History of Local Steam Donkey

History of Local Steam Donkey (HM256R)

Location: Reedsport, OR 97467 Douglas County
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Country: United States of America
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N 43° 42.199', W 124° 5.741'

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Inscription

Each Machine Had a Personality

A Big Piece of Reedsport History

Here, restored by citizens of Reedsport, is one of the largest steam donkeys to work the Oregon woods, the Smith and Watson 12 X 13 compound geared universal yarder. It was placed in service in 1915 by the Winchester Bay Logging Company.


Making The Steam Donkey Work

The big Smith and Watson Yarder required a crew of 25 working full time to keep it under power: wood cutters to supply daily the three cords of wood for the fire box; pipe layers and pump specialists for the 2000 feet of water line necessary to pump the 3000 gallons of water to produce a day's steam; firemen to keep a steady heat to produce 250 pounds of steam pressure; engineers, drag saw cutters, and linemen to keep the steam donkey yarding logs from ¼ mile away.


Even though it took hours to change gears, the Smith & Watson compound geared steam donkey could yard logs more efficiently in low gear over rough and steep terrain than single speed machines.

In 1938 this steam donkey was retired in favor of diesel powered machinery.
Details
HM NumberHM256R
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Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Friday, February 2nd, 2018 at 1:01pm PST -08:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)10T E 411717 N 4839504
Decimal Degrees43.70331667, -124.09568333
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 43° 42.199', W 124° 5.741'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds43° 42' 11.94" N, 124° 5' 44.46" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)541
Which side of the road?Marker is on the right when traveling West
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 289-299 Water Ave, Reedsport OR 97467, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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