| Maxville was a logging camp
owned by Bowman-Hicks Lumber Company. At the time it was
started J.D. McMillan was the superintendent and it was
suggested that the first part of McMillan be used to name
the Community, Maxville. In 1908 the railroad was extended
from Elgin to Joseph. This opened up a vast area of Virgin
Pine Timber. The Palmer Lumber Company who had operations in
Union Co. began extending their operations to Wallowa
County. They began by buying up homesteads for the timber on
them. In 1913 Frank Victor didn't sell his homestead to
Palmer but sold Palmer a 20 year lease on his timber on
Smith Mountain. The timber was near to where Camp 5 was
built. In 1910 the Palmer Lumber Co. hired Morrison-Knudsen
to construct a rail line from a siding about two miles up
the Wallowa River from its junction with the Grande Ronde
River. This siding was named Vincent, named for Vincent
Palmer. From here a track v as built up Howard |
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Creek for a distance of five
miles to a logging camp called Camp Five. The last three
miles was a 6% grade. From here branch lines were extended
to other locations. Palmer Lumber Co. used steam powered
donkey skidders, but horses were used to skid logs to where
the donkey engines could reach them. The logs were loaded on
a train and shipped to the mill. The company had six
locomotives. One of these was a Shay which had which had a
weight of 110 tons. The Shay was gear driven and was used on
steep grades. The small locomotives, which were of 35 to 70
tons were used to bring the logs from spurs to the yards at
Camp 5. This is where the shay took over. The shay would
hook onto 20 loaded double- |
deck of cars and start down the 6% grade to Vincent. The logs and cars were put on
a siding and the shay returned for another load. Camp 5 not
only had a machine shop but a roundhouse also. They had 4
donkey engines skidding and loading logs.
In 1919 the company went to Spokane and purchased a
McGiffert loader. It was said to be the largest loader
built. Only two were built. It stood on stilts and this huge
machine straddled the track and the train passed under it
when being loaded. It could also reach out 114 mile and skid
logs to be loaded. To move to a new place the loader was let
down on the track and moved under it's own power. It proved
to be too difficult to move and repair and was not a
success. |
| In 1922 Bowman Hicks a Lumber
Co. from Louisiana purchased the Palmer Lumber Co. operation
at Camp 5. This was the only temporary camp so Bowman-Hicks
began looking for a permanent camp. They sent Don Riggle who
was raised on Smith Mountain along with Joner Trump and John
Carper to find a new location. This location must be large
enough for a town of 4 to 5 hundred people, level enough for
train tracks, and water for the town and locomotives. Don
Riggle knew of such a place, the Bishop Meadows. The
Bishop Meadows were large and flat with a stream that could
be dammed up creating a pond for water. In 1923 the Co.
began construction of Maxville. The rail-road workers lived
in |
L. F. Anderson |
| cars and tents until cabins
were built. A large log building was the first to be
constructed. In September the post office was moved from
Camp 5 to Maxville. By the end of the year the town, a
school, a bunk house and mess hall for the 80 single
workers. Housing was built for the married men and families.
It also had a baseball field, a swimming hole, a doctor
office and running water. |
|
Adalee Anderson |
In 1924 Bowman-Hicks purchased the Nibley-Mimnaugh Mill in
Wallowa and ex-tended it's railroad line to Wallowa, a
distance of 16 miles. Eight steam locomotives began hauling
logs from the Maxville area to Wallowa. In 1922 Camp 5 was
only a temporary camp so many men left their families behind
until a permanent camp was established. One of these workers
was Herman Anderson. He left his wife Adelee and his 3
girls, Vivian, Leona, and lone in Louisiana. In 1923 when
Maxville was established he sent for them. They went by
train to Elgin where they were met by a company speeder.
They and all the luggage was loaded on the speeder and they
traveled 20 miles to Camp 5. It was an experience they never
forgot. Vivian who is 89 years old still has memory of the
ride. Adalee said that the most happy years of her life was
spent at Maxville. Her three daughters attended school
there. In 1925 her son Kenneth was born at Maxville. Herman was a log cutter and this usually required a partner.
They usually got along OK if one didn't ride the saw. One
day Herman got a new partner who had a tendency to ride the
saw.
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| When he accused him of it he denied it.
Herman got mad and said he was quitting. They then decided
to divide the equipment. The only thing they didn't have 2
of was the saw. When his partner asked about it, Herman said
he would take care of it. He laid the saw on a large pine
stump, took his ax and cut it in two. 20 years later
Herman's 1/2 of the saw was still on the stump which was
near the Victor Meadows. Herman and his family then moved
to Wallowa. Here a daughter, Vera Jeane was born. After
moving to Wallowa his work took him away from home. He was
only home on weekends. He and his partner, Shorty Barnett
worked in the woods as far as Kinzua, Oregon. In the 1940s
they were cutting on U.S. Forest Service Land. The snow was
deep and the ground steep. They cut timber all winter and it
was after the snow melted that an inspector came by to
measure the height of the stumps. Instead of measuring the
high and low sides and take an average measurement he only
took from the low side of the ground and said the stumps
were too high and all stumps had to be cut off. They were
told if they didn't cut the stumps they would never cut
another log on Forest Land. They went back and cut 1 to 2
inches off every stump. Herman said he would never cut
another log and quit. He then got a night watching job at
the Little Duck Saw Mill in Wallowa. He retired in 1949 and
lived out his life in Wallowa. In 1948 I married his
daughter Vera Jeane and we have enjoyed more than 55 years
of married life, which includes our daughter Linda who was
born December 7th, 1949.
In 1922 when Bowman-Hicks took over the Camp 5 operation
they let a contract to furnish meat, milk, and cream for the
cookhouse, which furnished meals to the single workers. The
contract was given to my dad, Alva Victor. He built a
slaughter house and butchered own beef and hogs. He
purchased a new Model T truck in Elgin and then hired his
brother-in-law Harold Carroll to help him. At first he
delivered to Camp 5 then to Maxville in 1923.
Alva met many interesting people. The cook that ran the
cookhouse always had a fresh bake pie for him when he
arrived. He also kept asking Alva to take him fishing. One
day my dad told him to get a fishing outfit because he was
taking him fishing over the weekend. They drove down the
Imnaha River to the Cow Creek Bridge and then walked the 5
miles to Snake River. They had little luck until they saw a
sturgeon laying on a ledge in about 3 feet of water. The
sturgeon was about 7 feet in length. The cook could not get
the sturgeon to bite so my dad told him to put on a large
hook and snag it. After tries he snagged it. He gave several
hard jerks on the line but the sturgeon gave no response.
After several minutes the sturgeon decided to head for
deeper water. With him it took one half of his fish pole
also his hook and line. The cook said that he had enough of
fishing and never again asked my dad to take him fishing,
but he still had a fresh baked pie when he arrived at
Maxville. My dad said that the cook baked the best pie that
he had ever eaten.
Jim Crowley was manager for Palmer Lumber, when they sold to
Bowman-Hicks he was made wood boss. He was a big rough
talking Irishman. He was liked by everyone. Two young men
showed up one day wanting to cut logs. He asked if they had
cut logs before and they said they had. He gave them a set
of tools and an 8 foot measuring stick. That night he asked
how many logs they cut. It was more than anyone else. He
then found that they were 8 foot logs instead of 16 foot.
Jim's remark was "Bejabers me lads its best time you turn in
your tools, get your pay, and have a good meal and then go
down the road." When Jim left Maxville he opened a business
in Elgin. Alva's father. Frank Victor died in 1936 and was
buried in Elgin. The only man to close his business for his
funeral was Jim Crowley.
Morrison-Knudson had the contract with both Palmer Lumber
and Bowman-Hicks to build their train tracks. Morrison and
his mother lived at Maxville. His mother was always bragging
on her son. She said that he was only 42 and was already a
millionaire. One day she asked if my dad would do her a
favor, he said he would. She said that she was low on
bathroom tissue and would he stop at Shells and get her a
supply. On his next trip instead of going to Shells he
stopped and picked a bunch of mullen leaves, put them in a
box, and told her that Shells were out of tissue but would
have a new supply in time for his next trip. Her response
was "Thank you Mr. Victor, thank you Mr. Victor." On his
next trip he had a supply of tissue for her. After leaving
Maxville Morrison-Knudson became one of the largest
construction companies in the United States.
In 1926 my younger brother was born, but my parents had not
decided on a name. On one of Alva's trips the cook said that
he missed a good fight last Saturday night. Most of the
fights were between railroad workers and log cutters. After
the fight began a little man jumped up and said "Deal me a
hand boys I am a railroad man, my name is Joe-Joe Edwards
and I can lick any man in the house. A big lumberjack then
laid him out with one blow. When my father got home he told
my mother that he had a name for their son and it was
Joe-Joe. After some time the second Joe was dropped and he
became just Joe. Also while my father was working at
Maxville my sister Wenonah was born.
Alva didn't renew his contract for 1927. He was tired of
fighting mud in Spring and Fall, dust in the summer and snow
in the winter. About three or four months in the winter he
had to use a sled to deliver his produce to Maxville.
Maxville began to decline after the 1929 Depression. The
limber market slowed down and people began leaving Maxville
and moving to Wallowa and other towns. In 1930 they began
pulling the tracks and building roads on the grades. In 1933
Maxville closed, and some cabins are moved to Wallowa. The
remains of some of the cabins can still be found today if
you know where to look.
In the winter of 1936 & 1937 my father and crew began
loading steel at the mill in Wallowa. This steel was from
the railroad tracks from the Maxville operation. They loaded
one car of spikes, one car of steel tie plates and a number
of car loads steel rails and cut up locomotives. This was
shipped to Japan and they returned the favor at Pearl
Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Today the only thing left at Maxville is a pond and the
large log house. Instead of the sound of children swimming
you hear the sound of loons in the water and yellow winged
blackbirds singing in the cattails.
The Bishop Meadows look the same as it did 80 years ago. You
see deer, elk, coyote, and you may also spot a sandhill
crane. Gone forever, sounds the toot of whistlepunks signal
to the donkey operator. Stop, go ahead or back up. The sound
of a locomotive pulling a string of loaded cars. The sound
of a crosscut saw, the ring of an ax.
Gone forever is the town of Maxville and all that remains is
a memory. Let's not let this memory die.
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Victor hot rod at Bishop Meadows. Maxville house in
background.
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When the 1929 Depression hit, the lumber
market declined, and people began leaving Maxville. One of
the first businesses to close shop was the dining room of
the Maxville Hotel.
Vivian and Ione Anderson were working at the dining room
when it closed. The hotel had no |
money to pay them, so they were
paid with dishes. Part of Vivian's pay was a large bowl,
seen here.
This bowl has been in her family for seventy-five years and
is still used by her granddaughter, Susan James of Portland,
Oregon.Our thanks to
Wallowa History Center for providing this bit
of Wallowa County History |
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