History at Sekiu

This scene, probably photographed in the late 1940's, shows the Rayonier railroad log dump piers that were once located along the waterfront at Sekiu, when log booming was done in the bay. Rayonier acquired this railroad from Bloedel-Donovan in 1945. An interesting backstory is that three Seattle entrepreneurs, D. A. Robinson, S. M. Irwin and D. E. Frederick (founder of Frederick & Nelson, Inc.?), on August 11, 1902 incorporated the Clallam Bay Southern Railway, which was to be built beginning from Clallam Bay and up the Clallam River. That company had only one known steam locomotive, which they had ordered and built in 1903. That locomotive was Clallam Bay Southern Ry. No. 1, a Class B 2-truck Shay, built by Lima Locomotive & Machine Company in August, 1903 (c/n 830). In 1914, the Goodyear Logging Company, owned by the C. A. Goodyear Lumber Company, began constructing a logging railroad from West Clallam (now Sekiu). The Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills Company bought out the local holdings of the Goodyear Logging Company in October, 1923. Thirty years after the Clallam Bay Southern Railway was incorporated, the Bloedel-Donovan main line became the similarly named but separate Clallam Bay & Southern Railway, which was organized on December 28, 1932 to take over and operate the main line operations of the Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills Company. The Clallam Bay & Southern Railway Company had the same directors as the Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills Company.

This scene, photographed in 1947, shows the Rayonier railroad tracks that ran along the edge of the beach, adjacent to Front Street, in the old business district of Sekiu. The two-story building with the flat roof, about midway down the block, was the C-Q Cafe.

This scene, probably photographed in the late 1940's, shows the railroad shops located near the foot of the long railroad log dump pier in Sekiu. The buildings are also visible in the aerial photograph at the top of the page.

This scene, probably photographed in the 1930's, shows an old planked mooring float for fishing boats. The Bloedel-Donovan log booming area is also visible off in the distance.

This scene, photographed the same day as the previous scene, shows the same planked mooring float, but viewed from beyond the end of the driftwood log visible in both photographs. The Three Sisters marine rock formation is also visible off in the distance.

This scene, photographed the same day as the previous two scenes, shows a close up view of the Three Sisters marine rock formation. It was at Sekiu, according to local legend, that three sisters were transformed into these three rock formations.

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Andrew Craig Magnuson
Forks, Washington
October 10, 2005