WHITE PINE MOULDING COMPANY
Klamath Falls
March 23, 1925: "The Reese Blowpipe company is erecting a cyclone and blower at the plant of the White Pine Moulding company. The building is complete, and ready for the installation of the machinery, which should arrive before the middle of April." (The Evening Herald)
May 27, 1925: "George Dixon representative of the P. B. Yates Machine company, left last week after setting up the moulder for the White Pine Moulding company and making adjustments on the big planer Ewauna is using temporarily." (The Evening Herald)
August 1925: "White Pine Moulding Co., owned and managed by Chas. Miller, is a new moulding plant in Klamath Falls, beginning operations in June. The main factory is 30x90 feet. A Yates moulder, Yates band rip and resaw and three trimmers constitute the equipment. A Reese blower with a 35-inch fan is employed. Fairbanks-Morse motors drive the machines. A new moulder has been ordered. Four cars of mouldings have been shipped, one going to Pennsylvania and one to New York." (The Timberman)
September 10, 1932: "The White Pine Moulding company was a sorry heap of smouldering timbers and twisted steel this morning after a spectacular midnight fire Friday had swept the three acre plant from end to end.
The plant, located on the Midland road just off the Dalles-California highway beyond the city limits, was completely razed, its equipment crisped to ashes and its lumber yard destroyed.
Charles Miller, one of the owners active at the sensational conflagration this morning, tentatively placed the destruction at nearly $50,000. All of it, he said, was covered by insurance.
An early spectator saw the first flames shooting out of the plant at about 10:45 Friday night. A brisk wind from the north carried the sparks over the frame structure and by the time the city fire department arrived, the entire three acres were alive with flames.
Dry lumber was easy prey to the fire, and soon flames were shooting fifty feet into the sky. The entire region was cast in a rubicund hue, and residents for miles around called the newspaper office last night and early this morning to report the blaze.
The fire department reached the moulding company shortly after 11:00 o'clock. The fire had made such terrific headway by that time, nothing could be saved.
The heat had automatically turned on the sprinkling system, but the sprays of water were futile.
The sprinklers reduced the pressure on the fire hoses to such an extent firemen found it impossible to do more than keep the fire from spreading through the dry fields.
No casualties were reported, but hundreds of spectators were endangered by failing power lines The gigantic sawdust burner 200 feet away began to burn and for a time it was thought it might explode and injure spectators.
Equipment in the plant was reported as including three stickers, three rip saws and general equipment. Some office equipment and papers were carried out from a small office on the east of the main plant.
One by one the sides fell into a shower of sparks and the warping of the steel could be heard crackling for blocks.
The only cause of the fire was placed possibly to transients who might have gone beneath to spend the night.
The mill was built in 1925, and regularly employed about 25 men. Not more than seven or eight were working there at present, Miller said.
Other chief owners were T. H. Daggett, T. B. Crisler and Charles R. Roberts.
Miller said early this morning he didn't know what plans would be made for rebuilding until all stock holders were consulted." (The Klamath News)
The plant, located on the Midland road just off the Dalles-California highway beyond the city limits, was completely razed, its equipment crisped to ashes and its lumber yard destroyed.
Charles Miller, one of the owners active at the sensational conflagration this morning, tentatively placed the destruction at nearly $50,000. All of it, he said, was covered by insurance.
An early spectator saw the first flames shooting out of the plant at about 10:45 Friday night. A brisk wind from the north carried the sparks over the frame structure and by the time the city fire department arrived, the entire three acres were alive with flames.
Dry lumber was easy prey to the fire, and soon flames were shooting fifty feet into the sky. The entire region was cast in a rubicund hue, and residents for miles around called the newspaper office last night and early this morning to report the blaze.
The fire department reached the moulding company shortly after 11:00 o'clock. The fire had made such terrific headway by that time, nothing could be saved.
The heat had automatically turned on the sprinkling system, but the sprays of water were futile.
The sprinklers reduced the pressure on the fire hoses to such an extent firemen found it impossible to do more than keep the fire from spreading through the dry fields.
No casualties were reported, but hundreds of spectators were endangered by failing power lines The gigantic sawdust burner 200 feet away began to burn and for a time it was thought it might explode and injure spectators.
Equipment in the plant was reported as including three stickers, three rip saws and general equipment. Some office equipment and papers were carried out from a small office on the east of the main plant.
One by one the sides fell into a shower of sparks and the warping of the steel could be heard crackling for blocks.
The only cause of the fire was placed possibly to transients who might have gone beneath to spend the night.
The mill was built in 1925, and regularly employed about 25 men. Not more than seven or eight were working there at present, Miller said.
Other chief owners were T. H. Daggett, T. B. Crisler and Charles R. Roberts.
Miller said early this morning he didn't know what plans would be made for rebuilding until all stock holders were consulted." (The Klamath News)
October 7, 1932: "A mental examination of Frank Milick, 20, admitted pyromaniac, who confessed to state police that he set fires in Brownsville and Klamath Falls and Jackson county, within the past month, was held yesterday afternoon by County Physician C. I. Drummond, and another examination will be made today. It is expected that Milick will be ordered committed to the state hospital. The preliminary tests showed him irresponsible, it was reported.
Klamath Falls fire department officials visited this city yesterday and interviewed Milick, who confessed he set fire to the White Pine Moulding company and Ellingson lumber plants in that city. Positive identification of Milick, as the man seen near the 'pumper' during the blaze was made except as to clothes. Milick admitted he wore a brown suit in Klamath Falls, and that it was now hidden in a barn near Phoenix." (Medford Mail Tribune)
Klamath Falls fire department officials visited this city yesterday and interviewed Milick, who confessed he set fire to the White Pine Moulding company and Ellingson lumber plants in that city. Positive identification of Milick, as the man seen near the 'pumper' during the blaze was made except as to clothes. Milick admitted he wore a brown suit in Klamath Falls, and that it was now hidden in a barn near Phoenix." (Medford Mail Tribune)