<kuid2:550048:100511:4> Olympic Lumber Co.

Скачать

The Olympic Lumber Co. was founded in August 1866 near the modest settlement of Bogachiel. Surrounded by broad timber on the Olympic Peninsula, the company built the first mill by the Hoh River. From 1867 to 1869 the company hauled timber by horse, eventually constructing a log rail railroad the next year along with a second mill due to the increased supply of timber. The northern Olympic Peninsula seemed trapped in another time. The people of Bogachiel watched in dismay as the railroads reached other cities and towns in Washington Territory and Oregon. The company received funding from the cities of Forks and Quillayute to lay NG trackage towards their counties with the hope to attract further investors and connect other townsites on the peninsula. The OLCo. had produced 45,000 board feet of lumber in 1874 with most of it being used in the construction of the town’s buildings in Bogachiel, Forks, and Quillayute. By the end of the year, the crews had laid 10 miles of track allowing the company to deliver efficiently. By this time the railroad had attracted the attention of investors from the east and convincing settlers along the Strait of Juan de Fuca who years prior relied on maritime trade to pledge $300,000 to the Northern Pacific to lay track from the terminus of Tacoma to Port Angeles and changing the course of history on the Olympic Peninsula