George and his brother James founded the company in the mid-fifties. George was the mill man, James was in the logging and road building end of things. It was a typical small mill that dotted the west. My dad was an aspiring young powder man, and he and our neighbor Calvin built numerous roads around Rimrock Lake and up Chinook Pass in the late 50's and early 60's. Jim would get the contract to build the roads and then log the timber. Dad ran the Ingersoll air track drill, dragging an Ingersoll compressor. Calvin was the catskinner, with a brand new D9 to cut in the roads. All they had was a line of centerline stakes, and they cut and balanced the roads pretty much just the two of them. They had a pair of pony motor 955's to take the 9 apart for mobilization. Layman did not have a big enough lowboy to move the whole thing so they pulled the blade and arms. Layman had a Cat 12 grader for the fine work, and one of my earliest memories was standing at the front window looking out over the blade as Calvin roaded it down the mountain. I think I was about 3. Calvin would cut road till the rock got in the way, then dad would drill and shoot. He told me many stories about hot shots and dodging airborne rocks, and how callused hands did not know or care about poison ivy but your tender parts did. About push starting the pickup with the 9 and hoping Calvin did not just ball you up in a heap of wreckage. They built roads like Gold Creek Road, Rock Creek, and many FS roads with just numbers. Some of them are thank-you-mam'ed and closed for many years now, overgrown. George passed away in '01 and his daughter closed the doors in 2006. George was a WWII veteran, I don't know about Jim but it would not surprise me. I wonder if that figured into my dad working for them as he was a Pacific Theater Marine himself. Calvin was still alive and in the same house last I saw him. I need to sit with him and gather in what he remembers, none of it seems to be written down anywhere.
Do it, keep the stories coming! I have ridden motorcycle on some of those roads your dad built. I do quite a bit of road building myself and always find myself thinking about what it took to build the challenging sections and how I would do it as I go. It is really fascinating to hear how those old timers got-r-done.
Dad was not a logger but of necessity he brushed up against the business quite a bit. He once watched Jim load a truck that got up to the landing with a broken 977 with a single fork. He'd find that place that was perfect and get it up and over the bunks. I guess he did not want that guy to drive down the mountain empty! I think Calvin went to logging once the road building was over.
hauled off rock creek in 1998- most loads went to tacoma but some into layman. neat little mill
My dad worked up there in that time frame. That’s the area where my avatar photo was taken. That machine was rigged as a front shovel back then. We lived in Cowiche in those days. Stories from then would be exciting to hear.
Cowiche? Bull scratchie Are you familiar with Eagle Rock? It's a pretty big knob close to the store of the same name on 410. During that time frame dad knew of a logger who got in over his head and decided to sell his new D7 to the insurance company. They coined the term "Eagle Rocking" for the act of stepping off your dozer and saying you lost control of it.
Since you are familiar with the area, Jim's house is the round one up on Young's grade road heading up towards Cowiche overlooking the valley below. He built it a long long time ago one of the first round houses anywhere around there.
I believe I remember that house. We lived adjacent to the grange hall. I don't recall the names real well. Is Eagle Rock close to Nile? What I remember of where Dad worked was off of highway 12.
Yes eagle rock is right there at the East end of the Nile valley.