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Published: November 23rd 2017
I think Uncle Larry has crawled out of his rut – FOR A WHILE! I spent
two weeks at Driftwood RV Park in Long Beach WA, instead of my customary one week, and then made a stop (
with the Bighorn in tow) on my journey between RV parks. Rarely do I find an attraction that 1) is so exceptional that I will suffer the inconvenience of dragging the RV to the attraction, AND 2) is impractical to visit from one of my RV park stopovers adjacent to the attraction because of either time or distance. Since I would be passing through Astoria OR anyway and since I had a relatively short drive on the agenda, I checked out Columbia River Maritime Museum on Google Earth and saw there is a H-U-G-E parking lot that would readily accommodate my 52’ combo.
Astoria appears to be an interesting community and will probably warrant a visit in the future, perhaps a dedicated week or perhaps a day trip from Portland OR; however, time did not allow a longer visit in 2017. My followers know that visiting lighthouses is a constant activity for me in my travels, and the maritime museum possesses one artifact
As the Fog Lifts, A Distinct Layer Forms
Along the Oregon Coast Between Florence OR and Newport ORthat really aroused my interest – the Lightship
Columbia.
Columbia is one of only seven lightships in the U.S. open to the public, and amazingly, none of those seven cities has been on my itinerary in the past 7 ½ years. CITIES – I’m sure that’s the major reason I haven’t seen the other lightships, but that probably will change in summer 2018 as I have preliminary plans to visit the homes of four different lightships – New York NY, Philadelphia PA and Baltimore MD as well as Portsmouth VA. The first three I call, cumulatively, “The Megalopolis” and have little desire to see the cities per se but am willing to pay the price to see the treasures therein!
First, the reason for my stop –
Columbia River Maritime Museum. Outside, one is greeted by the pilot boat
Peacock. Many professional mariners believe the Columbia River has the most dangerous bar crossing in the world. Bars are formed by sand carried in river water from places hither and yon and then deposited where the moving water loses its momentum and, thus, its ability to carry particulate matter. Currents build bars from 5 to 10 feet high every year at the mouth
of the Columbia River and create a constantly changing sea bottom. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers removes 5 to 6 million cubic yards of sand every year – enough to fill 500,000 dump trucks. Waves as high as 40 feet and fog, for up to 200 days per year, create additional hazards for maritime commerce on the Columbia River.
All vessels engaged in foreign trade are required to employ a Columbia River Bar Pilot, licensed by the State of Oregon, when crossing the Columbia River Bar – indeed, the seventeen-mile danger zone between Tongue Point and the sea buoy. The licensing standard for Columbia River Bar Pilots is one of the highest in the nation. Each pilot must hold an unlimited master’s license and have served a minimum of two years as master of oceangoing vessels. Once aboard, the pilot assumes navigational control of the vessel using his or her experience and local knowledge to safely navigate the restricted channels of the Columbia River to and from the Pacific Ocean. These experienced pilots guide approximately 3,600 vessels across the bar each year – from 100-foot tugs to 1,100-foot tankers, bulk carriers, car carriers, log ships, general cargo ships,
container ships and passenger ships. The Peacock was built in 1964 and was designed after German North Sea rescue boats. During her 33 years of service, Peacock ferried Columbia River Bar Pilots to and from over 120,000 commercial ships.
Inside the museum, the visitor is greeted by an interactive map of the mouth of the Columbia River. Wreckage sites on the map are numbered and contain a light source. A key has the wreckage site number and the name of the lost vessel (some also have a brief description) along with a button the visitor can push to illuminate the corresponding wreck site on the map. Next is an extensive display about salmon fishing and canning. Lifesaving efforts on the Columbia River Bar is followed by the “Columbia River Story” – a summary of the natural history of the region from its inhabitation by Native Americans forward. Very nice displays about whaling and early deep-sea diving are presented, and numerous models of sailing vessels from different eras are on display. In the weather exhibit, there is a working green screen where visitors can try their hand at being a television weather personality. Although some are American Meteorological Society (AMS)
certified, I refuse to call many of these folk meteorologists. In the “Tugboat or Towboat” exhibit, we learn that towboats push barges up or down a river while tugboats guide large ships in and out of harbor and help them dock.
At some point in my exploration of the museum, I headed to the theater for a 40-minute, 3D movie;
Hurricane, A Wind Odyssey; a film documentary about the birth, development and death of one of the most devastating natural events on our planet. FINALLY, it was time to go visit the
Lightship Columbia (WLV-604) – the primary reason for my mid-relocation stop. Since 1792, approximately 2000 vessels, including over 200 large ships, have sunk, and more than 700 people have lost their lives at the Columbia River Bar. From 1892 until 1979, four Columbia River lightships have guided vessels through the Graveyard of the Pacific and across the Columbia River Bar. Launched in 1950, along with her sister-ship,
Relief (WLV-605), and commissioned in 1951,
Columbia was built by Rice Brothers Shipyard in Boothbay ME. She was the fourth and final lightship stationed at the mouth of the Columbia River and was the final lightship to be decommissioned on the Pacific Coast. She replaced
LV-93 which had been in service at the mouth of the Columbia River since 1939.
Because of her importance, the Coast Guard had a permanent 18-man crew assigned to her, consisting of 17 enlisted men and one warrant officer who served as the ship's captain. The crew worked two to four-week rotations with no less than 10 men aboard the lightship at all times. Since weeks of rough weather in the winter prevented any supplies from being delivered, everything the crew needed to survive had to be on board. Life on board the lightship was marked by long stretches of monotony and boredom broken by challenging gale force storms. Lightship
Columbia was added to the National Register of Historic Places In 1978, removed from the Register in 1983 due to her relocation from the original historic site and then returned to the Register in 1989.
I was welcomed aboard by a very knowledgeable volunteer who outlined the short list of common sensical rules, provided a brief overview of the ship and offered to answer questions. Lines and arrows painted on the deck (yes, this is a ship) make sure that nobody gets lost on the 128’ vessel. Numerous
placards dot the landscape and relate interesting facts about the vessel, her crew and life aboard the lightship. Former crew members contributed to the stories related on the placards – seasickness among even the most seasoned veterans, sleepless nights when the fog horn blared incessantly and the arrival of the first television aboard the vessel. Most of the ship’s operational areas are cordoned off with plexiglass barriers that prevent entry but allow visual examination. Much of the ship; the radio room, the berthing areas and the galley; varies little from other ships I have visited, but the mission is far different than any of the others. That’s what makes Lightship
Columbia special. The Columbia River Maritime Museum, as a whole, belongs on my recommended list; however, I cannot say that Lightship
Columbia, alone, warrants a visit by the average tourist. As long as you’ve stopped at the maritime museum anyway, you might as well take a walk through the ship.
I boycotted the shortest and fastest routes offered by (Informational) Irene, my GPS, for my drive from the maritime museum to Phoenix RV Park in Salem OR in favor of the
Pacific Coast Scenic Byway, U.S. 101, and made stops at a
handful of scenic vistas – those where I could slow on the roadway and visualize the parking layout before I committed myself. Getting boxed in is not my cup of tea, and backing onto a busy highway is an adventure I am unwilling to take if avoidable! In Pacific City OR, I turned onto OR 22 and proceeded to Phoenix RV Park without incident, but that was about to change. Somebody, probably my error, had put my reservation on the calendar for the week following my planned stay. There was an opening for that night, but the park was completely booked for the duration of my intended stay, Labor Day weekend included. I took the space and, once set up, began searching for an alternative. All the RV parks in the Salem area were completely booked except for a spot for Thursday night at Silver Spur RV Park in nearby Silverton OR. Needless to say, Thursday was spent relocating about 8-10 miles and finding another RV park for the remainder of the week. I found a spot at Eugene Mobile Village and RV Park in Eugene OR and moved there on Friday. Fortunately, both of my “one-night-stands” were very nice
RV parks with long pull-through sites so I didn’t have to disconnect the Bighorn from the Ram, but 60-70 percent of the arrival/departure procedure had to be completed anyway.
With one day of my typical week a travel day, I had developed a six-day agenda for Salem (which is about an hour north of Eugene), so a few deletions and some slight revisions got me back on track. A pre-Labor Day Thursday, southward coastal drive became a during Labor Day weekend, Saturday northward coastal drive. As I drove from Eugene to the Pacific Coast on OR 126 on September 2, 2017, smoke from nearby wildfires filled the air, tainted my views, offended my nostrils and burned my eyes. This has been a constant irritant in inland locales throughout the summer’s journey. Even though the current weather conditions reported sunny, the skies looked overcast and made for a less picturesque drive, but conditions improved as I neared the ocean. Even a gentle sea breeze provides incredible relief.
My first stop was at
Sea Lion Caves in Florence OR. Sea Lion Caves is America's largest sea cave, is the year-round home of the Steller sea lion and, since 1932, has been a
privately-owned wildlife preserve and bird sanctuary. Since these protected animals come and go as they please, sea lions are not always in the cave. Winter months will usually find hundreds of sea lions in the cave, but when spring ushers in breeding and birthing time, the sea lions will move from the cave to the rookery – the rock ledges outside the cave – and will remain there through the summer months. Visiting the attraction is not a stroll in the park. The visitor must descend (and then, obviously, later ascend) 37 steps inside the multi-purpose building to reach the outside trails. When outside, there are two trails – each of which is about 800 feet round trip with a grade that ranges from 10% to 20%. The southern trail leads to a vantage point above the rookery while the northern trail leads to an elevator that descends to the cave. Inside the cave, there are 63 steps to reach the Heceta Head Lighthouse viewpoint.
Just outside the building, the visitor first encounters a bronze life-size sculpture of three Steller sea lions – a bull, a cow and a pup. You’re on your own to decipher that complicated terminology.
The sculpture, commissioned to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Sea Lion Caves, was dedicated in 1982. From the rookery observation platform to the rookery is about 240 feet (thank you Google Earth), so bring your binoculars! After ascending the footpath to the sculpture area, I then descended the northern footpath to the elevator. Before the elevator was completed in 1961, visitors had to climb down a 1500-foot trail (about ¼ mile) and then negotiate a 135-step staircase. Outside the entrance to the elevator, the visitor is warned that entrapment is a possibility in this earthquake-prone zip code. After a ride on the elevator, it was back up the footpath to the sculptures and into the souvenir shop. Hmmm. How novel! Sea Lion Caves is so unique that I have to give it a recommended rating for all able-bodied tourists. If “Ole Leather Lungs” can make it, you probably can as well. For those already driving U.S. 101, the attraction is certainly worth a stop and an hour or two of your time. For zoologists and those interested in the unique, it’s definitely worth a detour from I-5.
Continuing north on the Pacific Coast Scenic Byway for a very short
distance, I made a stop at
Heceta Head Lighthouse, also in Florence. Named after the Spanish explorer Bruno de Heceta, who explored the Pacific Northwest during the late 19th century, the 1894 lighthouse is located on a 100-foot bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean in an Oregon State Park,
Heceta Head Lighthouse State Scenic Viewpoint. The 56-foot-tall lighthouse emits a beam visible for 21 miles. Completed in August 1893, the entire $80,000 project consisted of the lighthouse, quarters for the head lightkeeper and his two assistants as well as their families, several farm buildings (including a barn) and two kerosene oil storage buildings. After electrification, the head lighthouse keeper’s house was no longer needed, was sold for $10 for its lumber value and, in 1940, dismantled. The remaining keepers' house was a duplex that housed the first and second assistant lighthouse keepers and their families but today is a bed and breakfast that serves a seven-course breakfast. Pancakes, butter, syrup – there’s three courses! The tower, placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978, was closed to the public in August 2011 for restoration and repairs and was reopened on June 8, 2013.
Lighthouse programs, including tours of the tower, are offered by volunteers on
a first come, first serve basis 7 days a week from 11 AM to 3 PM, weather and staff permitting (in winter, 11 AM to 2 PM). Chits are distributed by the “next-in-line” volunteer until his/her supply of chits is exhausted and, ya-da, ya-da, ya-da. Heceta Head Lighthouse is one of the most-visited lighthouses in the United States with thousands of visitors arriving annually. Because only the grounds and the tower are accessible, I cannot give the LIGHTHOUSE a highly recommended rating, but I can give the VIEWS that rating. And as long as you’re here for the views, … – well, you know the spiel!
I stopped at several beach access points and scenic vistas on my northward journey on Pacific Coast Scenic Byway until I reached
Yaquina Bay Lighthouse in Newport OR. The Yaquina Bay Light was first lit on November 3, 1871 but was operational for only three years because of the activation Yaquina Head Light in 1873, located a mere 3 miles north of Yaquina Bay. Hmmm, I wonder if the lighthouse service was a governmental agency! Amazingly, the fifth-order Fresnel lens was recycled and moved to Yerba Buena Lighthouse in California for its opening in 1875.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers used the lighthouse properties from 1888 to 1896 as staff living quarters while it built the North and South Jetties at the mouth of Yaquina Bay, and the U.S. Coast Guard later used the lighthouse as a lookout and living quarters from 1906 to 1915. During this period, the Coast Guard built the eight-story steel observation tower that still stands next to the original lighthouse.
In 1934, the Oregon State Highway Division bought the property around the lighthouse for a state park. In 1946, when the lighthouse was scheduled for demolition, the Lincoln County Historical Society was formed to save the lighthouse and unsuccessfully raised money for three years. Again slated for demolition in 1951, a movement led to recognition of the lighthouse as an historical site, and it served as the county historical museum for 18 years. In 1970, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and ownership was transferred to the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department. The light was re-lit on December 7, 1996 and today is a privately maintained navigational aid belonging to the U.S. Coast Guard with a fixed white light visible for six miles.
What makes the lighthouse unique that it is the only existing lighthouse in Oregon with the living quarters located in the same building as the light. Only a few of this style were ever built on the entire Pacific Coast. The bluff atop which the lighthouse sits allows for a lower lantern room to accomplish the same focal plane as taller towers situated at lower elevations. The state park has done a nice job of developing informational placards and amassing old photographs to convey the story of the lighthouse, including its years of abandonment, and of acquiring period furnishings to give the visitor a sense of the daily lives of the lighthouse keeper and his family – even though that occupancy, and thus the story, lasted for only for three years.
My next stop was at
Yaquina Head Lighthouse, yes, also in Newport. At only three miles away from Yaquina Bay Lighthouse, what would one expect? Located on Yaquina Head, a feature that juts nearly one mile into the Pacific Ocean north of Newport, Yaquina Head Light stands 93 feet tall, has 114 steps and is the tallest lighthouse in Oregon. Known in its early days as the Cape Foulweather Lighthouse,
the wicks were first lit on the evening of August 20, 1873 and displayed a fixed white light from sunset to sunrise. Today, the fully automated first order Fresnel lens displays its unique signature of 2 seconds on, 2 seconds off, 2 seconds on, 14 seconds off, 24 hours a day. Initially, an adjoining oil house and a two-story keepers' dwelling was constructed at the same time as the lighthouse tower. Both the Head Keeper and the First Assistant stayed in the two-story, two-family keepers' dwelling with their families. In 1923, a one-story keepers' house was added. Built in approximately one year with over 370,000 bricks, this lighthouse has stood the test of time; however, following lighthouse automation in 1966 and several years of neglect, both dwellings and all outbuildings were demolished in 1984.
In 1939 the U.S. Coast Guard took over the management of Yaquina Head, and, during World War II, seventeen servicemen were stationed at Yaquina Head to keep a lookout for enemy ships. Through it all, its original 1868 French-made 1st order fixed Fresnel lens (visible 19 miles out to sea) guided mariners around Yaquina Head. In 1993, the lighthouse was listed in the National Register
of Historic Places. in 1980, the 100-acre Yaquina Head Outstanding Natural Area (open 8 AM until sunset daily) was established by Congress. The Bureau of Land Management manages the natural area, including the lighthouse, and the Yaquina Head Interpretive Center which opened in 1997. The interpretive center has exhibits about the history and preservation of the lighthouse and the marine life found in tide pools along the coast. First-come, first-serve lighthouse tour tickets are available at the Interpretive Center desk, but sources vary on days of closure (probably a seasonal thingy) so check the web site or call before making the drive. Oh yes, the lighthouse is a star: it was used in the film
Hysterical (1983), the television series
Nancy Drew Mysteries in the 1977 episode "The Mystery of Pirate's Cove" and in the 2002 film
The Ring where it was the "Moesko Island Lighthouse." My late day arrival and a last minute “no-show” got me the final spot on the final tour of the day; but, by the time the tour was completed, the interpretive center had been secured. Don’t put so much on a single plate, Uncle Larry!
My next stop was in Newport for a
bite to eat. I found a curbside parking spot several blocks from the downtown business area, walked along the waterfront reading the placards along the way and stopped to observe the fleet as it entered and departed the port. After walking past numerous eateries as I strolled through town, I decided to turn around and make a stop at Sail Inn Café on my way back to the truck. Since the weather was fair, I took a street-side table on the deck and found the menu fair, the prices fair, the service fair, the fare fair, the experience fair and the web site – well, nonexistent. Newport looks quite intriguing, and I hope to spend a week sometime in the future. Irene advised me of a road closure and a major detour caused by a traffic accident. Since alternatives are virtually non-existent through the mountains, I followed my outbound route back home. In daylight, that might have been annoying; however, it was dark and sightseeing was not a concern.
As I began a serpentine journey to visit several covered bridges on Monday, September 4, 2017, smoke from the nearby wildfires continued to fill the air. For me, the effect
of the fires was an inconvenience, particularly for photography, but not an obstacle. I have developed narratives for each of the first seven automotive covered bridges but, in proof-reading, deemed it boring and repetitive for the bulk of my readership. I did not delete those details but, instead, have moved them the end of this narrative for those who are interested. Because of its uniqueness, one covered bridge has remained in the blog body –
Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge (1936) in Cottage Grove OR.
Various sources agree that the Howe four-leaf truss Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge over the Coast Fork of the Willamette River is the only remaining fully covered railroad bridge in Oregon and perhaps is the only railroad covered bridge west of the Mississippi River. It is believed there are only eight covered railroad bridges remaining in the U.S., and, of those remaining, the Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge is the tallest. Built in 1925 to allow the transportation of logs from the Lorane Valley to the J. H. Chambers Mill in Cottage Grove, it was constructed to withstand the massive weight of the lumber trains and was also built tall to accommodate their stacked loads. The mill burned down in
1943, and use of the rail line subsequently ceased. In 1951, the tracks were removed and sold for scrap, and the bridge was abandoned. After the western approach was removed to accommodate the widening of South River Road, the bridge began to rot and fell prey to vandals.
In 2006, the City of Cottage Grove secured ownership of the 78-foot historic structure, and in 2008, residents raised funds while a matching grant from the National Historic Covered Bridge Preservation Program funded a complete overhaul of the bridge. Before work began, however, it was noted the bridge had moved significantly after a storm. It was listing precariously and appeared likely to collapse. After an emergency was declared, the city sped up rehabilitation plans. The bridge was carefully dismantled in 2010 and reconstructed in 2011 using original materials where feasible. The reconstruction was completed as historically accurate as possible. Land on both ends of the bridge was secured for a park, and the bridge repurposed as a pedestrian and bicycle footbridge. Interpretive panels were installed along with iron artwork depicting the steam engines that once passed over or through the bridge, depending on your perspective. Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge was added
to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. Because of its uniqueness, because of the exceptional quality of the accompanying placards and because of the park setting, I must say that Chambers Railroad Covered Bridge is worth a stop for everyone. On my way back to the RV park, I happened upon a mural that nicely relates the story of Cottage Grove.
On Tuesday, September 5, 2017, I made my last stop in the Salem/Eugene area at the
Hull-Oakes Lumber Company in Monroe OR. First, I need to make a few admissions. I’ve been told confession is good for the soul! I am a sucker for the old, and steam-powered is old – steam farm equipment, steam ships, steam locomotives and now, steam lumber mills. Second, ever since I saw my fist pile of lumber stacked outside a lumber mill, I have wanted to get inside for a tour. Third, when I read on the company web site that Hull-Oakes was one of the last commercial steam-powered sawmills in the United States, I knew I had to get in the door if at all possible. Fourth, when I read further that tours of the mill operation were available, I could
only say, “Count me in!” The family-owned operation was founded in 1937 by Ralph Hull and specializes in cutting B-I-G timbers – up to 85 feet long. The company web site says, “There are parts of the mill that still run on steam …;” however, I was told when I called for a tour reservation that the steam-powered portion of the operation had been converted to electricity in July 2013. My enthusiasm was not diminished. I’ll eat my taters without the gravy and still enjoy them!
Timberman Ralph Hull was born on April 13, 1912, in an area known as Hell's Canyon northwest of Monroe (definitely not the same Hell’s Canyon where I celebrated Independence Day last). His family raised cattle, goats and sheep, and Hull grew up logging on the family's stump ranch. The term “stump ranch” has its origins in British Columbia and denotes an undeveloped ranch in the bush where animals graze among the stumps of felled trees. A new term for Uncle Larry, but it makes sense to me! As he observed some of his relatives working in the sawmill business, he decided that sawmilling was the career for him.
In 1934, in the
depths of The Great Depression, Hull started sawmilling by leasing a mill from a friend who had closed the operation due to tough economic times. In 1936, Hull’s uncle, Wes Miller, watched his Dawson sawmill burned to the ground. The only buildings undamaged in the fire were the boiler and planer rooms. Miller decided not to rebuild the sawmill and sold the site to Hull. Hull and one of his employees drew up plans to build a new sawmill amid the ruins. The mill design features heavy timbers capable of withstanding the stress of processing logs in excess of five tons. In the winter of 1938-39 the sawmill was built, and the Ralph Hull Lumber Company was born. Simultaneously, Hull began purchasing timberland to ensure a log supply for his operation. Today, and within a 50-mile radius, Hull-Oakes has a 10,000-acre tree farm broken up into parcels that provide a supply of logs for its sawmill.
The Hull-Oakes sawmill complex occupies approximately twenty-eight acres on the east slope of the Coast Range near Monroe – a former Southern Pacific railhead known as Dawson Station and a site that has been occupied by sawmills since 1919. For the first few
decades, four steam engines (one engine dates to 1906) powered the mill. One steam engine powered the mill’s primary lumber-cutting saw while a second engine powered the mill's log carriage, the device that moves the logs through the primary saw. When electricity arrived in the 1950s, Hull gradually switched some systems to electrical power. Then, in 1955, Hull teamed up with his brother-in-law, Chester Oakes, a long-time logger in the area, to form the Hull-Oakes Lumber Company.
Mill output traditionally consists of dimension lumber and specialty products that involve the cutting of logs up to nine feet in diameter and eighty-five feet long IN A SINGLE PASS to produce large Douglas-fir timbers. Custom-milled products have included support planks for restoration of the frigate U.S.S. Constitution, bridge stringers in Newfoundland, timbers for mine construction in Peru, stringers for ferry slips in New Jersey, lumber to rebuild the 1895 lumber schooner C.A. Thayer, which is on display at San Francisco’s Maritime Museum, and the world’s longest love seat in Tennessee. The sawmill is registered with the Historic American Engineering Record and with the U.S. Park Service, and Hull’s biography, photographs, and design drawings of the sawmill are recorded in the Library
of Congress. In 2009, over 1,500 people from 42 states and 15 countries toured the mill.
Thanks to my very early departure from the RV park and no thanks to a lengthy detour caused by bridge reconstruction, I arrived at the mill office about 10 minutes before tour time. Our tour guide started by giving the group of six or seven some history of the company and some data about production and, then, conveyed the corporate mindset of the Hull family. Some of the highlights include: 1) even through tough economic times, there has never been a layoff at Hull-Oakes; 2) all maintenance and capital improvement projects are completed by company employees wherever possible AND ON OVERTIME; 3) benefits are lucrative. A position at Hull-Oakes is a prized possession. Most employees are skilled at 3-4 different positions so vacations or illnesses never interfere with production.
Throughout the tour, we learned interesting facts about the company’s operations and corporate philosophy. We learned that, although a difficult decision, the expense of using old machinery (with no replacement parts available) led to the decision to abandon the use of steam power in its daily operations. Sad, but understandable. It was nice
to hear the phrase “difficult decision.” We also learned that everything at Hull-Oakes is recycled – it has bought everything from the previous owner or at auction, and Hull-Oakes has never had an outstanding debt. Lumber orders are made and the invoice is paid BEFORE any timber is cut or any production begins. There is no outstanding debt or bad debt write-off at Hull-Oakes. When the order is filled, a phone call to the buyer sets in motion the buyer’s search for a transporter for the order. Other than loading the truck, Hall-Oakes has no involvement in the transportation of the finished product.
We began our tour at the mill pond where a wrangler isolated logs meeting the current order’s criteria with a small boat that resembled a 1/25th scale tugboat. Large arms rotated into the pond, secured a log and moved it onto a conveyor which delivered the log to the 60” ring debarker. Our next stop was the sharpening room where the bandsaw blades are sharpened and where already sharpened blades are stored. Then we moved to the cutting area where each of us had the opportunity to stand in the operator’s cabin for 4-5 minutes and
watch as he flipped logs around like toothpicks and then sliced off slabs of lumber per the order’s specifications. Moving through the facility, we watched the output of lumber from the bandsaw and then the sorting, stacking, bundling and wrapping processes. Out in the yard, our tour guide explained lumber grading and some of the company operational components I outlined earlier.
We learned that most milling operations have not been computerized. Somehow that doesn’t surprise me, as Hull-Oakes is a labor intensive, hands on, custom products facility. Its atypical corporate plan; no debt, no credit, no nonsense; has allowed it to survive hardships along the way. Its dedication to its employees has harvested a loyalty not easily found in today’s corporate world. Today, Hull-Oakes Lumber Company continues to operate under the management of Hull’s grandson, employs about sixty-five people and produces slightly more than twenty million board feet of lumber per year—about half that in timbers. The mill still has all of its steam machinery in place and operates with steam power a few times a year to make sure the equipment is in good condition. When the sawmill was placed in the National Register of Historic Places in
1996, the designation acknowledged, “the mill’s regional importance as a rare example of a working mill that uses lumber manufacturing equipment and methods characteristic of the Steam Age.” The mill is described elsewhere as, “… a rough-hewn place where function trumps form.” That’s my kind of operation. Leave the form to the beautiful people, and, “Let’s git ‘er done!”
First, there is a saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” I’d like to paraphrase that expression, “A video is worth a thousand pictures.” Most of the operations at Hull-Oakes are not adequately portrayed in a still photograph, so I have found some videos on You Tube. If you Google, “YouTube Hull-Oakes,” over a dozen videos appear at the top of the list of search results. I have viewed the first dozen or two and found
">Hull-Oakes Tour 2005 - YouTube (8:07) to be the best concise overview of the tour; and saw that
