TIMBER ROOTS

The land for the first sawmill in Mason County was staked in 1853 by Col. Simmons. His operation was located near the mouth of Hammersley Inlet to allow easy access to shipping. Although the mill produced 12,000 board feet a day, the mill did not survive its first winter. The diked pond was flooded by heavy rains sweeping the mill off its pilings.

Early logging was very labor intensive. Fallers used two-handled cross-cut saws and axes to fall trees. Springboards were inserted to create a platform to avoid the lower part of the trunk that fans out and makes it difficult to drag the felled tree across the forest floor. A wedge cut was axed into the tree to encourage it to fall in a particular direction. The job was finished with the cross-cut saw. Teams of oxen dragged the logs over greased timbers known as a “skid” road.

Mills on the Hood Canal were at Port Gamble and Seabeck. When these mills denuded the area close by of timber, they turned to independent lumbermen up and down the Canal who made massive floats of logs and barged them to these mills.

Simpson Logging Company Simpson Logging Company in Shelton was started by Sol Simpson in the 1890s. The Simpson Logging Company had logging camps throughout Mason County. Simpson connected camps by transporting logs by steam locomotives and new technologies such as the Donkey Engine – a steam driven winch that could pull logs.

Simpson and his partner Anderson – known as the Tall Fir of Mason County – changed the way logging companies looked at land and were early proponents of sustainable tree practices. They began buying up land–looking to forestry’s future.

Today Simpson’s descendants – the Reed Family –own 1.37 million acres of land across the Northwest, making them the fifth-largest private landowners in the U.S. Much of this land is made available for camping, hunting and day uses. 10

TOLLIE THE “SHAY”

Tollie (1924), a Simpson Logging locomotive is displayed on Railroad Avenue in Shelton.

Designed by Ephraim Shay the locomotive negotiated heavy grades and curves. The design included a flat car built on two trucks of four wheels each, an upright boiler with two vertical engines was fastened to the center of the car, and power was extended to the trucks through a flexible shaft. A barrel of water was placed at one end with firewood at the other. Interlocking shafts allowed the tender to twist the most awkward turns. A Shay operated on lighter tracks and outran rod engines on curves. The Loading crew, Simpson Logging Company, probably in Mason County, n.…Industry, 1890-1945 - University of Washington Digital Collections Shay was so simply built that a blacksmith could mend it. Excerpt from David A. James article, Mason County Historical Museum

Mason County Historical Society Museum

5th Street & Railroad Ave, Shelton | (360) 426-1020 Open to the public Tuesday through Saturday. FREE

masoncountyhistoricalsociety.org

Loading crew, Simpson Logging Company, probably in Mason County,