont Avenue, near the site of the Saddle Club. Hopefully someone can explain to us how (or if) they got lumber from their Greenpoint Mill down to this location for planing.
Charlott
I would assume the only way they could get it there was via wagon.
I wonder if the man on the left side of the photo is either Mr. Smith or Mr. Stanley, wearing the suit.
Is that a Chinaman laborer right behind the man in the suit. He seems to be differently dressed and of a darker complextion. There were a lot of them working in various capacities in the Gorge area during that time.
Looks at the windows of the building. It is totally full of lumber as it is sticking out of them.
Buzz
Hard for me to believe they hauled rough sawn lumber from Green Point to Belmont by wagon and could compete price-wise with other mills. Did the railroad go up the valley in those days?
l.e.
If a flume ran all the way to Ruthton, couldn’t it also run to Belmont?
Looks like a grade in the background. Maybe a flume or railroad.
Frederick Stanley was born 1864 in Wisconsin. He came to the northwest in 1888 and organized the Grande Ronde Lumber Company. In 1902 he moved to Portland and organized the Stanley-Smith Lumber Co. of Hood River. In 1904 he organized the First National Bank of HR.
He built the Railway Exchange Building on Stark. He helped organize the Central Oregon Irrigation Co. with over 300 miles of canals.
Arlen Sheldrake
No railroad out Belmont way Buzz….and sure would be a long flume; interesting transport question. And it was a bit of a distance from the "Saddle Club" area on Belmont down to the railroad……sounds like a lot of "horse" power…at least it was mostly down hill. Arlen
spinsur
County Surveyor’s office has a 1911 National Map and Publishing county map on the wall, that shows three flumes, one each from Black, Rainey, and North Lakes flowing east about a mile to three miles to a confluence, then a "4’x5′ " flume to the Stanley Smith Green Point mill near the current Kingsley reservoir, then continuing on to the "Planer" in the "Belmont District", and then on to the "Planer’ at "Ruthton". The 1913 5’x7′ Linen County Road Map by the first county surveyor, John Leland Henderson, also shows the mill and the Belmont planer, although it appears to be closer to the bridge over Phelps Creek on Post Canyon Road. Could be mapping license. Also, the current county map shows a portion of the flume up near where it would cross Dead Point Road between the lakes and Kingsley.
l.e.
Much of the Stanley-Smith operation which was started by Frank Davenport is explained at this link:
http://homepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~westklic/ssmills.html
…."The Stanley-Smith Lumber company has a retail yard located at Belmont, eight miles from the mill and about three miles from the city, and the wholesale yards are located on the track of the O.R. & N., a mile farther down the valley at Ruthton, through which yard the output of the mill, some 150,000 feet per day, besides large numbers of cedar fence post are handled. The water which floats the big logs into the mill empties into the mill pond and flows on through to the flume from the mill to the above mentioned lumber yards carrying the lumber to those distributing points, at a cost of less than ten cents per 1000 feet……"
Ellen Dittebrandt
My understanding is that the mill was down on Ruthon Point.
Longshot
I wonder if the west end of Belmont Dr hasn’t been changed over the years? Maybe originally west Belmont is where Post Canyon Rd is today. This would fit with the Belmont yard being one mile from Ruthton and three miles from the city and would certainly make more sense as far as a flume is concerned.
spinsur
The Town of Belmont was platted in 1898, and spanned from Belmont to Post Canyon. I think the area was probably just referred to as "Belmont". But the map shows definitely shows two mills, labeled "Planer Mill No.1" and "Planer Mill No.2"
spinsur
And possibly expounding on that, I wonder if this isn’t the Ruthton site. That would better explain the grade, which could be railroad, possibly railroad ties stacked nearby, and the power lines/telegraph lines that typically parallel a railroad. Seems like the background view is hard to explain for either location, should be bluff, gorge, or east hills, Mt. Hood, or west hills showing..
nels
Surprised that Black, Rainey, and North Lakes all had flumes. They are such small lakes, almost ponds, but if they conjoin that would make some sense.
I have not seen any apparent flume like ground level artifacts, but will go up there again and look for vestiges of flumes. But they could have been constructed above ground ,so would have burned. But still relatively small amount of water in those lakes/ponds. So are those natural or man made lakes?
l.e.
In this photo #577 of a lumber mill which I assume is Ruthton,
https://www.hoodriverhistorymuseum.org?showimage=577
Arthur says he will post more lumber mill pictures to try and figure out which is which.
I think we are even more confused.
Buzz
Boy, flumes running all over. Understand cheap labor and cheap material as they produced it themselves. But they must have been given pretty much free rein so far as right-of-ways were concerned. Can you imagine trying to get the necessary permits to build one flume from Green Point to Belmont today. Doubt if one man would live long enough to get it done.
Arthur
I’ll be posting an image shortly which is definitely the Ruthton Planing mill. @l.e. is correct that #577 is the Ruthton mill, which seems to have *two* flumes coming into it. Don’t think this is Ruthton. And I’ll post yet another mystery flume, probably next Monday!
As any mountain biker knows, it is very easy to find a route from Kingsley to Belmont or all the way to Ruthton which doesn’t require any pedaling. For all the time I’ve spent riding and building trails up there, I can only think of one spot with any logging debris. Those guys were thrifty– I don’t think they left much when they were gone. I’m sure some of our houses were built from abandoned flumes.
Kenn
Looks like main line RR to the left, which would put this mill on the Columbia. Without the other info I would guess it to be the Nicolai Mill west of Ruthton near the old Columbia School. My map shows their flume coming down through the Mitchell/Little Mitchell notch as did the wagon road.
Arthur
According to spinsur’s 1911 map, the Stanley Smith Planing Mill #1 (Belmont District) was on the west side of Country Club, between Belmont (then Church) and Post Canyon Rd, roughly where Firwood Drive is today. The roads haven’t moved much.
We have several pictures of mill #2 at Ruthton. This isn’t an obvious match, but I can’t rule it out. The mill at Ruthton was at or slightly above the rail grade, but there was a road grade across the railroad from the mill which might be what we are looking at.
l.e.
Because of HHR and these photos of lumber mills and flumes, I learned that lumber came down the WS River and across to a mill below HR.
A 1913 map shows the land along the WS River owned by the Menominee Company.
This 1907 article makes me wonder if the lumber went to Ruthton or was it a mill below that Kenn mentions as Nicolai?
Where is 4 miles below HR?
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The Dalles Weekly Chronicle, The Dalles, OR., August 9, 1907, page 4
MENOMINEE MILL SOLD
Wind River Lumber Company Purchases Plant Near Hood River
"The Menominee Lumber Company, owned by Cameron Bros., formerly of Menominee, Mich., and situated four miles below Hood River, has sold out its holdings to the Wind River Lumber Company, which recently sustained a $250,000 loss by the burning of its mill at Cascade Locks. The purchase consists of a complete milling plant with a capacity of 70,000 feet per day and considerable ground used for yards, loading platforms and buildings for housing the men.
Logs for the mill will be towed to it from the company’s boom at Wind River and also from the White Salmon river, from which the Menominee mill has been getting its supply. It is stated that the Wind River Company may decide to enlarge the plant to supply its trade until it can rebuild the big plant at Cascade Locks. "