Port Orford News
Page 6 • October 21, 2009
Life with Brice: Don West - ‘General Bull of the Woods’
LIFE, from Page 1:
from Highway 101. Don,
from the ages of 14 through 17,
worked on various ranches for
his family. He remembers across
from Pacific High School site
years ago
stood an old
CCC camp
building and
camp.
First job
His first
job working
in timber
was at where
the present
Brice Wagner
Pacific High
school sits
now logging old growth timber
with Vic Horner and Golden
Allan.
Vic Horner taught Don many
ins and outs of hand bucking the
huge timber, and I am sure
broke him in to working around
skidding logs.
Don mentions the famous
Madden Mine was still operat-
ing when he was a small child.
Madden mine was south of
where present Pacific High is
located.
Don’s early years took him to
the woods bucking with a hand
cutting saw, and also two man
falling saws cutting timber. He
stood many an hour on the
“springboards” pulling on a
“misery whip.”
Favorite chainsaw
Don’s favorite chain saw was
a McCullough brand. He packed
a McCullough 60 inch bar saw
hundreds of times into the
woods. He also experienced the
early super heavy two man gas
chain saws. He said “when you
were on the stinger end you got
Contributed photo
RIGHT: Don West is shown
with some of his co-work-
ers and one of the huge old
growth trees which they
harvested back in the day.
CENTER: The cattle are
shown grazing in the Marsh
Ranch pastures with the Elk
River shimmering in the fore-
ground. The fall colors and
fog have come to Elk River.
BELOW: The salmon have
been running up the mouth
of the Elk River recently.
a lot of saw dust and pitch sling-
ing on you as you worked the
opposite end of the saw from
the power head.”
Worked for lotsa’ companies
Don worked many areas of
both Coos and Curry County.
He cut huge old growth up Coos
River as well as old growth up
Sixes for Moore Mill and also
cut timber for N.B Marsh log-
ging up Sixes River. Some of
the companies Don worked for
are Coos Bay Lumber
Company, N.S.P, Port Orford,
N.B. Marsh Logging, Port
Orford, Moore Mill lumber
Company, Kerber Logging, Port
Orford, Floyd Griffey Logging
(no he didn’t work for Griffey
and Laird), and probably some
others he didn’t recall.
Enjoyed hobbies
His hobbies in all these years
include wood carving, carving
gunstocks, river and ocean fish-
ing, and an avid hunter. On dis-
play in his living room is a nice
set of horns that are three point
on one side and four point on
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HIKE RA
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PRESENTING
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R E S E N T I N G
S
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24
2
4
the other. He harvested this
buck on his 80th birthday.
Years back, Don and his wife
and friends would camp at
Blacklock Point and harvest
rock oysters, dig clams, and surf
fish. They would stay out on site
for four or five days at a time.
Now the area is closed off to
vehicle traffic that stops large
camps from existing.
In 1979 Don had a tree kick
back and injure him. He was
hurt in the shoulders, neck, and
elbow. After much rehabilitation
he tried to work the woods
again but it just wasn’t a go for
him, and the State finally gave
him total disablement through
state comp.
Thank you, Don ...
The Port Orford News is very
appreciative of all our veteran
loggers who made it through the
risks of cutting, bucking, yard-
ing, hauling in our local natural
resources,
Next week: Part II, “Our tim-
ber harvest …”
Fall is here ...
some past history
On Elk River the annual calf
crop at Marsh Ranch puts on
weight daily and it won’t be
long before the fall cattle
(calves) shipment.
This represents most cow/calf
cattle operations in Curry
County, though some sell soon-
er because of the amount of
pasture available to each opera-
tion, plus price offered. Night
time temperatures have dropped
so the change of season is on
us. Pasture growth for cattle
starts to slow down also with
Or ego
Oregon
on
Redwood
Redw
wood
Trail
F am i ly Fr i en dly
Breathe Easy
Lars Larue
With OVER 1,100 papers sold each week
in the Port Orford, Langlois, Bandon and
Gold Beach areas, the Port Orford News
is being read by YOUR customers.
Port Orford
News
Laundromat
RMLS
Duds-N-Suds has
Norma
reopened under
new Morrow
own-
Principal Broker
ership and now
features
all new Dexter Hwy.
dryers 101
&
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(541) 332-1130
Open Mon-Fri (541)
5am-9:30pm,
253-6353
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Norma Morrow AllOregonRealEstate.com
area and glancing up on the
southeastern part of Humbug I’ll
remember Jack saying, “I ate
lunch one day on top of
Humbug in my International
scout 4x4.”
How was this possible a read-
er will ask?
Well, Jack Smith was
involved in logging that particu-
lar area many years ago for the
folks that owned Humbug
Lodge. The parcel that was
Humbug Lodge was many acres
also going up that face of
Humbug Mountain. Jack drove
his 4-wheel drive Scout to the
top or near top one day and ate
his lunch.
Jack said they short-logged
the timber shipping it. Andy
Trivett and Albert Billings
hauled the logs with their short
logger trucks. The short logs
were hauled to Port Orford
Plywood on Cape Blanco Road.
P.O. Plywood was a veneer
plant operation, and never
adding on a finish end to make
plywood as a finished product,
only raw veneer.
by Gary Romele
The Port Orford News’ office has
moved to next door at 519 B W.
10th St., Port Orford. All sub-
missions and advertising may be
slipped through the door slot.
(541) 332-NEWS (6397)
OR (541) 260-3638
Dud & Suds
colder nights that drop soil tem-
peratures. The experts say ideal-
ly soil temperatures need to be
50 degrees plus for ideal pas-
ture growth.
Marsh Ranch continues to
irrigate to keep lots of pasture
growing for the cattle waiting
shipment day. Once calves are
shipped, this takes off the pres-
sure of fall grazing as with
lower numbers of cattle graz-
ing. Mid-winter last of
December and for a time after
that mother cows start birthing
and the new calf raising starts
over again for a new season.
During that time Pacific storms
come in and cattle must be
watched and fed massive
amounts of local grown
grass/clover hay.
A ‘Scout’ on Humbug ...
Port Orford/Langlois lifetime
resident Jack Smith says, “I
have seen geese flying south in
the first week this September.
As well as other migratory.”
I now think of Jack, especial-
ly every time northbound on
Highway101 in the Humbug
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