Archives West Finding Aid

In December 1915 when the Noyes-Holland Logging Company was organized, sailing ships were rapidly passing out of the picture, the Charles R. McCormick Company was operating steam schooners in the California lumber trade, log rafts were being moved by big stern wheelers. And most of the mills on the Columbia and even the Willamette were cargo mills, some even without rail connections. In Portland it was Inman Poulson, Peninsula Lumber Co., St. Johns Lumber Co., Eastern & Western Lumber Co., Portland Lumber Co., North Pacific Lumber Co., Jones Lumber Co. and others. Down river were McCormick Mills at St. Helens, Brix at Knapton, Hammond at Astoria, Crosset Western at Wauna, Westport Lumber at Westport and others.

The organizers of Noyes-Holland Logging Co. were Howard H. Holland, Robert H. Noyes, and their attorney, Robert T. Platt. Capitalized at $100,000. Holland and Noyes each subscribed to 250 shares at $100.00 a share, making $50,000. Subsequently two other individuals subscribed to and paid for 75 shares and 50 shares respectively, making the paid up Capital $62,500.

The Company was organized to purchase from the Portland Lumber Co. the so-called Rinearson Tract, consisting of 2498.98 acres, 1947 acres being timbered. The purchase included the camp and equipment and a bastard gauge railroad connecting the timber lands with the booming grounds at the mouth of Rinearson Slough, a few miles down river from Rainier.

Yeon and Pelton had logged at that point, lowering the logs down to the slough by means of a very large donkey, specially built for the purpose. Their successors, the Portland Lumber Co., abandoned this method and built a railroad down the hill to the slough, a railroad making use of a switchback about half way down.

The purchase price was $450,000-00, $50,000.00 down and the balance in first, second and third mortgages.

W.J. Walsh, in December 1915, had cruised the tract and found 137 million feet. The Portland Lumber Co. cruise was 167 million. As shown on the composite statement of the Rinearson operation, among other papers herewith, the total cut was 157,562,466 feet. No loss by fire, very careful utilization, gradually improving market, probably accounted for the over-run over the Walsh cruise which was undoubtedly an adequate estimate of the volume which could have been taken off under 1915 conditions, allowing a reasonable safety factor for breakage and unseen defect.

In the first two years logging was done by the so-called ground logging method. This entailed a large bull block hung parallel to the landing, the landing being constructed of raised ground with sort of ramps of logs leading up. Every turn of logs coming in from the woods required some one to be at the bull block to release the main line when the log or logs arrived. Then of course the logs could be hauled in onto the landing in proper direction to load. Loading was done with two comparatively short spar trees, one behind the landing, the other across the tracks, rigged usually with a spreader bar from which hung two pairs of tongs.

The ground logging method entailed a lot of hard work for the rigging crew as the logs naturally hung up frequently on stumps,

Small disconnected trucks were used. Logs were bucked as much as possible to about 82 feet. Any longer, in flexible red fir timber such as at Rinearson, risked the bellies dragging on the ties. Any shorter and you increased the bucking and yarding and loading costs.

Railroad construction was handled as follows: Right-of-way timber was felled and bucked, stumps shot. A Donkey pulled the stumps and occasion-ally the same donkey was used to move heavy grading by means of a scraper. Contracts were then let to so-called Swede gangs to level off the road bed by hand at so much a hundred feet - hence called station work. These gangs, under a head man, came to camp and stayed long enough to finish a contract, usually thirty to sixty days. The work was done with short handled shovels and was extremely hard and laborious.

Ties were hewed by broadaxe as were bridge stringers and caps. No pile driver was owned, hence bridges were on mud sills and posts, the so-called bent construction.

The laying and picking up of steel, laying ties and balasting was done by an Italian crew, also under a head man. This crew had their own quarters, their own mess house and baked their bread in ovens hollowed out on some handy bank, with of course a piece of stove pipe down from the top of the bank.

Fuel oil was delivered by barge to a tank at the mouth of the slough and used in all three locomotives, two Shays and a little straight connected Baldwin. All other fuel, for the donkeys, for the camp stoves, etc. was from logs. One of the constant difficulties was to prevent the wood splitters from using the smoothest and best logs for donkey fuel because they split more readily. Also the use of wood for donkey fuel was a constant fire hazard.

The railroad log dump was in the slough a thousand feet or there-abouts from its mouth. Here a steam drag saw, fueled with wood, cut the logs into the best lengths for the market and produced straight piling, small logs and logs suitable for the bigger mills. The sorting and rafting was done just outside the mouth of the slough in the main river where sticks were hung for as many as four sorts, standard sized fir, small fir, piling and hemlock and sometimes a cedar raft from an accumulation of cedar in the slough. Raft-ing operations were some times rather difficult and even hazardous in the spring freshets when ice, breaking up in the upper Columbia, came down on the swift spring floods. And, almost every year, operations would have to cease when the Columbia was at flood stage as the railroad and log dump would be under several feet of water.

The old ground yarding system gave place to the high lead along sometime in 1917. A great alleviator, this was, for the work of the rigging crew.

Along with the composite statement of the Rinearson operation, it is to be noted that of the "Management and other expenses" of $166,878.45 interest charges up to date of full payment of the mortgages on the $400,000 of notes, amounted to $35,546.24

During 1918 the so-called St. Helens railroad and logging equipment, owned by the St. Helens Lumber Co. and leased for $1.00 per to the Milton Creek Logging Co., was purchased for $81,570.49. $139,389.00 was received by Noyes-Holland over the balance of the Milton Creek Logging Co. operation, the same dollar a thousand rate being continued.

In 1920 a contract was entered into with the Blodgett Co. Ltd of Grand Rapids to log a block of timber in Columbia County on the Columbia and Nehalem River R.R. (the so-called Kerry Line).

The complete file of audits by Wm Whitfield & Co. is included herewith.

In contrast to the red and bastard fir stand at Rinearson, the timber was large yellow fir. The early 1920's were years when the old 10 x 11 and 11 x 13 donkeys were being discarded and 12 x 14's (some two speed) were being purchased by big idea loggers. So two of these were bought. Viewed in retro-spect, these super-powered machines to some extent defeated their own purpose, requiring as they did 1 1/2" main lines and chockers (hard for chocker setters to handle), breaking up logs on the way to the spar tree (especially cedar), requiring specially built moving cars to carry the weight, and even stronger trestles.

There were several adverse factors in this operation. Freight rates on the Kerry line were high. The booming facilities provided no means of drag sawing logs in the water. Lengths had to be calculated for best marketing results when timber was bucked in the woods. Conks in big 82 foot logs were not easy to see in the woods and would be culled in the finished rafts. The log market from 1921 through 1927 was erratic, requiring long shut downs.

With the completion of the Blodgett operation, Noyes-Holland ceased to be an operating company and was liquidated in the latter part of 1939, the Certificate of Dissolution being dated June 29, 1940.