Columbia & Nehalem River

Company History: The C&NR opened in 1915 with a line from West Port, Oregon on the Columbia River into the Nehalem River Valley. The project was the brainchild of Albert Kerry and his Kerry Timber Company in conjunction with the Blodgett Company and Oregon-Washington Timber Company. The early goal was to salvage 5,000 acres of fire damaged timber before it rotted away. Logs were dumped at a facility at Kerry Island which permitted the dumping of six cars at a time. This was also the location of C&NR’s connection with the Spokane Portland & Seattle. The 27 mile line featured an 1,875’ tunnel (tunnels are quite rare on logging lines.) Trestles up to 150’ high were built. Because roads into the valley were difficult, the C&NR became a lifeline for the communities of Birkenfeld and Neverstill. At the time it opened, C&NR hauled logs for 7 different timber companies which eventually grew to 18. They had 14 steam locomotives plus the gas motor cars for passengers and mail. Kerry sold his stake in 1925 to K-P Timber Company. Competing lines with their own dumps cut into C&NR business. In 1928, K-P got into a conflict with a neighboring logger and suspicious fires appeared. In 1932, The Fire Protection Association ordered K-P to burn off years of accumulated slash on 3,000 acres. Everything went well for nearly a week before the fire got out of control. 23 of the C&NR’s 35 timber trestles and much of the logging equipment were destroyed. The remaining 12 miles of line that had not been wrecked continued to operate until 1938 when the C&NR was abandoned.

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