File:Big log, North Bend Lumber Co, Washington, ca 1909 (MOHAI 5514).jpg

In 1907, about 400 people lived in North Bend, Washington. Most were employed in logging or lumber milling. The lumber was shipped to market over a branch line of the Northern Pacific Railroad. The local shingle mill made most of the wooden pipe used in Seattle's Cedar River water supply line.

This photographic postcard, probably made between 1907 and 1909, shows a boomman standing on a huge log at the edge of the North Bend Lumber Company's log pond. He uses his long pole to sort logs in the pond and direct them towards the sawmill.

The photographer, E.J. Seigrist is reported to have left North Bend in the summer of 1909 after his jewelry shop and studio burned down. However, he may have continued to work in the area. The University of Washington's Pacific Northwest Photographers Database indicates that he was working in Concrete, Washington in 1915-1916. E.J. Siegrist closed out his stock of jewelry in Concrete in 1917.

Notes information source:

Caption information sources: Cristy Lake, assistant director, Snoqualmie Valley Historical Museum (email, 2009); The Jewelers Circular-Weekly, v. 74, n. 24, July 18, 1917, p. 83; Pacific Northwest Photographers Database http://db.lib.washington.edu/pnwphotographers/

• Subjects (LCTGM): Lumber industry; Mills; Logs; Men--Employment; North Bend Lumber Co