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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 11, 2015)
3C THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, DECEMBER 11, 2015 Photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society The Westport skid road tunnel is pictured around 1910. It was converted to rail around 1906. C.P. Sutfin, who took the photo, is pictured at left holding a string attached to his camera shutter. Westport: Community thrived on old-growth lumber Continued from Page 1C BOOK REVIEW He wasn’t really a reluctant researcher. He had the family connection with West, a lifelong fascination with ships, which play a crucial part of Westport’s story, plus strong support from the historical society. The historical society’s chief archivist, Liisa Penner, who wrote the foreword, met Aalberg digging through ¿le bo[es in the basement of the Clatsop County Courthouse some 25 years ago. “Westport Oregon: Home of the Big Sticks and Gold Medal Salmon,” by Jim Aalberg Clatsop County Historical Society, illustrat- ed, 212 pages $30 Tidy his family archives Aalberg is happy his research has helped tidy his family archives. More importantly, he has preserved the trio’s memories. “The thing that re- ally motivated me was these people who wanted me to tell their story,” he said. “Every one had a positive attitude about the company, the church, the strong worN ethic, the Àower shows and all those things. It just amazed me. I wanted to tell their stories.” The story begins with West emigrating from his native Scotland to Quebec, marrying in 1832, then joining hordes seeking fortunes in the Cali- fornia Gold Rush. When that didn’t pan out, he moved north to Portland then Astoria. Upriver he built a waterwheel-powered saw- mill and salmon cannery on a 640-acre donation land claim in the 1850s and named the settlement West Slough and later Westport. The easternmost Clatsop County community, which once marched to the tune of the mill whistle, never became an incorporated city. “Captain” West became the ¿rst postmaster and served as justice of the peace. His son, Da- vid, ran the mercantile, which housed the post of¿ce, and was the ¿rst telegraph operator. West packed salted ¿sh in barrels which were shipped around Cape Horn to East Coast ports and Great Britain. This progressed into canning, an industry that peaked on the Columbia River in the 1880s. The Scot also canned mutton and beef, ¿nding markets for byproducts, including oil sTueezed out of ¿sh during processing. West’s breakout moment for his distinctive red label Oregon brand, was earning the gold medal for best canned salmon at the Oregon Ag- ricultural Society Fair in 1874. The name stays alive today on products distributed from a base in Liverpool, England. Thrived on old-growth lumber As old-growth lumber was e[hausted in the East Coast and Midwest in the 1890s, Westport thrived. The town e[perienced 120 years of con- tinuous saw-milling operations, surviving multi- ple changes in mill ownership, rebuilding after catastrophic ¿res. “I don’t know of any community that has had that role in the Northwest and had such an impact throughout the world,” Aalberg said. The subtitle of the book — “big sticks” — refers to old-growth Douglas ¿r, notably from the Nehalem watershed. Trees up to 112 feet long were cut by 12-foot ban saws. Timber was carried around the world to Australia, Japan, FREE PUBLISHED THE FIRST FRIDAY OF EACH MONTH January 2015 ess Chronicling the Joy of Busin Patrick Webb/For The Daily Astorian Beginning in 1916, the Diamond W brand of the Westport Logging Co. went on any piece of timber wider than 6 inches. Patrick Webb/For The Daily Astorian The distinctive red label of the John West Oregon Brand canned salmon has traveled all over the world. Its sales were boosted when it was honored with a Gold Medal at the 1874 Oregon Agricultural Society Fair. Proceeds to the historical society Photo courtesy Clatsop County Historical Society This is believed to be the Hungry Hollow Logging Camp near Westport around 1915 and shows a blacksmith, cooks and flunkies next to the mess hall, at right. China and Guam on sailing vessels and then steamships. Transportation from forest to mill was en- hanced by the mid-1890s blasting of a 75-foot tunnel through the soapstone hill by Malcomb McFarlane, the only one of its kind in Oregon constructed for the use of bull teams to drag logs. A narrow-gauge rail line was laid in 1907. The collapsed passageway still e[ists, if you know where to look. Chinese, Japanese, Greeks, Bulgarians and many Scandinavian immigrants provided mill and cannery labor. The Westport Lumber Co. was founded in 1909 and its “Diamond W” logo created in 1916. As the community grew into in the Columbia-Pacific Region striverbusinessjournal crbizjournal.com • facebook.com/coa Volume 10 • Issue 1 stry spo allenges Inside: Indu copes with ch Shellfish farm an conditions oce nging s optimistic despite cha tlight: Taylor remain NEWS County makes a splash PacifIc in the pot biz page 10 Although many traveled in from Clatsop and Columbia counties, and later the ferry from Washington’s Puget Island, other workers lived in company housing, swelling Westport’s popu- lation to a peak of almost 900 (it is 321 today). The two world wars boosted productivity, with Westport sending logs to Great Britain for railroad ties in the ¿rst then 3 12-ton logs to ship- yards in California, Seattle, Ballard and Everett, Washington, during the second. In between, the mill provided masts for “Old Ironsides” when the USS Constitution was refurbished in 1929 (and twice more in subsequent years). Big timber waned through the 1960s and Aal- berg carefully charts the end of Westport’s boom as the 1970s dawned. The book concludes with an inde[ of charac- ters, a detailed timeline and a meticulous list of ships arriving at the mill between 1903 and 1937 with their cargo’s e[otic destinations. what Aalberg calls a “vibrant quintessential Ore- gon lumber company town,” mill owners sought ways to retain skilled personnel. A bowling alley was opened. Company picnics featured races, tug-of-war contests or trips to Seaside. Links with Lin¿eld College were promoted, with stu- dents returning for summer mill work. Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lumbermen Westport’s social life centered on the 4L Hall — the Loyal Legion of Loggers and Lum- bermen, a concerted effort to focus loyalty and keep out the International Workers of the World, whose militants disrupted Northwest commerce. Aalberg does not intend to pro¿t from his creation, instead assigning the photo collection and the proceeds from book sales to the Clatsop County Historical Society — actions which de- lighted its e[ecutive director, McAndrew Burns. “I am so e[cited in so many different ways,” Burns said. “It is a huge donation to us for our records and it’s a wonderful archive of Westport. “It’s the de¿nitive history — anyone research- ing logging in the future is going to reference it.” The work emphasizes the society’s goal of a countywide focus, even though it is headquar- tered in Astoria, he said. “We have all driven through Westport, but I don’t think any one of us has stopped to think, ‘There’s a ferry, a restaurant and a gas station, but what history has been there?’” Patrick Webb is a North Coast writer and for- mer managing editor of The Daily Astorian. Now inserted into The Daily Astorian and Chinook Observer For more information call 503-325-3211 NEWS Seaside Muffler and Off-Road 21 revs up its reputation page BOAT OF THE MONTH The Sadie out of South Bend, Wash. page 24 crbizjou rn a l.com
