The Simpson Investment Company is a privately held holding company based in Seattle, Washington in the US Pacific Northwest that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company is now owned by the Reed family.
The Simpson Lumber Company conducted logging operations and was based in Shelton, Washington. Four mills were sold to Interfor and the Shelton property was sold to Sierra Pacific Industries. [1] [2]
The "Simpson Tacoma Kraft Company" produced pulpwood and linerboard products. Previously owned by St. Regis Corporation, [3] the mill on the shore of Commencement Bay was acquired by Simpson in 1985 and sold to RockTenn in 2014. [4] [5] In West Linn, Oregon, Simpson operated a vintage paper mill from 1990 to 1996; [6] [7] [8] [9] located just below Willamette Falls, it is now Willamette Falls Paper Company.
Simpson announced in 2008 that it would be entering the "green power" industry by building a new power plant at its Tacoma Tideflats mill that would generate power via the burning of sawmill and other forest waste. In August 2009, construction of the power plant was completed. It generated 55 megawatts of power which is sold to Iberdrola Renovables and used by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District. [10] [11]
Simpson was a prominent forest products company in Northern California for much of the 20th century, after first acquiring California timberland in 1945, eventually managing more than 450,000 acres of forest in California, in what was then known as the Redwood Division and is now mostly part of spinoff Green Diamond Resource Company. Simpson was most prominent in Humboldt County, with Simpson Timber operating lumber mills in Korbel, Brainard, Orick, and Klamath, and Simpson Paper operating pulp and paper mills in Samoa and Eureka. Significant portions of the original 1968 Redwood National and State Parks and its 1977 expansion were former Simpson Timber Company land. Simpson Timber also ran the Arcata and Mad River Railroad for over 30 years.
The Simpson Company built and operated a logging railroad known as the Simpson Railroad. When it closed in July 2015 it was the last logging railroad operations in the continental United States, [12] and dates back 120 years. The railroad was once extensive and branched out into several hundred miles of forestland in the Olympic Peninsula but at the end was limited to just ten miles of operational track. The rail line was to transport lumber and as a transportation network to remote logging camps and towns. Construction of the railroad line was an engineering feat as demonstrated by the large and complex bridges built to span gorges and the mountainous terrain the railroad traveled through. The Vance Creek Bridge and the High Steel Bridge were built in 1929 and used until 1985 when the line was abandoned. The Vance Creek Bridge still stands, and the High Steel Bridge is still in use as a forest road. The High Steel Bridge is one of the tallest rail bridges in the United States and has been listed in the National Register of Historic Places. [13]
In January 2019, Green Diamond Resources leased the railroad's remaining 10 miles, plus sidings, to the Peninsular Railway and Lumbermen's Museum, a locally based 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The all-volunteer group is advancing plans to operate several Simpson locomotives and other rolling stock for tourist trains designed to highlight the significant role lumbering and the railroad played in developing the economies of the local area, the Olympic Peninsula, and the entire Pacific Northwest. The name “Simpson Railroad” and associated graphics and logos have been licensed by Simpson for the museum's use. [14]
During the summer months portions of the track are also used for pedal car tours by the Vance Creek Railriders.
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.
The Arcata and Mad River Railroad, founded in 1854, was the oldest working railroad in California. It operated on a unique narrow gauge until the 1940s when standard gauge rails were laid. Service ceased in 1983 due to landslides. It is California Historical Landmark #842.
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.
The Puget Sound and Pacific Railroad is a Class III shortline railroad that operates 158 miles of track serving the Kitsap Peninsula, Grays Harbor County and Centralia, Washington in the U.S. State of Washington, and is headquartered in Centralia, where the railroad interchanges with the BNSF Railway and the Union Pacific Railroad. The railroad has been a subsidiary of the Genesee and Wyoming since 2012.
George T. Gerlinger was influential in the railroad and lumber products business in the U.S. state of Oregon in the early 20th century. The oldest son of Louis Gerlinger, Sr., in 1902 he organized a group of investors in Dallas, Oregon to build railroad lines in the area.
The steamboat S.G.Simpson operated in the early 1900s as part of the Puget Sound Mosquito Fleet. This vessel was later renamed E.G. English.
The Tacoma Eastern Railroad was officially established by John F. Hart and George E. Hart in 1891. The enterprising lumberman received leases from Pierce County to harvest lumber from sections of a local school district. By 1890, most available timber near navigable water had been harvested. Sawmill industries had traditionally used the Puget Sound to float their wares to schooner captains, which could then be transported to markets, typically in San Francisco. To accommodate this new dilemma, the J.F Hart and Company began planning and construction for the Tacoma Eastern Railroad.
Nagrom is a ghost town in King County, Washington, United States.
Rockport is a former settlement in an unincorporated area of Mendocino County, California. It is located 7.25 miles (12 km) north-northwest of Westport, at an elevation of 30 feet.
Bucksport was a town in Humboldt County, California. The original location was 2.5 miles (4 km) southwest of downtown Eureka, on Humboldt Bay about 5 miles (8 km) northeast of entrance. at an elevation of 16 feet (4.9 m). Prior to American settlement a Wiyot village named Kucuwalik stood here.
Korbel is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California. It is located 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east-southeast of Blue Lake, at an elevation of 154 feet. The ZIP Code is 95550.
The Finkbine-Guild Lumber Company was established to harvest and market the virgin longleaf pine stands of southern Mississippi during the early 20th century. The main sawmills were located in Wiggins and D'Lo, Mississippi. When the local timber supply dwindled, the company tried to utilize redwood trees from California, but that operation failed because of high transportation costs. Other attempts were made at promoting a more diversified use of the cutover timberlands; some ventures were successful while others were not.
Southern Pacific Transportation Company formed the Oregon and Eureka Railroad Company in 1903 in an agreement to use logging railroads as part of a line connecting Humboldt County (California) sawmills with the national rail network. Northwestern Pacific Railroad offered service over the route from 1911 through 1933. The northern 6-mile (9.7 km) of the line remained in use as a Hammond Lumber Company logging branch until 1948.
Interfor Corporation is one of the largest lumber producers in the world. The company's sawmilling operations have a combined manufacturing capacity of over 5.2 billion board feet of lumber with sales to North America, Asia-Pacific and Europe. Interfor is based in Vancouver, BC and employs approximately 5200 people. In May 2014, Interfor opened its corporate office for the USA south-east region at Peachtree City, Georgia.
Klamath Northern Railway Company (KNOR) is a 10.6-mile (17.1 km) shortline railroad operating from Gilchrist, Oregon to Gilchrist Jct, Oregon where is connects with Union Pacific Railroad's Cascade Subdivision.
The Satsop Hills are foothills of the Olympic Mountains in Mason County, Washington north of Matlock, Washington, between Wynoochee Lake to the west and Lake Cushman to the east.
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.
The Sugar Pine Lumber Company was an early 20th century logging operation and railroad in the Sierra Nevada. Unable to secure water rights to build a log flume, the company operated the “crookedest railroad ever built." They later developed the Minarets-type locomotive, the largest and most powerful saddle tank locomotive ever made. The company was also a pioneer in the electrification of logging where newly plentiful hydroelectric power replaced the widespread use of steam engines.
