Historic Hood River
Now and Then
Notes
I couldn’t end the week without sharing my best effort at a “then and now” image of Camp 3. For the “now” part of the pair I couldn’t use the same vantage point across the creek because of the heavy forest canopy. Instead, we are standing roughly at the edge of the log pond, near the little shelter in front of the steam donkey. I could easily be off by 100+ feet, but the general contour of the surrounding hills matches reasonably well, and the rocky slopes in the distance look roughly right too (not easy to see at this resolution).
That said, one of the people who helped me survey the site observed, “trying to imaging Camp 3 and all those loggers at this site is like imagining a stegosaurus walking though the scene.” There’s not a lot to visually anchor Camp 3 to this landscape, but I enjoyed standing there, trying to see this tiny plot in the forest as they might have seen it. How did they get to this remote spot? Did Willis Thornberry bring them provisions? What sort of pay did they get for their time in the camp?
In researching these Camp 3 posts I came across this wonderful research on local logging and the history of the Oregon Lumber Company, which was intertwined with the Stanley Smith Lumber Company and the Mt. Hood Railroad. Before you click on the link I’ll warn you it is 120 pages long and isn’t easy to put aside once you get started. From the preface where he describes his research techniques to the detail of the MHRR engines he fills in some of the holes in the local history with information he could get from people who were still alive in 1991. And relevant to my last point, he talks about worker wages and union labor organizing in the log camps (pages 97-104). You can learn more about this interesting and knowledgeable author in this obituary.
Tags: 1910s, 2020s, Camp 3, logging, Post Canyon, Stanley Smith, then and now, timber
Kalley
Wow, the research that you have done on Camp 3 is amazing Arthur! Thanks so much for taking us along on the ride. I will be reading the link on the history of the Oregon Lumber Company soon.
L. E.
Thanks for your interesting research Arthur. Like Kalley, I will be reading Clem Pope’s history soon.
I have seen other old logging camps that I could remember as a kid, that have now have disappeared into the forest.
kmb
Very interesting, thank you for researching this. Is there anyway you could give us the exact lat/long coordinates of where your modern photo was taken, so we can find this spot on a map? Or provide a map image?
Rico
Thanks for the pictorial journey back in time Arthur as well as the present day perspective! I will read the history on a rainy day.
THOMAS ROY
I set chokers for Wynan’s Logging in the 70;s, me and the Ricchiuti Brothers. Flooded the landing one morning and were havin’ a cold one at Chug’s by noon.