Using water diverted from the Little White Salmon River, Broughton Lumber Company transported the timber via a flume connecting the mill at Willard to the Columbia River, and then rafted the logs across the river to Oregon for railroad transport. Stevenson, who operated a mill at Willard along the Little White Salmon River. 'Broughton Lumber Company was established around 1916 by Harold Broughton and D.M. When the supply of timber became more difficult to access, the company closed the mill in 1907, and moved it to Oregon.' There were flumes on both sides of the river that carried the lumber to the Columbia. After the logging of Underwood Mountain was complete, the Oregon Lumber Company established the Mill A sawmill and headquarters along the west side of the Little White Salmon River, and another sawmill at Cheowith Flat on the east side of the Little White Salmon River at what was known as Mill B. 'As of 1896, there were seven sawmills operating in Skamania County, the most notable of these being the Oregon Lumber Company's along the Little White Salmon River. Īccording to the Bonneville Power Administration's 'Whistling Ridge Energy Project's Environmental Impact Statement (2011): During the HAER survey of the site in 2000, several sources indicated the 1923 date was likely correct.' Pomeroy, 1988, 'The Broughton Lumber Company Flume and Railroad,' appearing in Narrow Gauge and Shortline Gazette, vol.14, no.5, Nov/Dec 1988). The company pamphlet gives a starting date of 1913, while the Ely and Pomeroy article lists 1923 (D. Note that discrepancies in flume construction dates exist among several sources. Leased on completion by Broughton Lumber, the company assumed ownership in 1927 and continued to transport cants over the flume until both the company and the flume closed in 1986. to transport cants (rough sawn logs) from the Little Salmon River nine miles to Hood, Washington and the Columbia River. 'The Broughton Flume was built between 19 by the Drano Flume and Lumber Co. WA-170 (O'Connor, 2000, National Park Service): On the Oregon side, Mitchell Point and Ruthton Park are good spots to look across the Columbia at the flume.Īccording to the Historic American Engineering Record HAER No. At the boat ramp at Drano Lake a section can be seen on the side of Chemawa Hill on the east side of Drano Lake. Sections of the old flume can be seen along Washington State Highway 14, between Drano Lake and Hood.

At the Broughton Mill the planks were processed into finished lumber and shipped east or west on the Spokane, Portland & Seattle Railway. The nine-mile-long, 1,000-foot drop Broughton Flume was the last operating flume in the United States, floating rough-hewn lumber ('cants') from Willard, Washington, to the Broughton Lumber Mill at Hood, Washington, a rail station two miles west of Bingen. View from Washington State Highway 14 Boat ramp at Drano Lake. īroughton Flume on Chemawa Hill, Washington. Lewis & Clark's Columbia River - '200 Years Later' The oldest existing ride of this type is Boat Chute, constructed in 19, located at Lake Winnepesaukah Amusement Park in Chattanooga, Tennessee.The Columbia River - Broughton Flume, Washington The chutes ride consists of a boat that slides down a long chute and splashes into a lake. Log flumes are a variant of the chute rides that were popular in the United States in the early 20th century and that continue to be built today, usually called Shoot-the-Chutes. Log flumes are now a staple at many amusement parks. Another notable log flume is Splash Mountain at the Disney theme parks, based on characters in Song of the South. The designer, Bud Hurlbut, drew his inspiration from stories of lumberjacks riding logs down rivers. The ride proved to be so popular that a second separate flume was opened in 1968. The first log flume amusement ride is said to be El Aserradero ('The Sawmill' in Spanish), built by amusement company Arrow Development (later known as Arrow Dynamics, and now part of S&S/Arrow) in 1963 at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas.

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