OREGON LUMBER COMPANY
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Hood River County - Dee
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October 9, 1908: “Hood River.---Failure of the governing machinery to work on the big dynamo of the Oregon Lumber company at its power plant at Dee caused the electric generator to run away and wreck the plant. Part of the 10-ton flywheel which exploded was blown across the river several hundred feet. The accident put 150 men out of employment.
Although many men were employed in the vicinity of the accident, no one was injured, the electrician escaping by being absent from the building. The plant cost the company $50,000 and was the first electric power plant to be used in operating a sawmill on the coast. The accident is a doubly expensive one to the company, as in addition to the loss by damage to the power plant it is expected that the big mill, which was cutting from 150,000 to 200,000 feet of lumber a day will have to remain idle a month before repairs can be made.
Electrical experts have been sent for and everything will be done to push the installation of new machinery at once.” (The Glendale News)
Although many men were employed in the vicinity of the accident, no one was injured, the electrician escaping by being absent from the building. The plant cost the company $50,000 and was the first electric power plant to be used in operating a sawmill on the coast. The accident is a doubly expensive one to the company, as in addition to the loss by damage to the power plant it is expected that the big mill, which was cutting from 150,000 to 200,000 feet of lumber a day will have to remain idle a month before repairs can be made.
Electrical experts have been sent for and everything will be done to push the installation of new machinery at once.” (The Glendale News)
July 15, 1913: "The large mill of the Oregon Lumber company, controlled by the Eccles interests, which recently burned at Hood River, will be rebuilt at once at the same location at Dee, near the junction of the east and west forks of Hood River. It is planned to build a mill of the same capacity as the one burned, about 150,000 feet per day, and driven by electricity." (Tillamook Herald)
March 28, 1917: "The Oregon Lumber company is making extensive improvements to its property, preparatory to starting its mill next month. The planer has been moved to the railroad track from the river bank. The planing mill was the only part of the plant escaping destruction by fire in 1913. The plant was rebuilt last year." (The Oregon Sunday Journal)
April 27, 1917: “An impressive patriotic ceremony was held Tuesday at the logging camp of the Oregon Lumber company in the depths of the Cascade forests on the west fork of Hood river, where 200 loggers, nearly all of foreign birth, participated in a flag-raising.” (Silver Lake Leader)
September 6, 1918: “George Leteh, a Greek employe of the Oregon Lumber company at Dee, was the victim of the first fatal logging accident in the valley this year. Struck in the head by a log, he died while being taken to Portland for treatment.” (Silver Lake Leader)
August 29, 1920: "The sawmill of the Oregon Lumber company is working 10 hours a day in order to meet demands for lumber placed by its patrons for delivery before the advance in freight rates become effective on August 26," (The Oregon Daily Journal)
October 19, 1922: “The Oregon Lumber company, the logging camps of which recently were closed down at the headwaters of the west fork of Hood River, because of labor trouble, has resumed work.” (The Drain Enterprise)
October 23, 1924: "Oregon Lumber company starts new dam for log pond and for additional power. Installation will cost $50,000." (The Klamath News)
April 18, 1925: "Hood River----The Oregon Lumber company has opened its logging camps on the headwaters of the west fork of Hood river and a crew of 60 men has been started getting out Douglas fir on a tract within the Mount Hood national forest." (The Advocate)
April 21, 1932: “Dee---Oregon Lumber company's mill resumed operations.” (The Glendale Log)
April 13, 1934: "Declared an aid in easing the unemployment situation here the Oregon Lumber company's plant at Dee has started the season's run. The company, which is doubling the capacity of its mills, started with 150 men on the payroll. This will be extended to a peak of 400." (The Dam Chronicle)