10/09/2020
While it's been decades since we had our own railroad, we cherish that part of our history. This 1930s photo helps tell the story of how Polson Logging Co. transported logs near Hoquiam, Washington:
Trees were cut and moved to a loading area alongside a railroad spur, loaded up on log cars, and pulled down the spur to the main line. When the log cars reached the main line, they joined a larger train with all the log cars from other areas and were hauled to the end of the line. For other logging railroads, the end of the line was usually a sawmill or a pulp mill. Polson's lines ended at bridges alongside the water, where the logs were dumped off the cars into the water. The logs were formed into rafts and floated down the river to the mills.
In the photo we see a Baldwin 10-wheeler dumping its load of logs into the Hoquiam River at New London, about 10 miles north of the mill by river. As you can see, the steam train was fueled by burning wood.
Rayonier purchased the Polson company, including its railroad, in the 1940s.
