Catlin Gabel excursion leads to historic forest find

Trudging deep into the coastal woods, students locate forgotten logging machinery where it was abandoned almost a century ago

The Beaverton Valley Times, Dec 4, 2009, Updated Dec 7, 2009 (2 Reader comments)

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In early November, six Catlin Gabel students and two adult leaders set out to find a 90-year-old “donkey” in the forests of Oregon’s coast.

Yet this donkey was of the machine, not mammal variety.

The group found a steam donkey, an iron engine that was commonly used in logging at the turn of the century.

The weekend adventure to find the long-since abandoned machinery was part of the Catlin Gabel’s outdoor education program.

“The trip itself was one of the many, varied offerings of the outdoor program at the school,” said Peter Green, the program director and an excursion leader. “There has been an increasing shift within the program away from predictable trips, like rafting, biking and rock climbing, and toward trips that are more adventurous, where the outcome is less certain and the actual timing and schedule of events isn’t preplanned.”

“Searching in the woods for a lost steam donkey seemed a perfect trip for that model,” Green said.

On Nov. 14 and 15 the group set out to find the last wild steam donkey in the northern coast range. The drive from the school took the group over the complex of old logging roads in the Tillamook State Forest that cover the hills above the Salmonberry River.

Most of the first day was spent learning about the logging history and equipment that shaped the Northwest. The group set up camp above the river and built a fire to keep warm. After a dinner of flaming chicken and pies, the group turned in for the night.

The day of the search was rainy and chilly. Two miles of hiking brought the party to the Salmonberry River. The group combed the steep hills above the river searching for the donkey using information provided by local historian Merv Johnson, who had visited the donkey in the late ‘70s.

Shortly after noon the cry of “The burro has landed!” crackled over the groups’ two-way radios. Racing to the engine, the students clambered over the beast and pieced together the history of the huge machine.

Back in the 1920s, before the great Tillamook Burn swept through the watershed of the Salmonberry River, these steam powered “yarders” were used to haul logs up and down the steep hillsides to a central location where trains could take them to the mill, according to Green.

Once a particular operation or “show” was completed, the machine was hauled through the woods on a wooden sled to the next show. In some cases the machines were just left in the woods.

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