Historic Hood River
Lost Lake Lumber Company, Circa 1900
10-26-2011
Notes
The Lost Lake Lumber Company was built near the delta of the Hood River in 1900. The point of land where it was located now serves as the southern terminus for the Interstate Bridge.
Photo notes indicate that Captain Pete Davidson brought men and material for the mill from La Crosse, Wisconsin. The boilers were from a Mississippi River steamboat. The millwright was L.A. Kerr.
Category: Downtown Hood River
Tags: 1900s, Davidson, logging, Lost Lake Lumber Company, mill, railroad
Tags: 1900s, Davidson, logging, Lost Lake Lumber Company, mill, railroad
Charlott
Peter Davidson himself was born in South Point, Ohio. He made quite a name for himself when it came to steam type boats, in fact he became a millionaire. He died in Hood River in July 1901.
Dan
Why was it named Lost Lake Lumber Company? Did it have anything to do with the Lost Lake that we currently know today?
l.e.
Just this morning I was reading about The Oregon Lumber Company’s two mills up the Little White Salmon Valley. They flumed the lumber down to the Columbia at Cooks WA. From there, they rafted the logs across to Viento. Oregon Lumber Company had a large planing mill at Viento.
I think the two lumber companies are somehow connected.
Arthur
Apparently the mill only operated at this site until 1906. The supply of logs down the Hood RIver and the fluctuating Columbia River level were problematic, and the mill was moved to Dee in 1906.
Arlen Sheldrake
Neat photo of the mill and a bunch of OR&N wood boxcars. How about additing a tag or catagory, which ever is appropriate of either
OR&N or railroad.
I continue to be amazed by these photos. thanks, Arlen
Arthur
Thanks, let me know anytime I miss a useful tag. I have a "railroad" tag but forgot to use it here. The other one I keep forgetting to use is "automobile". Some day we’ll need to go through the collection and clean up all the tags.
l.e.
"On June 8, 1889 the first issue of the Hood River Glacier reported that Frank Button, timberman from LaCrosse, Wisconsin had gone to Lost Lake with A.J. Rand to look at timber there."
Charlott
In 1887 AndrewRank settled in Hood River, taking up a timber claim on Lost Lake for a few years. He then sold it to Frank Button.
Charlott
Can’t spell. Name should say Rand instead of Rank.
l.e.
From Jan. 12, 1900 pg 4 of HR Glacier
"First in importance is the plant of the Lost Lake Lumber Company, Captain P.S. Davidson, president, situated on the Columbia river near the mouth of Hood River. This plant comprises 60 acres of land, a two-story mill building, the main part 256 feet long by 50 feet in width, with wings for boilers, sheds, machine shops, etc. The mill is a two-band mill, with two gang edgers, lath and shingle mills, and all up-to-date appointments. Its battery of five boilers and an engine of 500 horsepower drive the machinery. Steam takes the logs from the Columbia, steam turns them on the carriage, steams carries the lumber from the gangs and cut-off saws to the yard, and even dumps the refuse on the waste-pile. Captain Davidson makes but little use of muscle in his modern mill. The mill has a capacity of 300,000 feet per 24 hours, cost approximately $100,000…"