Elwood Log Co. Deep Creek School Spur
Last Update: November 26, 2025
Elwood-Snow Logging Company's First Kerry Line Camp north of this spur.
1916-1920
Our map of the general area, showing this spur
Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp south of this spur. 1920-1925
Author: Brian P McCamish
This Spur doesn't have an official name and we're even partly guessing on who operated it, but because of it's proximity and relation to the Deep Creek County one room School House, I've named it the Elwood Logging Company School Spur.
The Kerry line reached this location in about 1916 from it’s log dump some 18 miles to the north, on the Columbia River Slough, east of Westport, Oregon. Along the line, several logging companies built spurs to log their various holdings. One of those outfits was the Elwood-Snow Logging Company. Elwood-Snow was owned by James Elwood and E. M. Snow. Mr. Snow owned about 3000 acers of timber that the two men would build a railroad to log in 1916 just as the Kerry Line reached a point about ½ mile south of Neverstill, Oregon.
In 1917, James Elwood, would continue to log out of the Elwood-Snow Camp, while establishing his own Elwood Logging Company as a separate entity from Mr. Snow. Eventually this company would log a bigger operation further south about one mile down the Kerry Line, at a place where Lane Creek dumps into Deep Creek. However, that operation wasn’t established until about 1919 or 1920. That operation logged until cut out in 1925.
The logging tract targeted by Mr. Elwood for the Lane Creek Camp was owned by him, but the camp, located where Lane Creek dumped into Deep Creek, was established on land previously owned by local homesteader M. A. Lane. However, Mr. Lane must have run into some financial trouble, because in 1916, a Mid West banker, named Alexander McDonnell would buy the property through a Sheriff’s sale, just as the railroad was coming through.
Elwood was about to build a shingle mill near Lane Creek on the Kerry Line and McDonnell was clearly interested in selling him some logs that he had on some property just to the north of Lane Creek. One has to wonder if the two men knew each other and knew of Mr. Lane's financial troubles and conspired to get the land to expand the logging operation.
Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp photos by Clark Kinsey taken around 1922. This camp was located just south of this Elwood school spur and was probably built shortly after logging was complete on the school spur.
The spur dedicate to this article was only discovered recently by accident, so believing this is an Elwood Logging operation on McDonnell's property, we had to fit in a timeline of when this would most likely have been logged.
We aren’t completely sure of the year, but sometime after the Spring of 1917 when Elwood incorporated the new company or 1918, Elwood gathered a small crew and likely built this short spur that was only1500 feet long to access and cut McDonnell’s holdings. This spur required two trestles, some 500 and 300 feet long. The operation likely lasted only one or maybe two seasons and the trestle over the swamp to the landing appeared lightly built and possibly only two pile per bent.
From left to right: This single pile was spotted by Matt and was the only clue that a spur must have crossed Deep Creek at this location. 1950 aerial photos show the farm and school near the spur Deep Creek trestle. Far right, 1973 aerial photo of same location, all buildings and evidence is gone.
Matt Wolford found this spur by accident, when Matt spotted a lone pile in the middle of Deep Creek as we were driving by. Until then, we knew of no such spur as it didn’t show up on lidar at all. This is not surprising considering half the spur is trestle and the lidar in this area is older and only moderate resolution.
The logging spur leaves the Kerry Line at what we believe was about milepost 18. It headed east over a long pile trestle, about 500 feet long, that crossed over Deep Creek. Of this trestle, one single pile remains. The one that we spotted from the road. No other evidence exists of the trestle. But there was substantial metal, debris found under and around the trestle (now buried…nothing obvious on the surface) that hints that either a temporary logging camp or homestead might have existed near or under this trestle.
Possible broken saw filer rack at the Deep Creek trestle landing site, along with other items found what would have been under the trestle as it passed over open ground
The spur then landed on Deep Creek Road and crossed the road and continued for a few hundred feet before running up a creek or swampy area on pile driven trestle, about 300 feet long. The piles were driven right in the middle of the creek/swamp and a few of piles remain today. No complete bents, but individual piles still
showed the way. The piles hint that the trestle may have been a simple two pile per bent construction.
The spur then landed at a large landing via a low level cut where logs could be rolled directly onto log cars or disconnects. A tail track extended past the loading area about 250 feet until the end of track. It’s likely there were multiple donkey spots, but one clear donkey spot could be seen excavated just off the tail track. Along the route, we found a bunch of cable on the landing and railroad spikes. Also a few rotten logs that were left by the loggers, some 100 years ago, were still laying on the forest floor.
Matt Wolford and I following the trestle piles that were driven into the swamp towards the main landing.
We aren’t sure if Elwood just used the same Elwood-Snow camp he partly owned about ½ mile to the north and that was still logging off it’s own spur, or if this spur had it’s own small camp. If there was a camp for this short spur, it it was likely located on the county road side of Deep Creek, where the trestle crossed over the road.
This spur was very likely only used a few months, then logged out, however, we wonder if the trestle over Deep Creek might have remained as an access point for Children from the local logging camps to attend the Deep Creek School that was located right next to the trestle. See more below...
First three photos show the landing as it looked today with some metal remains, but not much. The photo on the right purports to be Elwood Logging Company and while we don't know if it's of this siding, the topography and orientation does match so it's very possible.
𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 𝐌𝐂𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐋𝐋...𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐖𝐍𝐄𝐑: …𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐌𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐜𝐃𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐝
McDonnell’s full name was Alexander Angus McDonnell, born in 1882. Apparently, a mid west banker, but someone who had connections with the timber barrens in this area. Someone obviously tipped him off to the Kerry railroad coming through and in 1916 he was able to purchase this land through what may have been a tax foreclosure Sheriff’s sale for $6000. That’s $175K in today’s dollars. The land he purchased had several homesteads on it and it’s not clear if people lived in them after he purchased the property, but we’re guessing they did and probably paid him rent. One such homestead/farm is shown on this map was located just south of the railroad. We aren’t sure when it was built or when it was last occupied. But we know it shows up in aerial views in 1951 and again in 1953, but it appears to be abandoned in both views. Some have indicated that many of the locals in these farms were wiped out by the Depression and probably left and moved to the cities or at least bigger towns, like nearby Vernonia and Clatskanie.
The Kerry Line stopped running through here in 1932 and the rails were being picked up in 1933. There are no other aerial photos until 1973 and by then, the farm and all buildings are long gone. The land, along with many thousands more acers were all purchased by Longview Fibre in 1956 and combined into their first big tree farm. Longview Fibre made a point to tear down any buildings on their property so as not to interfere with logging operations or attract a nuisance.
Modern day Columbia County land plot of the area in question, showing the property that was still owned by the Columbia County school district into the modern era. The original school built in the late 1800s and not yet found was located somewhere inside this plot.
𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐊 𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐋:
A school called Deep Creek School (School District 50) was established here no later than 1895 and possibly earlier. Two maps, including the Metsker 1928 map and a 1926 Columbia County School District map (credit: Robb Wilson) indicate the school is located likely on the east side of the road, just north of the trestle. Old newspaper articles (thank you Eric DeWitt) indicate that the school existed around 1895 and seemed to have around 11-13 students at any given year. Records indicate that in about 1924 or 1925, the original school was replaced with a new building at a cost of $2500. ($48,000 in 2024 dollars). The would have been near the peak of logging in the area and so the school probably had a higher population students and needed bigger building. It was noted in the report, that this was the poorest district in the county. The school lasted through at least 1933 when it had 11 students (thanks Brandon Sundeen), but it’s not clear if it lasted much beyond that. Nearby Birkenfeld had a larger and much nicer school and by the mid 1930s, there were probably no more than 1 or 2 families living off of Deep Creek Rd, if any and all railroad logging had ended in this area by then. Robb Wilson said that the remains of the school could still be seen in the early 1980s. Sometime in the 1970s or 1980s, the road next to the school was realigned slightly and raised up to fly over a culvert. It's possible this alignment might have wiped out any remains of the school built in the 1920s.
I suspect the remains of the 1800s school or at least, it's site...is located further up the hillside.
The exact location of either school, the 1895 and 1924 buildings is a mystery but we have a couple of clues. Tax maps show a 1 acer plot located just off the road (see above map) that was owned by Columbia County School District for decades until 2004 when it was finally sold to Longview Fibre for $1600. 1951 and 1953 aerial photos show no hint of any buildings in this area. But a building does appear to exist just to the south, directly north of where the Elwood spur crossed the road. My theory is this is the 1924 school. Whether the 1924 was built over the original 1895 school or not, I don't know. But I have an elaborate theory!
My theory is that the 1895 school was built somewhere in the 1 acer plot you see on the map. That by the early 1920s, the logging camps and local population was growing enough that they needed a bigger or at least newer building and that building was located not only close to the road, but also close to the old Elwood Trestle and children either used the old trestle as a foot bridge or Kerry Jitneys dropped children off directly at the school itself.
