Native American Use

The Blodgett Tract is in the homeland of the Clatskanie Indians whose territory included the Upper Nehalem drainage and the headwaters of the Klaskanine and Clatskanie Rivers. The Clatskanie spoke Athapaskan, lived in lodges of split cedar poles covered with bark and furnished with rush mats. They intermarried with their Chinookan and Salish neighbors along the Columbia River.

The Clatskanie primarily occupied the densely forested uplands and associated small prairies where they could subsist on abundant deer, elk, edible roots and berries. When they occupied lowland areas they seem to have used the Nehalem River valley, and occasionally the south shore of the Columbia River between the mouth of the Clatskanie River and Scappoose Creek. The most important documented lowland resource was salmon, but root crops like camas and wapato were probably also important for their subsistence. The Clatskanie used short nosed canoes and their fishing equipment included spears, weirs and traps.

One of the earliest documented encounters between Euro-Americans and the Clatskanie was when they were accused of killing three white men at Fort George (Astoria) in 1811. Such conflict appears to have been typical between the Clatskanie and white settlers. By 1825 diseases substantially reduced their population (one account put the population at 175) and by the 1840’s they were considered very nearly extinct. By 1857 the population was reported to be eight. These eight adults signed the Dayton Treaty in 1851 at Tansy Point, Oregon (Krauss, 1990).

Early Euro-American Use

The earliest recorded Euro-American use of Columbia County was by the fur traders from the Hudson’s Bay, Northwest and Astoria Companies. Trappers probably exploited the area that would

Figure 1. Early 19th century territory of the Clatskanie

Railroad Logging Era

The Kerry Line proceeded from the Columbia River at Kerry, entered a tunnel at the top of the hill (part of this tunnel lies on the Blodgett Tract), and came out in the Nehalem Valley. Construction of the line was completed by 1914 and a major camp associated with the railroad logging activities called “Horseshoe Camp” was established along the banks of Fishhawk Creek (Labbe and Goe, 1995) on the Blodgett Tract. As many as ten camps were along the line. The Kerry Company operated the line to serve their own needs, as well as those of other operators. By 1927, 145 million board feet of 300 to 500 year old timber was removed from 2060 acres of the Blodgett Tract (approximately 70 MBF/acre) (Voorhies 1952).

Kerry Line head engineer Whistling Joe Morgan (far right) with his crew on Bridge #8 in 1924. Used with permission of the Mist-Birkenfeld Historical Society, Mist, Oregon.

Acquisition by OSC

After the land was harvested, the Oregon State College School of Forestry was contacted by the Blodgett Timber Company. In 1928 John W. Blodgett wrote:

“It has been my unpleasant experience to witness the vanishing of the white pine industry in my native state, Michigan. The result has been the abandonment of prosperous sawmill villages, farms, and various community enterprises, combined with the consequent decrease in general industrial activities, with their large accompanying payrolls. I cannot but be impressed by the fact that Oregon, a state in which I have long been interested, is headed directly toward a like condition unless it profits by Michigan’s sad experience and formulates and follows some sound definite policy with a view to keeping the cut over lands producing timber...

With the thought in mind of aiding and expediting the gathering and correlating of data necessary to the formulation of a sound reforestation program for Western Oregon, I am glad to offer your college a compact tract of about 2400 acres of cut-over land to be used for such experimental forestry purposes. It bore a heavy stand of the finest yellow fir, so there can be no doubt of its adaptability for such use...”

Management under OSC (later OSU)

In October, 1934 (7 years after harvest was completed), an escaped slash fire burned most of the tract. All but small islands of the existing reproduction were destroyed (Mason, 1938).

Early management focused on reforestation and fire protection. This included the installation of a 25-man fire protection crew under the direction of the School of Forestry in 1940. The “Tunnel Lookout” was established as part of the overall fire management of this area of the coast range.

Little reforestation research was ever conducted on the tract and in 1942 the Blodgett Company became concerned that the School of Forestry was “not living up to the spirit of the transaction.” The company felt that the tract was not being used to provide technical information and that it should be turned over to the Oregon State Forestry Department. Paul Dunn (Dean of the School of Forestry) states in 1943 that “There is no question that this area and the other lands have not been used to the fullest extent.” In 1943, George Peavy (President of OSC) wrote that there was a desire to exchange the land for property more readily accessible to Corvallis, but World War II put these plans on hold.

In 1959 the School of Forestry entered a cooperative agreement with the State Board of Forestry which gave the State Board management control of the Blodgett tract with 25% of the revenue from the tract going to the state and 75% to the school. This agreement resulted in occasional timber harvest activities until 1980 when the agreement was terminated. Direct management of the Blodgett Tract reverted then to the College of Forestry.

Between 1986 and 1996 24 MMBF were removed through thinning and clearcut harvests by the College of Forestry Research Forests.

A 1940's sketch of the railroads grades and trestles.