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Logging
Mason County and the whole Pacific Northwest is known for its logging industry. The Mason County Historical Society offers a wide range of logging history from picture books, to company history and to personal memoirs.
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Bears & Flowersby Ralph Flowers
"In the state of Washington Ralph Flowers is called the Bear man. For twenty years, as a forest protection agent, he was a professional hunter, spending more than 2,000 working days hunting for bear, retiring with 1,161 bear kills to his credit. Later in his career he helped develop a non-lethal system that revolutionized the way bear damage to forest plantations is controlled. |
Gone, But Not Forgotten (SOLD OUT)by James Hannum M.D.
This is a hardback edition of this book. It is on the abandoned railroads of Thurston County. This book is a must own for railroad enthusiasts and historians. |
I'd Still Be a Logger (Sold Out)by Marvin Cartwright
Ten old time loggers tell their stories about west coast logging during the past seventy-five years. Enjoy their humor. Appreciate their hard work and creativity. Watch and listen as each of these pioneers endure hardships and continue to declare that..."I'd Still Be A Logger". |
by Michael Fredson
In 1845 Michael Simmons founded New Market in the southern forest of Puget Sound. Simmons became the upper Sound's first logger. Later he moved to Big Skookum in Mason County and cut piers for the San Francisco trade at his Skookum sawmill. This story follows men who came to work in the woods from Quebec and Wisconsin, From Michigan and Pennsylvania and New York. It includes John Slocum, who rose from the dead twice. It tells about Captain Renton, W.H. Kneeland, the Bordeaux family and the log towns these people lived and worked in. |
Old Growthby Newton A. Townsend
This is not a book about the technical side of logging. It is about the people who lived I the old logging communities. Most o the adventure written in this book occurred from approximately 1925 to 1945 in and around Simpson's Camp 3 in the southern foothills of the Olympic Mountains. |
Schafer State Parkby Peter Schafer Reid & Barbara Seal Ogle
This book is not just the history of Schafer State Park which has a long and colorful history. It is also about their logging operations in Mason, Thurston, Lewis and Grays Harbor Counties. It also memorializes an early example of philanthropy by private citizens in an effort that has continued over the years and has been crucial to the expansion of the state park system. Today the park is still opened to the public and is a US National Historic Site. |
Shelton's Boomby Michael Fredson and illustrated by Gary Jenkins.
Unquestionably Shelton's biggest time of growth was from 1910 until 1933. It was this time when Simpson Logging Company started booming and people like Sol Simpson and Mark Reed started to form this one time company town into a prosperous city. It was at this time when Simpson had a lot of control over the city and held much of the wealth. They were able to use this power to build the start of the infrastructure that is still used today. |
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The Steam Donkeys are Calling (Sold Out)
by Elton Guy Cleveland
Born in Longford, Kansas in 1905, Elton Cleveland moved to the Puyallup Valley in 1907 and then to Allyn on North Bay in 1909. He attended the Allyn School through the ninth grade and Port Angeles High School in 1924. He grew up working at many jobs, mostly in Mason County. Life was always an adventure: marrying, raising a family, logging, operating heavy equipment and commercial fishing. His work took him and his wife, Marvel, to Alaska where work and boating filled the years until his retirement in 1970.
Born in Longford, Kansas in 1905, Elton Cleveland moved to the Puyallup Valley in 1907 and then to Allyn on North Bay in 1909. He attended the Allyn School through the ninth grade and Port Angeles High School in 1924. He grew up working at many jobs, mostly in Mason County. Life was always an adventure: marrying, raising a family, logging, operating heavy equipment and commercial fishing. His work took him and his wife, Marvel, to Alaska where work and boating filled the years until his retirement in 1970.
TimberTimes Issue #50The 50th issue of this magazine features an article about the Defiance Lumber Company at Mason Lake from 1916 to 1928 by local author Peter Replinger. There is also an article about kit-bashing Simpson's No. 12 locomotive in HO.
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TimberTimes Issue #52This issue contains an article by local railroad expert and our board member Peter Replinger called: "Ora Milo 'Shorty' Quinill: an unforgettable railroad character" This is a a man who started his career working for the Webb Logging and Timber Company on Hood Canal in the 1920s and passed away several years ago. The feature article in this magazine is a great history of the McCloud River Lumber Company at Pondosa,
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TimberTimes Issue #55This issue features an article about the operation of J. Neils Lumber Company in 1962 and the Caldwell Brothers in Grays Harbor County.
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Where the Huckleberries Grow
by Agnes Rands
This is a story of an immigrant family and their experiences in the logging camps of northwest Washington. The people in the early camps-primarily young, hard-working, Scandinavian immigrants-struggle against harsh and uncertain circumstances, but they are sustained by an inner strength and joie de vivre, even in the face of tragedy.
This is a story of an immigrant family and their experiences in the logging camps of northwest Washington. The people in the early camps-primarily young, hard-working, Scandinavian immigrants-struggle against harsh and uncertain circumstances, but they are sustained by an inner strength and joie de vivre, even in the face of tragedy.
When Loggers Climbed Trees (DVD)
This DVD consists of 6 short historical logging videos including:
Pine Logging in Minnesota 1920's 18.5 min
Age of Steam Logging 1920-1940's 18 min
Arthur Godfrey at Shelton 1957 33min
Hap Johnson in "You Asked for It" 1954 6 min
Hap Johnson in "Spar Tree" 1982 15 min
Farewell to Camp Grisdale 1991 20.5 min
The film includes commentary by Dave James, author of "Grisdale: Last of the Logging Camps" and Keith Byrd, Grisdale veteran.
Pine Logging in Minnesota 1920's 18.5 min
Age of Steam Logging 1920-1940's 18 min
Arthur Godfrey at Shelton 1957 33min
Hap Johnson in "You Asked for It" 1954 6 min
Hap Johnson in "Spar Tree" 1982 15 min
Farewell to Camp Grisdale 1991 20.5 min
The film includes commentary by Dave James, author of "Grisdale: Last of the Logging Camps" and Keith Byrd, Grisdale veteran.
Logging in Mason County 1946-1985
by Michael Fredson
In 1946, the US Forest Service and Simpson Logging Company agreed to a sustained yield unit, cooperatively managing lands for 100 years for “community stability.” Championed by USFS chief William Greeley and dubbed the “Sustained Steal” by detractors, the Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit nonetheless provided jobs for returning World War II veterans. Simpson Logging built the largest logging camp in the continental United States, Camp Grisdale, which had a two-room school and a two-lane bowling alley. Shelton and McCleary were saved from becoming ghosts towns, and downtown Shelton was modernized with a shopping center, parks, and schools. Mason County’s Forest Festival was a weekend celebration for 30,000 visitors that included a parade and logging shows. As the only cooperative unit established in the United States, it attracted national attention, including TV personality Arthur Godfrey. In 1961, the movie Ring of Fire was filmed above Camp Grisdale. As World War II memories faded, logging practices were challenged by notions of wilderness and recreation. Improved equipment reduced the jobs, and when Simpson withdrew from the sustained yield agreement, employees were disenfranchised.
Author Bio: Michael Fredson is past president of the Mason County Historical Society. The images are from the society’s extensive collection of logging photographs.
In 1946, the US Forest Service and Simpson Logging Company agreed to a sustained yield unit, cooperatively managing lands for 100 years for “community stability.” Championed by USFS chief William Greeley and dubbed the “Sustained Steal” by detractors, the Shelton Cooperative Sustained Yield Unit nonetheless provided jobs for returning World War II veterans. Simpson Logging built the largest logging camp in the continental United States, Camp Grisdale, which had a two-room school and a two-lane bowling alley. Shelton and McCleary were saved from becoming ghosts towns, and downtown Shelton was modernized with a shopping center, parks, and schools. Mason County’s Forest Festival was a weekend celebration for 30,000 visitors that included a parade and logging shows. As the only cooperative unit established in the United States, it attracted national attention, including TV personality Arthur Godfrey. In 1961, the movie Ring of Fire was filmed above Camp Grisdale. As World War II memories faded, logging practices were challenged by notions of wilderness and recreation. Improved equipment reduced the jobs, and when Simpson withdrew from the sustained yield agreement, employees were disenfranchised.
Author Bio: Michael Fredson is past president of the Mason County Historical Society. The images are from the society’s extensive collection of logging photographs.
