1930 - Local Industry - Oregon Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

This sign is one of a group of history signs about the Historic Taft District and is located along SW 51st Street.

Marker Name: 1930 - Local Industry

Marker Text: Trucks lined up along the east side of 101 in Taft during the heyday of logging. Timber stands in the Coast Range provided abundant work for local loggers and an unending supply of logs for Northwest mills. In 1916 small vessels began towing logs out of mills near Kernville, and by 1920 large numbers of logs were tied together in rafts and towed by tugboats through the treacherous mouth of the Siletz Bay. Over one and one-quarter billion feet of timber were taken over the bar and north to the Columbia River and the Washington ports of Grays Harbor and Tacoma. Large Sitka spruce trees were especially in demand during the first World War for airplane construction.

Salmon canneries operated on the lower Siletz River from 1896 to 1927. Local drift net fishermen earned good money as the canneries provided them with steady work. When fresh fish started being trucked out of the area, the last cannery closed. Great fishing in the bay helped create the tourism industry in this area. Campsites were rented out along the north shore of the bay to vacationers hoping to land a big one.

For a more complete photographic and written history of the Taft area and North Lincoln County, visit the North Lincoln County Historical Museum at 4907 Highway 101 here in Taft.

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