In Other Words
January 20
2022
13
The Good Ol ’ Days
By Tobie Finzel
The Gripwheel
One of our most commented
upon photographs at the Vernonia Pio-
neer Museum is that of a Gripwheel be-
ing used along the Columbia at Marsh-
land, just outside of Clatskanie. The one
in the photo is the second Gripwheel of
the only three made and used only at
this location. Photographs of all three
can be found in the 1961 book written
by John Labbe and Vernon Goe, Rail-
roads in the Woods, an excellent, com-
prehensive, pictorial history of railroad
logging.
John Colvin, originally from In-
diana, moved westward in several jumps
but eventually homesteaded in Marsh-
land in 1878 and in 1883 purchased a
40 acre timbered parcel from the U.S.
government. In 1890, his son, Thom-
as, acquired an 80 acre parcel and with
his brother, Weslie, cleared and logged
the land with oxen to haul out the tim-
ber. That same year, John’s son Henry,
took up a homestead in Marshland and
cleared the land with his brother, Walter.
During this same period in ear-
ly West Coast logging, John Dolbeer
of Eureka, California, patented the first
steam donkey engine in 1883. Shortly
after that, George Fouts, a San Francis-
co machinist, patented the Gripwheel,
a device incorporated in a six-foot iron
wheel which gripped a one-inch cable as
it turned. It boasted the ability to move
a large volume of logs without having
to return rigging to the logging site; it
worked as an endless cable. The Colvins
of Marshland were the only loggers in-
terested in the device, however. They
had a three-mile trip with a 24% grade
down OK Creek to move logs from the
hills above. The oxen they used for
hauling had a great challenge crossing
the marshy ground on the flatlands lead-
ing to the slough where the logs were
unloaded and rafts assembled to move
the timber on the Columbia to mills
along the river.
According to Labbe and Goe,
“He (Henry Colvin) reasoned that if he
could lay rails across the swampy sec-
tion, he could keep the bulls at work on
the hill where they were best suited, and
thereby increase the efficiency of his
operation.” The Colvins laid rails along
the skid roads used by the oxen and put
the Gripwheel to work. The track was
tilted at the log dump to help roll the
logs into the slough. Proven successful
on marshy land, it then was used up the
steep grade to the logging site.
The first Gripwheel had no
brakes beyond the grip on the cable
so large rocks were placed between he
skids to hold back the logs on the grade.
One day, however, the first Gripwheel
met its demise when too much slack ac-
cumulated, the line ran out of the grip,
and it ran away and was wrecked. Parts
were salvaged to build another donkey
engine, but this time the Colvins decid-
ed to build a Gripwheel to incorporate
improvements envisioned in their expe-
rience with the first machine. A larger
and more powerful version was built at
Willamette Iron and Steel of Portland. It
had a bigger boiler, heavier duty trucks,
double-flanged wheels to accommodate
the poor track, and a guide to keep the
line from running out of the grip. It also
had an emergency brake that prevented
at least one known catastrophe.
Fuel for the Gripwheel came
from woodpiles placed along the right
of way and a platform on the back to
hold a quantity of fuel. It took an en-
gineer, a fireman and a log tender to
run the machine. Henry’s nephew was
paid to keep the skids greased and the
hill clear of bark and debris. The first
Gripwheel could pull 50 to 80 logs, but
the second one averaged 25,000 board
feet of timber in each trip and once
brought in 48,000 feet. A donkey en-
gine was added at the end of the line to
pull the logs into the slough. Accord-
ing to a 1978 Oregon Historical Quar-
terly article by Mable Colvin, Thomas’s
daughter, the donkey engineer, Billy
Lucas, also assembled the rafts using a
pike pole and jumping from log to log
in his caulk boots. One day he lost his
balance and fell head first into the mud-
bottomed slough and died.
Another danger was the “attrac-
tive nuisance” of the Gripwheel as it
moved across the tracks. A family that
lived nearby had two children, Mary
and George, that waited for the sound of
the steam whistle as the machine made
its way to the log dump and rounded the
last turn. They would run to the water
tank used to refill the steam boiler and
jump on the Gripwheel, go for a short
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ride and jump off, a risky game. One
time Mary fell under one of the moving
wheels and her leg was severed above
the knee. She had to wear a wooden leg
for the rest of her life.
In 1906, the Colvins sold their
logging operations to Clark, Shields
and Kerry (all later famous local tim-
ber men) who called their enterprise
OK Logging Company. The Gripwheel
was rebuilt with a drum substituted.
According to Labbe and Goe, “the final
incarnation of the Gripwheel became
known as the ‘Walking Dudley.’ The
term was not new, having been applied
to some similar machines designed and
built by the Simpson Logging Company
of Shelton, Washington. The name was
said to have come from an old logger
who walked from camp to camp until he
became known as ‘Walking Dudley.’”
Only one other known Grip-
wheel was built by Willamette and used
at Pokegama near Klamath Falls to
nudge logs on their way down a spectac-
ular log chute into the Klamath River.
Remnants of the chute are still visible.
The Colvin name is still prominent in
Clatskanie and is applied to the section
of the old Columbia River Highway that
runs partway up along the slope above
Marshland.
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
Natal and Pittsburg. Each year from
1906 until 1955, he kept a regular di-
ary of his activities. By January 1912,
Virgil and his future wife, Inez Smith,
appear to be a steady couple. Earlier in
the month there had been deep cold and
snow, but it turned to occasional rain by
mid-month.
Tuesday, Jan. 16, 1912:
Garfield and I went down
to the Cook place on a stand
about 12 and the other boys
went in the woods and killed
3. Got back home at 4. Did not
rain any and was a dandy
day.
Thursday, Jan. 18. Garfield
and I took the driving team
up and got them shod in the
morning. Got back at 2 P.M.
A little bit cold but very good
day.
A Trusted Name in Funeral Service
Fuiten, Rose & Hoyt
Funeral Home & Crematory
2308 Pacific Ave.,
Forest Grove
503-357-2161
Vernonia
Memorial Cemetery
Family Owned & Operated
Formerly Prickett’s Mortuary
City of Vernonia – 1001 Bridge Street,
Vernonia, OR 97064
Sunday, Jan. 21. Left at about
11 A.M. for Smiths. Rode Pet up
and got up there about 1.15.
Had a dandy time all day.
Certainly had a dandy time
late in the evening. Fine and
warm all day. Left up there at
10.50 and got home at 12.40.
Monday, Jan. 22. Was working
around the barn most all day.
Ma came home from Portland
in the evening. Put 9 head of
hogs up to fatten. Pretty good
day.
Friday, Jan. 26. Hauled
another load of hay down
to Tobin and this finishes
for this time. Got home at
2.15. Received a letter from
Inez. Did not rain very
much but was pretty cold in
the afternoon. Big time in
Vernonia tomorrow night.
Saturday, Jan. 27. Was fixing
up things to get ready to go
to the dance in the forenoon.
Started up in the buggy at
12.30. Was in Vernonia all
afternoon. Inez & Gladys was
down town so we took in the
dance. Not much of a crowd
there. Pretty fair day. The
dance was over about 4.30.
Sunday, Jan. 28. The dance
was over about 4.30 A.M. Took
Inez home and got up there
at 7.30. Sure had a dandy
time going up. Got back home
about 9.45 A.M. Rained a little
all day. Went to bed about 11
A.M. and slept till 2 P.M. Wrote
a long letter to Inez in the
evening.
The Vernonia Pioneer Museum is lo-
cated at 511 E. Bridge Street and is
open from 1 to 4 pm on Saturdays and
Sundays (excluding holidays) all year.
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 volun-
teers 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.
741 Madison Ave.,
Vernonia
503-429-6611
Jeff & Kathryn Hoyt
For more information visit
www.vernonia-or.gov/cemetery
or call 503-429-5291
Saturday, Jan. 20. Garfield
went back up home. Did not
do a great deal of anything
any of the day. Fine till about
3 then rained a little the
balance of the day.
Forest Grove Memorial Chapel
503-357-3126
To sign the online guest book or to send a
condolence to the family go to
www.fuitenrosehoyt.com
Vernonia’s Voice is
published on the
st
1 and 3 rd Thursday.
Look for our next issue
on February 3.