Historic Hood River
Benson Log Raft
6-20-2019
Notes
This Gifford photogravure of a Benson raft is from a 1912 folio on loan from an HHR reader. Starting in 1906 these seagoing rafts made of Oregon logs fueled a construction boom in Southern California. 120 rafts of logs were shipped from Clatskanie to Benson’s mill in San Diego for processing between 1906 and 1941.
nels
Was this another business venture of Simon Benson?
nels
Duh! Wikipedia says it WAS Simon Benson who sent these rafts down to S. California, causing a building boom due to the cheaper wood. But 4 of the 120 rafts broke up, causing hazards on the Pacific. Discussed shipping to China that way as well but never happened. He was a busy man.
nels
Can you imagine trying to round up all those logs in the ocean if they broke loose?!
Buzz
Lost a barge load of logs in the Gulf of Alaska one winter. Called the insurance company, filed a claim, and told them where they could look for their logs if they wanted to try and salvage them.
Alan Winston
When I was a little kid in the early 1950s, we spent some time at Camp Meriwether, south of Cape Lookout, while my dad had some staff duties there. I still remember my excitement one visit, at huge numbers of Crown Zellerbach trucks using the camp road to access the beach to salvage logs that had washed ashore from a broken load. Unless and until someone tells me otherwise, I will presume those logs came from somewhere near Hood River, my birthplace and earliest home. Fun.
I was known as "Ootle Alan" in those days, to distinguish me from our next door (?) neighbor "Big Alan," known to others as Alan Bickford, of the Pine Grove area.