Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon | |
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Directed by | Peter Richardson |
Produced by | Peter Richardson |
Starring | Steve Lowther |
Music by | Debra Arlyn |
Distributed by | Bicoastal Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 72 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon is a 2006 American documentary film produced and directed by Peter Richardson. It was filmed in the city of Philomath, Oregon. The film made its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006.
This documentary depicts a vivid example of America's current culture war. It shows a rural community, Philomath, Oregon, that is making a large transition from once being a dominant force through an "old time" profession, the timber industry, to one that is dominated by professionals and techies, the "Information Age". This is shown by the drastic decline of lumber mills in the area. In 1980, there were twelve mills around Philomath, but twenty-five years later there were only two. The largest employers are no longer the lumber mills but Oregon State University in Corvallis, which is about six miles from Philomath, and a Hewlett-Packard center involved in engineering ink-jet components.
The roots of the community go back to a man named Rex Clemens, who lived from 1901 to 1985. He was a high school dropout who became wealthy through the lumber business. Due to his wealth, Clemens set up a foundation in 1958 that helped support school functions, construction, and progress while also providing a four-year scholarship to anyone who graduated from Philomath High School.
After several decades, other people started immigrating to the area, and a new school superintendent, Terry Kneisler, was hired from Chicago. He moved to modify many traditions, and as a result, aspects of the timber industry were questioned, a Gay-Straight Alliance group for students was formed, and the school's mascot, the "Warriors", was challenged.
Many people who had lived there for years, some for their entire lives, began to object to these changes. Three of these people happened to be Rex Clemens' nephews, who were now in charge of the foundation their uncle set up. Steve Lowther, one of the nephews, led the traditionalists in their battle against Kneisler. After the two sides had multiple disagreements and conflicts, Lowther told the school board that Kneisler or the foundation must go. Later, Kneisler did leave.
Lowther amended the foundation so that preference would be given to students who come from timber, agricultural, or mining families. Preference will also be given to students who will go on to pursue a career related to one of these fields of work.
In 2008, the Lowthers once again amended the scholarship plan — the program would limit its grants to students who are at least second-generation residents of Philomath, Alsea, Eddyville, or the Eastern Oregon town of Crane, and the awards can be used at public or private colleges, trade, vocational or medical schools. [1]
The film became available for streaming on Hulu and Netflix on March 1, 2012. [2]
Lumber is wood that has been processed into uniform and useful sizes, including beams and planks or boards. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing. Lumber has many uses beyond home building. Lumber is referred to as timber in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand, while in other parts of the world the term timber refers specifically to unprocessed wood fiber, such as cut logs or standing trees that have yet to be cut.
Philomath is a city in Benton County, Oregon, United States. It was named for Philomath College. The population was 4,584 at the 2010 census and was most recently estimated in 2019 to have a population of 5,666. It is part of the Corvallis, Oregon, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Burns is a city in and the county seat of Harney County, in the U.S. state of Oregon. According to the 2020 census, the population was 2,730. Burns and the nearby city of Hines are home to about 60 percent of the people in the sparsely populated county, by area the largest in Oregon and the ninth largest in the United States.
Westfir is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The population was 253 at the 2010 census. It is located about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Eugene and about 4 miles (6 km) west of Oakridge in the Willamette National Forest.
Boring is an unincorporated community in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. It is located along Oregon Route 212 in the foothills of the Cascade mountain range, approximately twelve miles (19 km) southeast of downtown Portland, and fourteen miles (23 km) northeast of Oregon City. A bedroom community, Boring is named after William Harrison Boring, a Union soldier and pioneer whose family built a farm in the area in 1856, before Oregon had received statehood.
Port Gamble is an unincorporated community on the northwestern shore of the Kitsap Peninsula in Kitsap County, Washington, United States. It is also a small, eponymous bay, along which the community lies, near the entrance to Hood Canal. The unincorporated communities of Port Gamble and Little Boston, part of Kitsap County, lie on the west and the east side, respectively, of the mouth of this bay. The Port Gamble Historic District, a U.S. National Historic Landmark, covers one of the nation's best-preserved western lumber towns.
Archie Aldis "Red" Emmerson is the founder of Sierra Pacific Industries, a lumber products company that operates in California, Oregon and Washington. With 2.33 million acres, Emmerson and his family rank as America's largest private landowners, according to a profile by Eric O’Keefe in the 2021 Land Report 100. As of March 2024, they had a net worth of $5.4 billion.
The 2006 Sundance Film Festival was held in Utah from January 19 to January 29, 2006. It was held in Park City, with screenings in Salt Lake City; Ogden; and the Sundance Resort. It was the 22nd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival, and the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Sundance Institute. The opening night film was Friends with Money; the closing night film was Alpha Dog.
Bridal Veil is a virtual ghost town located in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. It was established in the 1880s during a logging boom by a logging company as it harvested timber on nearby Larch Mountain to be a company mill town around a sawmill. It had a close relationship with the logging town of Palmer for the first 50 years of its history. As of November 2011, all that remains of the town is a post office and a cemetery. The site is located near the west end of the Columbia River Gorge.
Philomath High School is a public high school in Philomath, Oregon, United States.
Maxville is an unincorporated community and former company town in northern Wallowa County, Oregon, USA. The town was built in 1923 by the Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company, a large Southern firm with timber and mills in Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi. Bowman-Hicks hired experienced loggers, regardless of race, from the Southern United States. In keeping with the Jim Crow practices common in the South at that time, Maxville had segregated neighborhoods, schools and baseball teams.
Peter Richardson is an American documentary film director. A native of Philomath, Oregon, Richardson is a 1998 graduate of Philomath High School and attended the University of Notre Dame on a scholarship. After graduating from Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Film Production & Theory, Richardson moved to Los Angeles where he worked for a short time at a publicity company before moving back to Oregon to start work on his first film. Richardson has directed two award-winning feature documentaries. His first film, Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon debuted at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. The film was later aired on the Sundance Channel. Richardson's second film, How to Die in Oregon, premiered on January 23 at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. In addition to directing the film, Richardson also acted as cinematographer, editor, and producer on How to Die in Oregon. The critically acclaimed film went on to win the Grand Jury Prize in the US Documentary competition. The film premiered on HBO on May 26, 2011. Richardson was the cinematographer on Irene Taylor Brodsky's documentary short film, Saving Pelican 895, which aired on HBO on April 20, 2011.
The Ottawa River timber trade, also known as the Ottawa Valley timber trade or Ottawa River lumber trade, was the nineteenth century production of wood products by Canada on areas of the Ottawa River and the regions of the Ottawa Valley and western Quebec, destined for British and American markets. It was the major industry of the historical colonies of Upper Canada and Lower Canada and it created an entrepreneur known as a lumber baron. The trade in squared timber and later sawed lumber led to population growth and prosperity to communities in the Ottawa Valley, especially the city of Bytown. The product was chiefly red and white pine.The Ottawa River being conveniently located with access via the St. Lawrence River, was a valuable region due to its great pine forests surpassing any others nearby. The industry lasted until around 1900 as both markets and supplies decreased, it was then reoriented to the production of wood pulp which continued until the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Hines Supply, based in Buffalo Grove, Illinois, in the United States, is a business firm specializing in lumber, plywood, decking, doors, windows, trim, and other wood products. It also sells related services such as consultations and cost estimates for building projects. It has outlets in Alsip, Grayslake, Hampshire, Kirkland, Montgomery, St. Charles, Bloomington, West Chicago, Wheaton, Buffalo Grove and Twin Lakes, Wisconsin.
Clearcut or clear cut may refer to:
Black Rock is an unincorporated community and former logging camp in Polk County, Oregon, United States. It is located about three miles west of Falls City, in the Central Oregon Coast Range on the Little Luckiamute River.
Josh Greenbaum is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He has won an MTV Movie Award, CINE Golden Eagle and Emmy Award. He directed the feature documentary The Short Game, winner of the SXSW Audience Award, which was acquired by Netflix to launch their Originals film division. He also directed Becoming Bond, a documentary about George Lazenby, which won SXSW's Audience Award in the Visions category, as well as the critically acclaimed Too Funny to Fail, a documentary about The Dana Carvey Show. He is also the creator, director and executive producer of Behind the Mask, which earned Hulu its first ever Emmy nomination. He made his narrative feature debut with Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar.
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened is a 2019 American documentary film about Billy McFarland and the failed Fyre Festival of 2017. It was directed by Chris Smith, and produced by Danny Gabai and Mick Purzycki and was released on Netflix on January 18, 2019.
Truman Wesley Collins was an American businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist from the state of Oregon. He was born into a wealthy and influential business family. Collins graduated from Willamette University and then attended graduate school at Harvard University. After college, he returned to the Pacific Northwest to join his family's lumber business. Over the years, he was the top executive for a number of Collins family businesses. He was also an active leader in several timber-related industry groups and contributed to selected education and religious institutions.
Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company was a lumber products company with large sawmills and significant land holdings in Minnesota, Florida, British Columbia, and Central Oregon. The company was formed in 1901 with its headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Beginning in 1915, its main lumber production facility was in Bend, Oregon. For many years, its Bend sawmill was one of the largest lumber producers in the world. In 1969, the company created Brooks Resources to broaden its business base beyond timber production. Brooks-Scanlon's Bend sawmill was closed in 1994. Today, Brooks Resources is the only vestige of the company that is still in business.