Whistle Punks and Misery Whips: Logging the Willamette Valley, 1850 to 1960 by Dr. Stephen Beckham

This illustrated lecture is an overview of logging and lumbering, major enterprises in the Willamette Valley.  In 1850 the Oswego sawmills of Albert A. Durham and Socrates Tryon cut lumber for Portland and San Francisco.  The presentation covers the evolving technology of log transportation from bull teams to logging trucks as well as river drives, splash dams, and railroads.  It includes the proposal in 1923 by the Oswego Log and Booming Company to transform Oswego Lake into a massive log pond with a flume connecting to the Willamette River. 

Prof. Beckham grew up in western Oregon where his father was superintendent of the Coos River Boom Company and subsequently author of SWIFT FLOWS THE RIVER: LOG DRIVING IN OREGON (1990).  Beckham is the Pamplin Professor of History, Emeritus, Lewis & Clark College, and taught college students for 42 years.