Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Coquille herald. (Coquille, Coos County, Or.) 1905-1917 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 22, 1916)
THE COQUILLE HERALD, TUESDAY, AUGUST 22, 1916 PAGE ELEVEN Logging In the Coquille Valley THE WISCONSIN SILO STA Y S PU T REQUIRES NO FIXING WE FURNISH IN RED Or PORT ORFORD CEDAR FLOORING, RUSTIC AND CEILING DRY FINISH AND SHIPLAP SPECIALIZE ON LOCAL ORDERS A suspicion of ro tto n spots or ring- shakes would often save the life of an otherw ise handsome monarch of the forest. The stum ps were cut high from the ground, a length of ten of twelve fe et of good lum ber often being left standing. The tops were also left long on the ground, logs not being cut above the first limbs. The logger who log from digging into the ground, but O f the lumber industry on the river would have put a hemlock or w hite fir some figures are furnished by E. E. gripped it tenaciously betw een them. log into the w ater would have been Johnson, who has been engaged in th a t Then it was discovered th a t w ater fu r thought either weak in the upper story line for years and is probably b e tte r in nished a plentiful lubricant, and the or desirous of cheating a too confiding w ater-packer becai ne an atta ch e of the formed than any one else. mill company. Now it seems th a t the There are eight sawmills on the riv er bull-team , and the five-gallon coal oil Smith* Powers camps, a t least, are en can became in demcnd. Then some of a capacity of 20,000 fe et of lumber deavoring to remove from the ground hat the plan of per day, or more. The tw o largest, genius discovered every possible foot of m ercantible lum situated near Bandon, are the Moore placing skid across the 'o a d a t a dis ber. tance less than half the length of the and Dollar mills, each having a capaci In this connection, the m a tte r of re- ty of 100,000 feet. The Prosper mill, sh o rtest logs was practicable and a forestration presents itself. The gen g re at improvem ent. L ater some wan also on the lower river, is rated a t 25,- eral governm ent has devoted much a t 000. The two mills a t Coquille, the dering woodsman brought reports of tention to this, and priv ate individuals sm aller of which is owned by Mr. Jo h n -1 the U8e of Krease on the sk,d8 " on th® and corporations in the lum bering busi .on and running steadily, can turn out i 80und ° r elsew here, and someone tried ness have planted tree s and done much 65,000 and 40,000 per day, respectively. ll- and whale-oil. tallow nnd cheaper work to s ta r t new forests on the lands The Myrtle Point mill can cut 30,000. | lubricants helped to ease the burden on denuded of their tim ber. The Smith- The W hitaker mill is the sm allest of i the c a ttle ' Even 8oft 8oaP wa8 U8ed *" Pow ers Co. has done much of such work those mentioned, cuttin g 20,000, and I one ln8tance a8 an experim ent, a t the in this county. This is all good and th ere is also another small mill a t Ban- ^ « U o n of a man who wanted the will perhaps save many years over the don rated a t 30,000. These are not all s0“ >°b of m ak,nK the 8oaP; ll was not slower processes by which nature would in operation a t the present writing, b u t ' 8 brilliant success do the sam e work. But w hatever may Mr. Johnson estim ated th at, counting By these and other im provem ents the be the case elsew here, in Coos county poles and ties, 100,000,000 feet a year ; Held of logging operations was extend- Dame N ature has a system of her own are sent out over the Bandon bar. In ! ed until it was thought practicable to which is sure, if slow. Among the de addition to this, the Sm ith-Pow ers put in tim ber within one mile of the caying stum ps of the earlier logging cam ps a t Pow ers are sending out ten to w ater, but th a t was considered the cam ps there can now be found a th rifty tw elve million fe e t of logs per month, limit. The rem ark was often heard grow th of young trees which are al all of which go by rail to the C. A. th a t “ this country was about logged ready reaching a size which commends Sm ith mill a t Marshfield, one of the o u t.” Then someone had the enter- them to the atten tio n of the lum ber larg est and best equipped plants of the Prise to build a tram w ay o f poles, on man. When a tra c t has been logged which cars with concave wheels were off, fire soon finds its way into the de- kind in the world. When one considers how large a p a rt run» with horses or oxen to furnish the I bris left on the ground and a supply of of the expense of the logging camp or tractive power, and the deadline was a3he3 is left as a fertilizer. The first mill goes for labor, it is ~seen~ that* the ' moved back fu rth er from tide- grow th to come up is fern, and several lum ber industry furnishes support, di- w ater. This first tram w ay was built annual crops of this helps to again rectly and indirectly, for a large p a rt by *L A. Yoakam a t Sumner, and any- cover tne ground with a coating of of the population of this valley; and one who saw him and several assistants, vegetable m atter. Then the alder gets when it is known th a t the Sm ith-Pow- herding the horse team down the track a foothold, and a dense grow th of th a t ers holdings in their present field of op- on the run, to keep under headway un- quickly-growing tre e springs up. This : erations contain enough tim ber to keep . Ill th e landing was reached, is not flourishes for a term of years and tne I them busy for over fifty years, a t the likely to fo rg et it. falling leaves perform their annual aer- present ra te of cutting, it is seen th a t A real railroad, with iron rails, was vice of enriching the ground. Pro the future as well as the present pros-1 not thought to be within reach on ac- tected by the alder grow th, fir, h e m -, perity of the valley lies largely count of the expense, but such a road lock, spruce and cedar saplings m ake ' in its tim bered hills. And the impres- was a t last built by the late John A. their appearance, their seeds being dis sion m ust not be given th e t the tim Garfield on Isthm us slough, and was tributed by some of the m ysterious bered area mentioned, trib u ta ry to found to be practicable. Since then processes by which nature accomplishes Powers is more than a fraction of th at the distance from tidew ater a t which its work. The alder thicket shelters still untouched on this river and its tim ber is considered "w ithin reach” the small forest of the future until the has been gradually extended until now saplings eventually surpass their guard tributaries. the outerm ost landing of the Smith- ians, and the fittest of the new grow th Looking a t the cut shown on this Powers camp Is about 75 miles from begin to show their heads above those page, which illustrates the latest devel the Sm ith mill booms and the end is of the alder. Then the alder usually opm ent of logging m ethods made possi not yet. dies out slowly, while the survival of | The application of steam to the work the fitte st prevails in the new forest ble by the application of modern power, and looking back over the progress of in the woods was long in coming to and helps to thin the grow th to prevent the industry since " th e early d ay s,” Coos county, and the patien t ox with over-crowding. All this takes many one is forcibly reminded of the contrast long horns and perforated hide held his years, but it accomplishes the work, in the methods by which the logs were own m anfully against the influx of and it can be asserted th a t, w ithout brought from the stum p to the mill in modern ideas. The stories of steam the help or hindrance of man, Dame the early sixties and the ways by which donkeys In use “ on the sound” were N ature would again clothe all these the same work is compassed today. In listened to with in terest but w ithout hills w ith th rifty forests. those days only the m ost prim itive conviction, until the late W. H. Noble The hills north of Coos Bay may be m ethods were used. The trees were broke the ice a t his cam p on Isthm us pointed out to the visitor, as an object chopped down with axes, sawed into slough, since which tim e the hull team lesson, being easily seen from M arsh lengths th a t could be handled, and has gradually faded into the back field or N orth Bend. All old se ttle rs brought to the landing where they could ground, until now the ste e r is known can rem em ber when these hills, which be rolled into tide w ater, by "m ain only as a beef c ritte r in Coos county. had been devastated by a g re a t fire be stre n g th and aw kw ardness.” Ox- Now the electric m otor is apparently fore the advent of the white man, were team s furnished the power, three to skirm ishing for a possible opening for | dry, barren and desolate in appearance. five yoke being used. Even the steel the supplsnting of the donkey. Th* old stubs stood here and there, and " d o g ” had not made its advent and the Another g re at change from the early ; the bodies of those which hnd fallen log was moved by a chain passed logging m ethods is seen in the com- were not concealed by any brush, no around the end oi the log. There was pleteness with which the tim ber is green grow th being visible. A look a t these hills today shows them covered no thought of a “ skid ro ad .” The first cleaned from the area gone over. In j with a healthy forest which will some skids used in the roads were long poles the old days only the best trees were [day furnish a field for new logging placed lengthwise, which prevented the cut, and only those of considerable site. ' operations. R E. J O H N S O N LUMBER INDUSTRY A HELPER IN COQUILLE’S SOLID PROSPERITY I & :0 G U 0 : % j I EVERYBODY EATS OUR “BUTTER NUT” BREAD THE BREAD OF QUALITY COOK B R O T H E R S COQUILLE, OREGON [0 G 3 0 : 4ß