George Clifton's story - Part one

In January 1924, 17-year-old George Clifton began working for Simpson Logging Co. at a camp near Lake Nahwatzel. For the next two years, he kept a sporadic journal of his experiences. This story is taken from that journal. George's words are in italics.

Saturday, January 12, 1924 - Walked from the Y. (The Frisken Wye, near the Grays Harbor county line.) Had old clothes on and my belongings in a gunny sack. Will try to get a job on Walters section. January 13 - Introduced to Walters and to a job. Will go to work Wednesday. June 30 - Worked for last day on Walters section. Will try to get a job with the Logging Company. Am going to Centralia for shutdown.

George returned to Mason County in September and went to work at Simpson's Camp One. On Wednesday, September 17, he worked in the woods on the rigging until about 4:45 p.m. Then, "coming in on the Bull car [a flat car for moving donkey engines] we discovered that a fire was burning on both sides of the track. The engineer attempted to go through the fire. We had gone about 450 feet when suddenly the train went into a ditch. The crew, with a few exceptions, made a rush over the 9 loads of logs that were trailing behind the Mulligan [meal car]. Some of the fellows got burned, but I escaped uninjured from the living hell, and hell it was on those loads. With our track to camp afire the problem was to get to camp by a roundabout way, 14 of us got there about 6:30. Chic Callow, Joe Grisdale, Ned Rucker went to camp on the track, they were badly burnt. The engineer, Ole H. Danfor, stayed in the engine, another buried himself in dirt, all six went to the hospital. After arriving in camp I tried to eat a little dinner, but could not. The fire crawled toward camp and things looked dangerous. Soon everybody was on top of the roofs of houses putting out falling sparks. But about 10 o'clock some of the houses went up in flames and by 12 o'clock 20 were burned to the ground. Things were so bad that I and Wally packed our suitcases and left for anywhere. Ally Anderson picked us up. We slept in Harry Shelton's barn in the hay that night. The next day, George and Wally went into Shelton and learned that the camp's bunkhouse, cookhouse, and many homes had been saved. They returned to camp in the afternoon.

Friday, September 19 - Went to work cleaning up the ruins of the houses that were burnt. Some people lost everything but the clothes they had on. It sure was a sad sight, those smoldering ruins of once happy houses. Put in a full day. The rest of the gang that was in camp fixed the track where it was burnt, the old 9-Spot [locomotive] escaped the fire somehow. The loads was completely burnt. Expect to go back logging soon, as the fire did not touch the timber.

Monday, November 17 - Archie Daniels was killed this morning about 9:30. The bunk [a crosspiece of heavy metal] on the load where he was riding broke and the logs rolled off, crushing Archie. He died about 12:30 in the Shelton hospital. I set chokers this afternoon. Two days later, George worked half a day on the steel gang, then went to Shelton for Archie's funeral. While in town, he bought a new pair of shoes.

On March 3, 1925, 10 men from George's crew were laid off. George was one of only three left in the bunkhouse and expected to be laid off any day, as only married men were being kept on.

Thursday, March 5 - Got laid off today. No trip south with Frank this spring I guess as I will have all my money spent by the time they start up to full blast again. I sure did cuss when Frank told me. Sunday, March 8 - Staying at McKay's for $10 a week bed and board. Went to Olympia today and took in a vaudeville. $2 round trip on stage.

Work in the camp started up again March 28. On April 6, while setting chokers, George slipped and twisted his left leg. When he got up, he couldn't use the leg, so traded jobs with Wally, who set chokers while George blew whistles. At the end of the day, he went to the hospital in Shelton for treatment. He was released from the hospital May 9, took the train back to camp, and worked half a day. My knee is a little stiff but does not hurt. On Sunday May 10 George and two friends went to the Rediske School at Matlock, where they helped clean up the school yard and had a swell dinner.

To be continued...

Jan Parker is a researcher for the Mason County Historical Museum. She can be reached at [email protected]. Membership in the Mason County Historical Society is $25 per year. For a limited time, new members will receive a free copy of the book "Shelton, the First Century Plus Ten."