Vernonia Eagle, July 28, 1966
37
«
THIS AERIAL view of the Oregon American Lumber Company m ill
was taken in the early days of its operation. To the left of the pic-
ture is OA Hill.
Last Load Ends Era
c
September 10, 1957, Vernonia
residents watched the last load of
logs come by train from Camp Mc
Gregor to the pond at the Inter
national Paper company mill and
thus end an era Which began 35
years earlier in 1922.
In 1922, the land for the mill
was just being cleared and prepa
rations made for building the
“big mill.” The railroad was be
ing built into Vernonia which was
then a small, isolated community
surrounded by the finest stands of
magnificent fir trees found any
where in the world. Every road
into the community led through
beautiful virgin forests which in
the course of the 35 years have be
come only a memory.
In the fall of 1922, about Novem
ber it is believed, a logging camp
was built far up Rock creek and
named Camp McGregor for W. H.
McGregor, manager of logging and
land for the Oregon-American com
pany whose mill was being built
at Vernonia. The railroad had been
extended on past Keasey to that
point, and logging began.
The first trains of logs were
brought out in 1922 and from then
until 1924 when the mill was com
pleted and ready for logs, they
were taken to Rafton, near Wil-
bridge on the Columbia and sold
on the open market.
Some interesting sidelights con
cerning Camp McGregor are that
it consisted of the bunk houses,
cook house, dining room, commis
sary, office and school house. While
many single men lived in the bunk
houses and some married men
worked in camp and left their fam
ilies elsewhere, many families es
tablished homes at the camp and
the school was a necessity. It is
believed a Mrs. Penni was the
first teacher. The third teacher
was Miss Mary Patrician and it
was at Camp McGregor that she
met her hero and decided to be
come Mrs. R. B. Fletcher.
In 1933, fire destroyed Camp Mc
Gregor. Because the depression
had closed the mill and shut down
logging activities, it was not re
built until 1936 when the bunk hou
ses were built in Vernonia and
hauled to the camp site on discon
nected log trucks.
In 1947 when timber was too far
away from Camp McGregor, it
was moved to the site known as
Camp Olson, named after the log
ging superintendent in charge at
that time.
In 1955, Camp McGregor was re
activated and Camp Olson disman
tled. The buildings were moved by
train back to the old site. At the
peak of the logging operation ap
proximately 300 men were em
ployed.
In the 35-year period, 28,000
acres were logged.
Figures
as to the scale of logs brought out
are not available, but it is reported
that Judd Greenman told some of
the train crew some years ago that
it had passed the billion mark. In
April of 1957 eight million feet of
logs were put into the mill pond.
The man who brought the last
train of logs in perhaps had a
greater than usual feeling of nos
talgia. He was Chet Alexander,
engineer, who came here in 1922
when the track into the camp was
being laid. He has been here con
tinuously except for the few years
when the operation was closed
down.
Other men who were on the last
train were Vincent Monaco, con
ductor; Swen Westerberg of Clats
kanie, brakeman; Verne Cham
bers, Scappoose, brakeman and
Howard Colvin, Vernonia, fireman.
Wednesday morning, September
11, 1957, about 11:30 a.m., the last
log was cut at the International
Paper company, Long-Bell divi
sion, mill here, just a little more
than 33 years after the first log
was cut in July of 1924. In that
time, approximately 2Vh billion feet
of lumber had been cut and ship
ped from here to many and diverse
See page 38.
BIRKENFELD
Shell Service & Lunch
SANDWICHES AND
HOME MADE PIES
, -------------------------------------
WELCOME TO WAUNETA’S
“ DOWNTOWN”
CERAMIC CENTER
& STUDIO
VERNONIA,
LESSO N S
OREGON
FREE
★ Oriental Lanterns
★ Old Fashioned China
★ Doll Heads, Arms and Legs
Several styles and sizes.
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