8
in other words/history
august15
The Good Ol ’ Days
2013
By Tobie Finzel
Eightieth Anniversary of the First
Tillamook Burn

The summer of 1933 was
exceptionally hot and dry throughout the
state. In August, Governor Julius Meier
ordered the state forests in southern
and eastern Oregon closed. He pleaded
with the loggers on private lands in the
northwest corner of the state to cease
operations. The humidity dropped to
22% in the Coast Range foothills, and
the main logging camps sent runners
with orders for the local operators to shut
down until moister and cooler conditions
returned. According to what may be fact
or local legend, shortly after one p.m.,
the messenger reached a gyppo operator
working in Gales Creek Canyon on
lands owned by Crossett and Western.
Wanting to bring in one more log, the
operator’s donkey engine pulled the
huge Douglas fir over a rotted windfall.
A spark ignited the forest floor and the
first conflagration began. A second fire
of unknown origin had ignited about the
same time.

With the next day bringing a
temperature of 104 degrees and a gusty
east wind, the fires grew and suddenly
reached the tops of the tallest trees, a
condition called crowning. The winds
blew hot sparks and burning limbs into
the air and ignited other blazes in the
forested lands beyond the immediate
fire. Hundreds of loggers and Civilian
Conservation Corps (CCC) youth were
brought in to battle the multiple fires.
By August 18 th , the inferno had spread
to more than twenty-five square miles.
The fires increased and merged and on
August 24 th literally exploded, sending
a 40,000 foot high column of smoke
across a fifteen mile front. By the end
of August, over three hundred thousand
acres of dense, virgin timber were
damaged by fire. Nearly twelve billion
board feet of timber went up in smoke.
Subsequent fires in 1939, 1945 and 1951
destroyed an additional billion and a half
board feet; in all, the four fires consumed
enough timber to build over one million
five-room houses.
The 1933 Fire and its Effect on
Vernonia’s
Oregon-American
Operations

Camp McGregor, Oregon-
American
Lumber
Company’s
headquarters on Rock Creek near the
town of Keasey was bigger than most
towns in this part of the state in 1933.
It had been built in the heart of O-A
forest lands while the Vernonia lumber
mill was under construction to provide
a ready supply of timber when the mill
became operational in 1924. There were
bunkhouses for two hundred men, thirty
cabins for families, a company store,
dining halls, workshops, and offices.
When the fire threatened, 275 residents
and CCC men were in the camp along
with five families. The women and
children were loaded on railroad flat
cars to get them out safely. The men
remained behind to try to save the
camp and equipment. The men fought
the fire in vain because within an hour
of its arrival, all of the buildings and
equipment were destroyed.

Another fire broke out on the
The Sounding Board: Reality
By Jack Phillips

In what is left of our democ-
racy, personal, physical presence at a
public meeting is essential. Being pres-
ent works in two ways: (1) you show by
the singular act of “being there” you are
concerned, want to be acknowledged,
want something done and (2) are a pow-
erful “witness” to persons you elected to
act in your name, that you are watching
and will act if necessary. That’s how it
works.

If you do not show, democracy
collapses.

Democracy involves a lot of
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people interacting, talking, debating, ar-
guing, showing emotion, passion, mak-
ing reasoned statements, making wild
statements, coming to a decision, where
each person, in whatever degree, partici-
pates, for or against an idea whose time
has come. All at the same time, it is fun,
sad, exciting, upsetting, a relief or stress-
ful. It is life with meaning. It is “being
alive”.

What democracy is not, is when
you are “not there,” where a few decide
for you; where you simply become “an
observer” and are told what is right and
what is wrong; and woe to you if you ob-
ject.
VERNONIA
East Side Logging Company lands in
Clatsop County and within a few hours
destroyed bridges and trestles of the
Oregon-American logging railroad.
Closer to Vernonia, the Wolf Creek
fire burned sixty thousand acres. The
Vernonia fire erupted in O-A holdings
seven miles west of town along the road
to Timber. This fire merged with the
Wolf Creek fire and later merged again
with the Gales Creek inferno. Twelve
thousand acres of O-A timber were
affected by the fire, approximately fifty
percent of its total holdings. Twenty
trestles burned of which twelve would
be replaced; another thirty trestles on
abandoned spurs were destroyed and did
not need to be rebuilt.

Timber salvage operations
following the Tillamook Burn recovered
much of the timber that was scarred by
the fire but not burned through. Camp
McGregor was rebuilt. The new cabins
were assembled at the mill and loaded
on railcars for the trip up Rock Creek.
A photograph of one of these cabin-
trains is currently on display in the shop
window across the street from the Shay
locomotive. The information for this
article came in part from two books in
the museum’s collection, Epitaph for the
Giants by J. Larry Kemp and Tillamook
Burn Country by Ellis Lucia, and articles
in the Vernonia Eagle newspaper.
For additional information on the
Tillamook Burn area prior to the fire, the
conflagration itself and the reforestation
effort that created today’s Tillamook
Forest, visit the Tillamook Forest Center
on State Highway 6 a few miles east of
Tillamook.
Pittsburg. Each year from 1906 until
1955, he kept a regular diary of his
activities. He was among the hundreds
of local loggers, farmers and CCC camp
youth who helped fight the terrible fire
that began on August 14:

If you want to say something,
like “My electric rates are too high,”
how can you do it? How can you pos-
sibly do anything meaningful? Life is
busy. Who has time, or money, to go
talk to the wind? Make time. Make an
appointment with yourself. With a sim-
ple step, you can attend a meeting. You
can “make a difference,” just by being
there.

West Oregon is a large territory.
Directors must live in their district, but
any member can vote for anyone or any-
thing. So doing something is important!
Going to a meeting really makes a dif-
ference. When is the next
WOEC meeting? It is the general mem-
bership meeting two days from now,
on Saturday August 17th. Call WOEC
at 503 429-3021 and tell them you are
coming. Eat some good food. Meet and
talk with a bunch of other folks. Listen,
get up and say something. Put some
passion into it. Don’t fret if someone
disagrees with you. Plenty of others will
be for you. Power of One will be there.
We have a write in candidate for District
5, Heather Johansen. She is running
against Bob Paleck. Bob VanNatta, so
far, is running unopposed for District 2.
But you can write in someone else in his
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Thursday, August 17 through 28: Each
day’s entry started with “On big fire all
day” followed by the weather which
remained hot and dry. By the end of
August, damp and cooler weather finally
stopped the fire from spreading further.
Powell’s diary entries for September
were primarily clean-up and recovery
work in the burned areas and additional
firefighting west of Yamhill on the Trask
River.
continued on page 9
Vernonia
Veterinary Clinic
Small and Large Animals
Installation • Balancing
Valve Stems • Lifetime Rotation
Lifetime Repairs • Alignment Check
Enhanced Warranty
up to 5 qts. conventional oil
Four-wheel
computer alignment
Front End
computer alignment
Wednesday, August 16:
On big
fire all day. Crowned a lot and
very hot all day.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at E. 511 Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays
(excluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum is
also open on Fridays from 1:00 – 4:00
PM. There is no charge for admission
but donations are always welcome.
Become a member of the museum for
an annual $5 fee to receive the periodic
newsletter, and if you are a Facebook
user, check out the new Vernonia Pioneer
Museum page created by Bill Langmaid.
The museum volunteers are always
pleased to enlist additional volunteers to
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
help hold the museum open and assist in

Virgil Powell was a long-time other ways. Please stop by and let one
resident who had a farm in the Upper of the volunteers know of your interest in
Nehalem Valley between Natal and helping out.
Call or come by today for free tire quote
Most major brands and custom aftermarket wheels
Walk-ins welcome
Tuesday, August 15:
Went to
Crossett Western Co. fire on Gales
Creek. Awful hot all day.
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Or 24 hr. Emergency Number (503) 397-6470
700 Weed Ave. Vernonia, OR