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(Photo from Dreams in the Wilderness: Stories from the Middle Fork and provided by the Snoqualmie Valley Historical Society. All rights reserved, contact the SVHS in North Bend, link below, for use) |
The NBTC and the Middle Fork: The history of the lower slopes of the Middle Fork is intimately that of the North Bend Timber Company (NBTC). Robert Vinnedge formed his first lumber company in 1903, the Vinnedge-Murdock Lumber Co. In 1904, Vinnedge joined Willaim Weeks, a local timber claim operator since 1889, in purchasing two sections of timber. A few years later he bought out Weeks and formed the North Bend Lumber Company.
The North Bend Lumber Company built their Mill in Edgewick in 1906, the economic activity of which helped drive the incorporation of the new town, North Bend, in 1909. In the 'teens' the NBLC was highly prosperous, focusing on timber at the base of Mt. Si and up to the mouth of the Middle Fork (Camp 16 to Camp 15). In 1918 a disasterous flood destroyed the Edgewick Mill along with 17 homes in the town. The NBLC suffered economically from this loss for many years. In 1920 the company had their largest work catastrophe with six men losing their lives on the job.
In 1923 Vinnedge bought out the majority of Weeks' shares in the NBLC, reorganized the company, and renamed it the North Bend Timber Company. Soon after, the NBTC started focusing interest on the Middle Fork Valley with primary timber operations there by 1927. In 1928 through 1929 the main railroad line was built past Camp Brown (near the site of the modern NFS campground) to one mile up the Taylor River.
The Great Depression significantly affected the timber business in the Pacific Northwest from 1929 through 1932 with the NBTC all but shut down during those years. In 1932 logging began in the area between Camp Brown and the Hot Springs. In 1934 Vinnedge obtained a loan to help finance the business and then, during that same year, was seriously injured in a car accident and spent 9 months bedridden.
Labor issues and strikes affected much of the timber industry in 1934-35 including the NBTC but by late 1935 they were able to commence the construction up the Pratt with the main bridge over the Middle Fork completed in 1936. In the 1936 the NBTC secured two key loans to finance the logging of the Pratt Valley. Logging in the Pratt Valley followed the construction of the railroad up to Thompson Lake. Logging continued in that valley until 1941.
In 1937 the NBTC abandoned Camp Brown and started to pull the main rail line. The CCC road was built in 1938 and extended to Goldmeyer Hotsprings in 1939. In 1941 the NBTC indicated the intention to stop railroad logging and the rail lines were pulled out in 1942 (it seems highly unlikely according to the most reliable sources that the rails were sold to pre-war Japan as some rumors have indicated). In 1942 the rail line was converted to a truck road.
Vinnedge sold the NBTC to St. Regis Pulp and Paper in 1944. Logging continued in the Middle Fork until 1948, primarily truck logging up the Taylor River. With the lucrative old-growth logging essentially over in the area, it slipped into a much quieter state for the next fifty years. North Bend, in 1948, had fewer residents than it had in 1910.
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