The Journey of the Log to Lumber
Posted by: 
Volcanoguy
N 44° 02.667 W 121° 18.958
10T E 634915 N 4878188
History sign #3 of 7 in the Old Mill District of Bend, Oregon.
Waymark Code: WM7ZNR
Location: Oregon, United States
Date Posted: 12/29/2009
Views: 1
There are seven history signs (installed in mid-2009) along the river describing the history of the Old Mill District. This sign is the first sign south of the bridge on the east side of the river.
Marker Name: The Journey of the Log to Lumber
Marker Text: It all began in the Woods
To supply the lumber mills with logs, entire mobile towns were created in the woods to house the men and their families who cut down the trees. The towns were movable camps conveyed by railroad cars. From 1916, these temporary towns, or logging camps, could be found in the woods surrounding Bend. They provided everything necessary for the families that lived there. Built on railroad hardware, the community buildings included a commissary, kitchen, company store, school and later on, a movie theater. It was said that the company’s logging camps were the last word in sanitation, comfort and convenience.
The logs on the ground were hauled to the railroad. Horses with big wheels were used over the flat terrain to haul the 16 foot lengths, while steam yarders dragged the longer lengths over the rocky and steep areas. Each camp had their stable of stout work horses. The horses hauled the logs to the railroad cars where the logs were loaded by the steam powered McGrffert loader and transported to the mill.
At one time, the Brooks-Scanlon Company had four of these camps cutting trees for their mill. Each camp housed over 100 residents and stayed in place two to three year, the length of time it took to log the timber in the vicinity. The mill was running three shifts a day around the clock while the men in the woods were falling about 500,000 board feet of timber per day. This pace kept them just a few days ahead of the mill’s demand.
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