COAST RANGE LUMBER COMPANY
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Lane County - Mabel
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March 11, 1911: "Eugene, Or., March 11.---The large sawmill at Mabel, on the Mohawk, 20 miles above Eugene, owned by the Sunset Lumber company, but which has been in financial trouble the past year or two, has been sold to a new concern, the Coast Range Lumber company, recently organized in Portland. All the debts against the Sunset company will at once be paid and the plant placed in operation. The new company has bonded itself. Chicago men taking the bond issue, and will buy large tracts of timber in the vicinity of the mill in addition to that which the old company already owned. The price given in the deed for the plant and holdings is $60,000." (The Oregon daily Journal)
March 18, 1911: "A trust deed from the Coast Range Lumber Company, which recently took over the Sunset Lumber Company's mill at Mabel, on the Mohawk, made out to the Continental Commercial Trust & Savings Bank, a big concern of Chicago, was filed for record in the office of the Lane county clerk today, to secure first mortgage 6 per cent gold bonds, which have been issued by the new company. The deed is a bulky affair and cost $33 to record. It is in pamphlet form, printed, and covers 42 large pages. It is signed by G. K. Wentworth, president, and William T. Brown, assistant secretary for the Coast Range Company. The deed covers all of the timber lands owned by the old Sunset Company, together with the mill and logging plants, recently taken over by Coast Range Company. The Guard is informed that the mill will soon resume operations, having been closed down for more than a year on account of financial difficulties, and that large tracts of timber adjacent to the company's holdings will be bought. The mill will also probably be enlarged and operated upon a much greater scale than before." (Roseburg Review)
April 4, 1911: "A number of deeds transferring timber lands on the Mohawk to the Coast Range Lumber company, successor to the Sunset Lumber company, were filed for record with the county clerk today. The land consists of several hundred acres." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
April 21, 1911: "The Coast Range Lumber company began operations this week at Mabel to make that hamlet an ideal lumbering town; to rebuild its big sawmill to a capacity of 100,000 feet daily. and to build nearly four miles of railroad. Sixty-five men will be employed between now and August first on this work. The lumber company is working with an elaborate hand. Mabel is to be given electric lights and a gravity water system. A reservoir will be built 200 feet above the place and will be fed by pure mountain water. New houses will be built for the workmen. Already a complete department store has been stocked.
Mabel will be connected with the Wendling branch of the Southern Pacific by a one and a fourth mile branch, and a logging road is to be built into the timber owned by the company on Shotgun creek. Both of these branches are now under construction.
This road penetrates 20,000 acres of timber, which is of the best ion the county. About one-fourth of this, which is owned by this lumber company, is expected to keep this sawmill running every day for fifteen years.
The big mill will be equipped with the most modern machinery. H. C. Mahon, manager of the lumber company, was in Eugene today and went to Mabel this afternoon to superintend the beginning of these operations. He will return to Portland probably Sunday." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
Mabel will be connected with the Wendling branch of the Southern Pacific by a one and a fourth mile branch, and a logging road is to be built into the timber owned by the company on Shotgun creek. Both of these branches are now under construction.
This road penetrates 20,000 acres of timber, which is of the best ion the county. About one-fourth of this, which is owned by this lumber company, is expected to keep this sawmill running every day for fifteen years.
The big mill will be equipped with the most modern machinery. H. C. Mahon, manager of the lumber company, was in Eugene today and went to Mabel this afternoon to superintend the beginning of these operations. He will return to Portland probably Sunday." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
April 22, 1911: "Eugene, Or., April 22.---Building of the four mile stretch of railway from the Wendling branch of the Southern Pacific railway to the Coast Range Lumber company's property at Mabel, 20 miles northeast of Eugene, has begun and till late in the fall a large force will be at work for the company making improvements on the property, including the enlarging of the mill to a capacity of 100,000 feet every 24 hours. The company, which was recently bonded for $350,000, has taken over the property of the Sunset Lumber company and has bought large tracts of timber lands not held by the Sunset people. The timber now absolutely owned by the company in the immediate vicinity of the mill is said to be sufficient to keep the plant going to its full capacity every day for 15 years. The company will also furnish the little town of Mabel with a gravity system of water works and electric lights." (The Oregon Daily Journal)
May 4, 1911: "G. F. Morris returned home today from Mabel, where he has been doing carpenter work for the Coast Range Lumber company, successor to the Sunset Lumber company. The old warehouses are being torn out preparatory to building new ones, the lumber docks are being rebuilt and surveyors are at work on the new logging railway to be built by the company." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
May 12, 1911: "H. C. Mahon is in the city from Portland on his way to Mabel to look after operations at the Coast range Lumber company." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
May 17, 1911: "George Morris took the 'bullet' this morning for Mabel to resume his work for the Coast Range Lumber company." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
May 31, 1911: "H. W. Mahon was in the city from the Coast Range Lumber company's sawmill at Mabel over night." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
June 19, 1911: "H. C. Mahon went to Portland today on business connected with the Coast Range Lumber company." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
June 19, 1911: "S. O. LeMasters went to Salem today on business. He has been employed by the Coast Range Lumber company at Mabel." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
June 20, 1911: "Springfield, June 20.---Transforming an unsanitary and filthy lumber camp at Mabel into a small mill city perfectly sanitary, with all the modern conveniences and placing it on the Southern Pacific railroad is the work that is being done by the Coast Range Lumber company, formerly the Sunset Lumber company, at a cost of over $100,000. A gravity water system with a large reservoir fed by mountain springs will supply the place with pure water. A few years ago Mabel suffered from a typhoid scourge from the drinking of impure water. New buildings are being constructed and the place is being electrically wired from a power plant located in the mill. The sawmill has been half dismantled and will be rebuilt into one of the most modern mills in the state. A three-mile railroad is under course of construction to connect the town with the Southern Pacific railroad. Mabel is the center of a fine timber that will require a score of years to log out." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
June 29, 1911: "J. A. Link, superintendent of the Coast Range Lumber company's work, was in the city yesterday." (Morning Register)
July 17, 1911: "W. H. Mahon, who was down from Mabel today, says it was cooler there than it was here yesterday, the thermometer registering 96. The large force of men at work on the improvements to the Coast Range Lumber company's plant, are not inconvenienced by the heat." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
August 18, 1911: "H. C. Mahon, of the Coast Range Lumber company, is in the city on business and will remain some time." (Morning Register)
September 15, 1911: "H. C. Mahon, manager of the Coast Range Lumber company, which some time ago took over the holdings of the Sunset Lumber company, operating at Mabel, is up at the plant today looking over the work that has been done there by a large force of laborers under Mr. Mahon's brother, H. W. Mahon, during the past summer.
Mr. Mahon reports that the grade for the two miles and a half of railroad, extending from the Mohawk branch of the S. P. to the mill, has been completed and the ties have been placed. The steel is now on the siding ready to lay and this work will be done in a very short time. It will not take long to spike the rails down and ballast the track.
The machinery for the enlarged mill, which will have a capacity of 150,000 feet of lumber every ten hours, has all been ordered and will be here within a very few weeks, or as fast as the transcontinental freight trains can carry it. The plant will contain the latest ideas in machinery and will be one of the most complete and modern on the coast.
The company has just finished three big dams in and around Mabel, one across the Mohawk river, 280 feet long and 14 feet high, for the mill pond, another across the Shotgun creek, 400 feet long and 16 feet high, and the third for the water system, erecting a reservoir with a capacity of 500,000 gallons. The water system has been entirely completed and the little village is supplied through good sized iron pipes with a supply of the purest water to be obtained, and there is excellent fire protection for the mill and surrounding buildings, as the pressure is great.
When the mill is in operation this little town promises to be one of the liveliest lumber communities in the state. Several hundred men will be employed at the mill, and in the surrounding mountains." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
Mr. Mahon reports that the grade for the two miles and a half of railroad, extending from the Mohawk branch of the S. P. to the mill, has been completed and the ties have been placed. The steel is now on the siding ready to lay and this work will be done in a very short time. It will not take long to spike the rails down and ballast the track.
The machinery for the enlarged mill, which will have a capacity of 150,000 feet of lumber every ten hours, has all been ordered and will be here within a very few weeks, or as fast as the transcontinental freight trains can carry it. The plant will contain the latest ideas in machinery and will be one of the most complete and modern on the coast.
The company has just finished three big dams in and around Mabel, one across the Mohawk river, 280 feet long and 14 feet high, for the mill pond, another across the Shotgun creek, 400 feet long and 16 feet high, and the third for the water system, erecting a reservoir with a capacity of 500,000 gallons. The water system has been entirely completed and the little village is supplied through good sized iron pipes with a supply of the purest water to be obtained, and there is excellent fire protection for the mill and surrounding buildings, as the pressure is great.
When the mill is in operation this little town promises to be one of the liveliest lumber communities in the state. Several hundred men will be employed at the mill, and in the surrounding mountains." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
October 4, 1911: "J. A. Link, superintendent of the Coast Range Lumber company at Mabel, passed through this morning on his way to Portland on business. Mr. Link states that L. J. Wentworth has succeeded H. C. Mahon as general manager of the company." (The Eugene Daily Guard)
February 28, 1922: "The Coast Range Lumber company's mill is located at Mabel in the Mohawk Valley. Harold J. Wentworth is manager. The capacity of the mill is 100 M. The 1920 cut was 22,000,000 feet and last year's was nearly as much. The plant started operations in 1911 and has run almost continuously ever since. The company owns 175,000,000 feet of timber, of which 98 per cent is bastard red fir. A large percentage of it runs to mature old growth fir which makes excellent lumber. The company operates a mile of its own logging railroad and employs more than 100 men. It has also a 100 M. capacity planing mill and a 30 M. capacity dry kiln." (The Eugene Guard)