Bill and the Boss: Labor Protest, Technological Change, and the Transformation of the West Coast Logging Camp, 1890–1930

Abstract

A t the tum of the twentieth century a typical habitation for loggers in coastal Oregon, Washington, and British Columbia was a rough-hewn logging camp consisting of crude bunkhouses, cook house, and maintenance shop. Such a camp was "pretty rugged;' recalls one logger. "Where we slept . . . was one big old log cabin with about fifty men in it. There were two little windows near the roof you couldn't even see through. Youwere overcome with the odor of drying socks and crawled into bed with the bedbugs:'! But during the early decades of the twentieth century, living conditions for West Coast loggers improved markedly. Companies began to provide such amenities as housing for families, schools, and recreational facilities. When a reporter for the Timberman visited the Long-Bell Lumber Company's settlement at Ryderwood in 1924, he described it as "a truly modern logging camp city" featuring 242 homes, electric lights, a sewer system, and wide streets. "Every feature of the town;' he enthused, "bespeaks permanency, convenience and comfort'? Even after we take into account the bias of the writer, it is clear that Ryderwood and similar company-controlled communities represented a significant shift in the labor policies of coastal logging operators. The Canadian literature dealing with company towns or single-industry communities emphasizes the relationship of metropolis to hinterland, focusing on the interlocking roles of corporations, planners, and different levels of govemment.! In his study of company towns in the lumber