Camp Grisdale

[Spotted Owl]

Anyone remeber this camp?

Ran into a fella yesterday that was born there in 62. Grew up and then worked until it shut down. Third generation to work there and second born there. He had stories about swimming in the creek right next to town, going shopping with dad and mom at the company store on payday. Talked about the last steam donkey that they used and still had in town incase some tower failed, as a back up. Had stories about his dad and granddad shooting elk off the porch cause they were the last house on the road. Killing bears in the camp dump. Living in the bachelor bunks, getting married their and haveing his three boys born their also, the boys were just starting to break into things when they closed down at 16yrs for the youngest. He said it was the last camp/town to close in the lower 48. He said he went back last year to look for the places he stayed and there is only a few foundations left, and that the treasure hunters and scavangers have totally destroyed the place. Said he wouldn't go back again and would like to remeber it the way he still has it in his head.

Man I could have talked to this guy for days, Alot of stories he had matched up with my Father and Bro in laws. Both worked/lived their for a time.

I remember seeing this icon go down, reading in the paper and little snips on the local news stations.


Kinda cool to get the old days relived with first hand knowledge.

Anyone here work that camp or know of those that did?



Owl

 

[slowp]

I've only read about it. There is a guy here who I run into now and then. He worked in one of the local camps. He is in his 70s and still is bothered by a shoulder he hurt at age 17. One way to get back and forth to town was to hop on the log train, he hopped on and fell off, injuring the shoulder. The camp areas are bare now, but there are still reminders, like the Camp 2 rockpit. The old railroad beds were turned into roads.

 

[Humptulips]

I applied for a job there in 73 but never went to work. I took a job at Crane Creek camp instead. After Simpsons shut Grisdale down they left a bunch of timber sales they did not want. I think there was 28 million feet they let go back. I worked for a gypo that logged for Mayr Bros who took the contracts over and we logged some of them on the upper Wynoochee. One was right on the divide with the Skokomish, about 6000 feet. I was hanging on the top of one ridge, I could see Mt Olympus, Mt Baker, Mt Ranier, Mt St Helens, Mt Adams and Mt Hood. What a view!

I know plenty of guys that worked there. My Dad worked there for a while and he also worked at Shaffers (SP?) Olympic Camp which was just up the road. I believe they were the last logging co to use a tyler skyline machine. I think they had two. Stopped using them when railroad logging ended.

I went up and looked at the last setting for slacker 1, the last sled donkey. Ugly ground, they had one guyline out 1800 feet.

They pretty much removed everything when they tore it down. Don't imagine there was much left for sovenier hunters. I find it hard to believe that they ever used steam there though but maybe.

Ask the guy if he knew Mel Brooks. I worked with Mel for years. He told us lots of stories about Grisdale.

 

[Bushler]

Hump, I found two old pics, one each of Crane Creek Camp, and Hoko Camp. Haven't found any good pics of people or the logging though.

Ask your Dad if he remembers the Oregon kid, rigging slinger that got in trouble over a crew bus, would have been early Spring, 1969. I worked out of both camps, but I can't remember which camp I was in when I quit...mad. I think it was Hoko.

There were no steam donkys in use then. Just a bunch of old tripple drums and I think they had one mobile tower. The settings I worked on were high lead without a skyline.

Hoko Camp had steam heat, and board walks from the bunk houses to the cook shack and showers. I remember the old steam whistle that called us to meals.

Crane Creek was way more modern.

Good food in camp. I was tramping, and that was how we 'fattened up', hit a camp for a couple months, make some money. Move on.

The home guards tolerated us, but there was some friction at times.

 

[Humptulips]

My Dad says he doesn't remember but there were so many that came and went, he said it is pretty hard to remember someone unless there were around a while. He ran the rig up crew as well as climbing before towers came in and they would put the new guys on the rig up crew until they needed someone on a side. Because of that he had new guys all the time and he just cannot remember most.

I know they had some sled yarders but at Crane Cr it was all highlead logging. Flat ground at that time. Later on they did have a couple slacklines when they started logging on FS ground higher up. I worked on the last sled yarder in 73. The last spar tree was on Salmon River ridge.

I read on here where some guys talk about steam donkeys and I wonder if they mean sled donkeys. Steam was gone by the 50s for the most part. My Dad worked at Rayoniers Camp 14, the camp before Crane Cr. He worked on their skidder climbing for the tail end crew and did a little tree topping. This was in the days of steam. They were railroad logging. When they switched to truck logging the steam machines were done. This was in the very early 50s and Rayonier was the last to log with steam.

 

[Humptulips]

Incidently, my Dad worked for Rayoneir about 4 different times when camp 14 was open. The first time was before Rayonier when it was owned by Polsons. Camp 14 was the last railroad camp in the US. For many years there was no road to it. It was located several miles west of Lake Quinault. I remember going down there with my Dad. The bunk houses, cook house and filing shacks on flat cars, everything on wheels. They junked it and opened Crane Cr camp in the mid to late 60s.