WHEELER-OLMSTEAD LUMBER COMPANY
Pelican City
December 2, 1922: "The saw mill and site of the defunct Klamath Pine Manufacturing company has been purchased by J. E. Wheeler of Portland, a member of the firm of Sopher Wheeler company, according to announcements made here. The property adjoins that of the Pelican Bay Lumber company. It is probable that the plant will be enlarged and that a company to be headed by Wheeler will operate a box factory and planing mill in addition to the saw mill. The Sopher Wheeler company is said to be the seventh largest timber owners in Klamath county." (Sacramento Union)
November 16, 1923: "A. L. Mitchell, who was logging at Dairy for Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber Co., Klamath Falls, has closed down on account of the timber being cut out." (The Klamath News)
November 16, 1923: "Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber Co., Klamath Falls, F. Hill Hunter, manager, will cut about 8,000,000 feet this season. J. E. Wheeler is president and Emory Olmstead, of Portland is vice-president. The mill recently sold 1,000,000 feet of box lumber in San Francisco." (The Klamath News)
November 30, 1923: "Oscar Peyton has returned from a business trip to Medford. Peyton has finished his logging contract with the Wheeler & Olmstead company and has closed his camp at Eagle Ridge for the winter." (The Klamath News)
April 20, 1925: "A wreck at Wheeler-Olmstead's mill was narrowly averted last week by the presence of mind of Sawyer Jean Champagne when a key slipped from a pin holding a feed valve on the shotgun, leaving the gun wide open past the saw. Champagne promptly shot the lever in the reverse direction, and succeeded in balancing the rig until the steam could be shut off." (The Evening Herald)
May 2, 1925: "Group insurance for employes has now been taken out by most of the mills in this district, the latest large operators to adopt the plan being the Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber Company. The insurance costs the worker 60 cents per month, the balance of the charges being assumed by the company.
Logging operations of the Wheeler-Olmstead Company will be shifted from the Bog Springs Unit to a national forest tract lying between the reservation and the Dalles-California highway about the first of June.
At present rate of cutting, the Big Springs Unit will be finished at about that date, and the camp, which has been in its present location for the past two seasons, will be moved to the new location, where the Wheeler-Olmstead Company has a tract of 20,000,000 feet. About sixty men are now employed." (The Sacramento Bee)
Logging operations of the Wheeler-Olmstead Company will be shifted from the Bog Springs Unit to a national forest tract lying between the reservation and the Dalles-California highway about the first of June.
At present rate of cutting, the Big Springs Unit will be finished at about that date, and the camp, which has been in its present location for the past two seasons, will be moved to the new location, where the Wheeler-Olmstead Company has a tract of 20,000,000 feet. About sixty men are now employed." (The Sacramento Bee)
May 11, 1925: "The Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber company will construct a dry chain for sorting lumber in its yard. Construction will start this week, and be completed as soon as possible. Later a dry shed two hundred feet long will be built to handle lumber that is thrown out on the dry chain.
The building of the dry chain and shed are a preliminary step toward the erection of a planing mill, according to Manager J.M. Bedford, although no date has been set nor definite plans laid for the construction of the plant." (The Evening Herald)
The building of the dry chain and shed are a preliminary step toward the erection of a planing mill, according to Manager J.M. Bedford, although no date has been set nor definite plans laid for the construction of the plant." (The Evening Herald)
July 15, 1925: "Plans for the construction of two new lumber alleys, with storage for from 1,000,000 to 1,500,000 feet of lumber, were announced Tuesday by J.M. Bedford, manager of the Wheeler-Olmstead mill.
Nearly a mile of additional trackage will be required for the new alleys, in the estimation of superintendent Horbelt of the mill.
The alleys will run parallel to those already established, between the present alleys and the mill, each with a length of approximately 890 feet.
Jean Champagne has been sawing lumber at the rate of about 70,000 feet daily and despite a good volume of shipments the yards have been filling rapidly.
The Wheeler-Olmstead company is fortunate in that between the present yards and the mill there is yet available storage space for millions of feet of lumber without crowding, or without the necessity of expanding their yard beyond the property they now own." (The Evening Herald)
Nearly a mile of additional trackage will be required for the new alleys, in the estimation of superintendent Horbelt of the mill.
The alleys will run parallel to those already established, between the present alleys and the mill, each with a length of approximately 890 feet.
Jean Champagne has been sawing lumber at the rate of about 70,000 feet daily and despite a good volume of shipments the yards have been filling rapidly.
The Wheeler-Olmstead company is fortunate in that between the present yards and the mill there is yet available storage space for millions of feet of lumber without crowding, or without the necessity of expanding their yard beyond the property they now own." (The Evening Herald)
July 29, 1925: " 'Speedball' Stone of the Wheeler-Olmstead forces was forced to undergo an operation the first of the week, for the removal of a piece of steel from one of his fingers of his left hand. The accident occurred when he was helping George Downing, Wheeler-Olmstead blacksmith. The injury is not serious, although doctors had to lay the finger open to the bone in order to remove the fragment. Stoner is back on the job." (The Evening Herald)
August 12, 1925: "Work was begun this week on the preliminary work of installing a sprinkler system in the Wheeler-Olmstead mill. One of the first things to be done is the installation of concrete piers for the support of the large water tanks that are a part of the system." & "With Fred Lambert absent in California, Steve Sabo is this week unloading logs at Wheeler-Olmstead. Sabo's place on the transfer has been taken by George Downing, who normally acts as blacksmith." (The Evening Herald)
August 1925: "Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber Co., Klamath Falls, mill at Shippington, under the management of James M. Bedford, is making a good record in the mill, which has been running eight hours four days in the week and 12 hours two days. In June the mill cut 2,279,000 feet, an average of 72, 368 feet per day. Mr. Bedford says the mill will cut about twenty million feet this year. Some improvements are contemplated, among them the installation of a remanufacturing plant and a sprinkler system. The yard is being enlarged by the installation of several new alleys. J. E. Wheeler, of Portland, president of the company, visited the plant early in August." (The Timberman)
September 9, 1925: "With the driving of piling nearly completed, indications were that the work of constructing concrete forms for the base of the sprinkler system at the Wheeler-Olmstead mill would begin by the end of the week.
Due to the fact that the mill site is on marshy ground, considerable delay has been experienced in installation of system, it being necessary to delay construction until the piling was driven.
When completed, every part of the mill be protected by the sprinkler system. It is similar to that installed here by the Ewauna Lumber company." (The Evening Herald)
Due to the fact that the mill site is on marshy ground, considerable delay has been experienced in installation of system, it being necessary to delay construction until the piling was driven.
When completed, every part of the mill be protected by the sprinkler system. It is similar to that installed here by the Ewauna Lumber company." (The Evening Herald)