Lumber capital of the world

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It is said that lumber makes the world go round; and looking at the history of Aberdeen, it is hard to disagree. Here on the eastern edge of Grays Harbor, our small town holds lumber records that may never be broken. We built the state and influenced trade up and down the west coast and around the world.

Once the envy of all other towns in the Pacific Northwest, Aberdeen is now embracing its lumber roots and showing them off to the carloads of visitors entering town or heading out to the coast, rainforest and magnificent wilderness beauty of the region.



Lumber has always been a part of Aberdeen, and now, thanks to Aberdeen City Council Member Kathi Hoder and local businessman Tim Quigg, a new sign adorns the entrance to town along Highway 12. Reading “
Lumber Capital of the World
,” the new sign hopes to educate and celebrate Aberdeen’s history and culture. Presented by Hoder and Quigg as a gift to Mayor Simpson for his contributions to the city, the sign sits just a few feet behind the “
Welcome to Aberdeen
” that also reads “
Come As You Are.
”

The sign isn’t meant to shift culture away from the legacy of Nirvana, but instead help show a relationship



The Boom and Bust of Pennsylvania’s Lumber Era


In the 19th century, Pennsylvania’s forests powered a booming industry that left a lasting mark on the landscape and communities of the Lumber Heritage Region. Towering white pines and hemlocks, once stretching unbroken for millions of acres, became the foundation for one of the most significant timber industries in American history. At its height, this lumber boom transformed quiet river towns into bustling industrial centers—none more prominent than Williamsport, Pennsylvania,  which earned the title “Lumber Capital of the World.”

The Susquehanna Boom: An Engineering and Economic Powerhouse

At the heart of this transformation was the Susquehanna Boom, a massive system of cribs and chained timbers stretching seven miles along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. Constructed in 1846, the boom could hold nearly 300 million board feet of logs at once. This ingenious feat of engineering allowed sawmills to operate year-round and turned the river into a conveyor belt of prosperity. Timber harvested upstream in the wilds of Pennsylvania was floated downstream and sorted at the boom, fueling more than 50 sawmills in the Williams

Bangor Maine: Lumber Capital of the World


More logging History but in Ontario, Canada


Hey Travis

Sometimes I think I should just get in the car and take a drive to Maine to visit you. It would be a lot easier than all this typing and I reckon we could talk till the cows come home about subjects that interest us.

A year ago I went camping with a couple of my friends in Algonquin forest in North East Ontario. The most interesting thing we came across was the logging museum. They have a full camp all set up the way it was together with some sample logs cut in the way they did back then with a broad axe.

Here some pics of the size of trees and how they cut them. Well worth a visit if you are ever in Ontario.

The interesting point that I picked up is that this trade in wood started as a result of demand from the Royal Navy for wood. Turns out they wasted a great deal since they only used the relatively straight section of these massive trees. Then the shaping method of squaring up the logs caused exacerbated the problem of natural fires with all the wood chips that were left on the forest floors. Created a more intense burn when lightining struck and ultimately played a part i




The Susquehanna Log Boom was a
seven mile

-long
series of 400 linked stone and timber cribs erected in a slow-moving stretch of the river along the town of Williamsport.  The Lumber would be floated down the river, into the boom, and from there, sorted out to the mills.
I've lived in this area my entire life, so of course I knew Williamsport was once the Lumber capitol of the world.  But until this week, I had never given much thought to what that meant, beyond the pretty mansions on Millionaires row.  When I heard the term "lumber boom", I did not realize that a "boom" is an actual, physical, structure.




Lumber from the Williamsport Log Boom, in Milton, Flood of 1889
Until I came across a flood picture, in Milton, showing huge piles of lumber, from Williamsport, that had come down river and caused a good bit of damage. A newspaper article in the Miltonian mentioned that if the lumber was on your property, the law required you to advertise it.  (In other words, you can't just keep it, even though it may have wiped out your property when it landed)

The  scale of the lumber operations in our area was absolutely amazing, and the photos are so