Solomon Simpson's Railroad Monopoly



Old logging rails

 In 1885 and 1887 three railroads were started in the Shelton and Kamilche areas to transport logs from the virgin timber that grew between Puget Sound and the coast of Washington. The first three decades of the 1900’s marked the high point of logging in the Pacific Northwest. The demand for forest products seemed insatiable and the supply seemed endless! The rail lines probed deeper and deeper into the interior of the lower part of the Olympic Peninsula. As areas were logged out new lines were extended into new territory. Sometimes the rails were removed and placed else where when timber ran out and the rails were no longer needed.

The three original railroads were sold or went bankrupt or were merged with others over the decades that followed. The names of them have been forgotten by many, as have some of the rails and bridges. By the 1936 the Simpson Logging Company had complete control of the railroad out of Shelton and converted it from a common carrier to a private railroad. By 1946 the rails had reached Camp Grisdale the end of the line for railroad logging. Now trucks were used to haul logs and reload onto rails to transport to Shelton. Soon the rails would be abandoned completely.

In 1985 The rail lines west and north of Simpson’s Mill 5, just 11 miles out of Shelton, were closed and over the years the rails were removed. Just a few of the bridges remain and one short section of track. The Vance Creek bridge is the tallest logging railroad bridge in the U.S. at 346’ in height, and its permanence expressed Simpson’s faith in the perpetual harvest capacity of their forest. But alas it sits obsolete and starting to rust.



Vance Creek Bridge, Solomon Simpson (Green Diamond) Clear-Cut, and the
flood prone Skokomish Valley





Vance Creek Bridge.  Will Someone have to fall off and die before
Solomon Simpson / Green Diamond secures this bridge?

 


There are more stumps  on Simpson / Green Diamond land than ever before