On Sawmills and Smokestacks and Benevolence in Oregon

Nahalem Oregon, a breath of fresh air



10 image panorama of the old mill smoke stack in Garibaldi Oregon



On a recent trip to visit the cheese factory  and the graves of some of my ancestors, we saw the Garibaldi smoke stack.   The mill shut down years ago and now Garibaldi uses the smokestack and as a tourist attraction.  The old train tracks that served the mill are being used to run an electric / diesel  trolley for tourists to ride on.  The contamination has been removed and a tent friendly RV park is nestled at the base of the smoke stack.

 I am glad that the smokestack was put out of operation and that nature is beginning to reclaim it.

"In 1918 Cummings-Moberly (from Texas of all places) built a sawmill in Garibaldi [Oregon] on what is now the Old Mill property. Thanks to the construction of the P. R. N Railroad, Cummings-Moberly had a distinct advantage over the Smith Mill which relied on coastal schooners to transport its lumber. Shipping by rail meant the new mill was not subject to the tides and weather as were ships. Notwithstanding, Cummings-Moberly went broke in 1920 and was taken over by the Whitney Company which operated until 1924 when it was sold to A.B. Hammond."

"Under Hammond the mill became one of the largest on the West Coast. He was a benevolent employer who, in slow market times, built houses for the workers to keep them busy. By the late 1920’s Garibaldi was known as a “company town” providing homes for mill personnel, a boarding house at the Whitney Inn, and some of the best baseball teams on the west coast."

"Hammond built a smoke stack to keep from suffocating the town’s populace. Standing beside the stack was a large electric generating plant fired by wood waste. In 1930 the wooden “G” was erected on the steep slope behind the City proudly proclaiming, “We are Garibaldians”. The big “G” and the smokestack remain to this day as does the water tower which was necessary to provide sufficient water pressure to fight fires. The Hammond Mill also provided the City’s first fire truck (a 1924 Model T hose-bed truck which the City still owns) along with the men to fight the fires."

"When the Great Depression caused the closure of the Hammond Mill in 1935 Mr. Hammond owned a fleet of ships, a railroad, and dozens of logging camps. Ultimately, as a result of the flagging economy, each of the divisions was forced to close. When A.B. Hammond died in 1935 his assets had to be sold to pay the inheritance"

You can read much more about this site, the clean up efforts and the campground at: http://www.oldmill.us/html/history.html