in other words
march16
2017
7
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Wreck of the 104
This month’s article is con-
densed from a 2013 entry in The Forest
Hiker, an internet publication (www.for-
esthiker.com). There is more informa-
tion available in the book written about
the Vernonia timber company, The Ore-
gon-American Lumber Company – Ain’t
No More, by Ed and Greg Kamholz and
Jim Blain. The Kamholz brothers’ dad,
Marvin, published the Vernonia Eagle
for many years. The article got some in-
formation wrong, but the gist of the story
remains as tragic.
For twenty-fi ve years Oregon-
American (O-A) managed to haul two
billion board feet of timber out of the
Coast Range without a serious accident.
That all changed on June 3, 1948. At
8:30 am the 104 steam-powered loco-
motive was bringing an empty oil car
and thirteen big carloads of logs down
the winding rails along the rim of Windy
Gap, headed for Camp Olsen. It inched
its way down the steep grade of Line
Spur 26 but had to stop on a slope about
a mile short of camp due to repairs being
made on the line. In the cab were Jeff
McGregor, engineer, Jerry Manning,
fi reman, and Frank Wills, timekeeper.
Three brakemen were riding further
back among the log cars. Everything
seemed to be in order.
After a short wait, the section
foreman completed his repair work and
waved the train ahead. It soon became
clear to all who witnessed the event that
the train was gathering speed far too
quickly. The train continued on, alarm-
ingly increasing speed. As it tried to
round the bend of the 26-8 junction, it
jumped the track on the curve and over-
turned immediately.
George Lee, a key man in
construction for O-A, reported the grisly
scene: “The engineer wasn’t alive
when I got there. He got half-way out
the cab window and that’s as far as he
made it. He was cooked. You don’t get
two hundred pounds of live steam goin’
on you and survive. The timekeeper,
‘ol Frank Wills, he was just squashed
right between the boiler and the tank.
The other guys, they weren’t squashed,
they were just cooked.” According to
the offi cial company report, however,
the engineer died in the ambulance
about a half-hour after the accident,
but the fi reman and timekeeper were
killed instantly. The brakemen had all
successfully jumped from the runaway
train before it rolled over.
The company lost three men,
each with twenty or more years of ex-
perience; engineer McGregor had forty
years work on trains. The reason for the
accident was not fully proven although
a later writer suspected that the brakes
were all released too quickly. The sur-
viving brakemen said the train started
too fast, but the engineer said, before
he died, that the brakemen hadn’t set up
enough brakes. Whatever the cause, the
company was shaken by the loss of three
long-time employees and friends. The
track was repaired quickly, and Engine
104 was repaired and back in service
two months later.
Due to periodic renumbering of
locomotives, we are not sure if engine
104 in downtown Vernonia’s Shay Park
is the same engine, but it is certainly a
representative of those hard-working
Shays.
From Virgil Powell’s Diary
Virgil Powell (1887-1963) was a long-
time resident whose family had a farm in
the Upper Nehalem Valley between Na-
tal and Pittsburg. Each year from 1906
until 1955, he kept a regular diary of his
activities. March 1907 was wet with
rain and snow but work went on as
usual. Road repairs were done by those
who depended on them. We can only
imagine how much it took to amend a
slide during wet weather.
below. Pretty good day.
postal to Alice.
Sent
Sunday, March 17: Got home
from Vernonia dance at 7 A.M.
Went to bed and slept till 12.
Commenced
raining
about
1 and rained all afternoon.
Wrote a letter to 55131 (we don’t
know what this was, certainly was over
fi ft y years before ZIP codes!)
Monday, March 18: Trimmed
fruit trees again all day. Pret-
ty fair in morning but rained
considerable in evening.
Tuesday, March 19: Went down
by Cooks and worked on the
big slide in the road. Rained
quite a lot during the day. Got
5 postal cards, one from Alice.
Sent for leather postal card.
Send letter to 55131.
Wednesday, March 20: Worked
on the slide in the road down
below and got it so a wagon
could get past so quit at noon.
Worked on fruit trees and fixed
some fence in afternoon. Bright
most all day.
Thursday, March 21:
Wend
down to F. J. Petersons in the
wagon the first thing in the
morning after potatoes. Hauled
wood in the afternoon. Pretty
bad stormy day and snowed a
little in evening. Albert spoke
to me to carry the mail for a
while. Sent leather post card to
Alice.
Friday, March 22: Snowed all
day and was about as bad a
day as we have had any time
this winter. The wind blew and
was pretty cold. Wrote to La-
meck and Bob. Went up to Post
Office and mailed some letters,
also sent a letter to Vernonia.
Saturday, March 23: Carried
the mail to Mist. First trip I
have went since they have got
sacks. Rained and snowed ter-
rible till noon. Gust Peterson’s
(recently deceased) things were
sold today. Got back there at
1:30 and stopped till 3:35 and
got home at 4:30. Got 2 postal
cards. Grange day at Verno-
nia.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is located
at 511 E. Bridge Street and is open from
1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and Sundays (ex-
cluding holidays) all year. From June
through mid-September, the museum
is also open on Fridays from 1 – 4 pm.
There is no charge for admission but do-
nations are always welcome. Become
a member of the museum for an annual
$5 fee to receive the periodic newsletter.
We now have a page on the Vernonia
Hands on Art website, www.vernonia-
handsonart.org If you are a Facebook
user, check out the Vernonia Pioneer
Museum page. The museum volunteers
are always pleased to enlist additional
volunteers to help hold the museum open
and assist in other ways. Please stop by
and let one of the volunteers know of
your interest in helping out.
Saturday, March 16, 1907:
Trimmed fruit trees in the
morning and did not do
much of anything in the af-
ternoon. Started up for the
dance at Vernonia at 6:30
P.M. Got home next morning
at 7 A.M. Had a dandy time.
Will D. and Emil came up from
Where do you read the Voice? Show us where you
have traveled. Submit your photo with a brief description
by email to: scott@vernoniasvoice.com
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CCB# 112057
Ph: (503) 429-0154
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Vernonia, OR 97064
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Vernonia’s Voice is published twice each
month on the 1st and 3rd Thursday.
Look for our next issue out April 6.
