The GOLD MEDAL SHINGLE MILL COMPANY
Last Update: November 27, 2025
Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp Looking North.
Our map of the general area, showing Elwood's Lane Crk Camp and the Gold Medal Shingle Mill.
Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp Looking East, Gold Medal Shingle Mill on the hill in the background.
Author: Brian P McCamish
The Kerry Line was a 40 plus mile long common carrier Logging railroad that was built from Kerry, just east of Westport, Oregon, where they had a mile long log dump on the Columbia River Slough and then south into the Oregon Coast Range. It was most famous for having a tunnel. First constructed in 1913, it reached a point called Sunnyside Camp, south of Birkenfeld, Oregon, by 1916 and eventually would total about 40 miles of mainline and in the neighborhood of hundreds of miles of logging spurs, operated by various logging companies. It lasted until 1938, although the section shown here on this map was logged out by 1926 and the mainline which connected to points further south, was abandoned in 1933.
One of those companies that logged and connected to the Kerry Line, was the Elwood Logging Company. Mr. Elwood first paired with a Mr. Snow to form the Elwood-Snow Logging Company in 1916 and logged lands just southeast of Neverstill for several years, until he moved his camp to the location shown here…along Lane Creek, in 1920. By 1919, Snow had left the company and Elwood renamed his operation with his name only. The Elwood Logging Camp located on Lane Creek would be in full operation by 1920 to log lands he owned to the southwest and was logged out by early 1925. At that point, Elwood moved to Buxton, Oregon, where he logged into the 1930s.
We have two really good Kinsey photos of Elwood’s Lane Creek logging camp and here we share them colorized and sharpened. In one of those photos, we discovered that a previously unknown mill existed in the ravine, up the hill, from Elwood’s camp. The photo was likely taken sometime around 1922, which would have been about half way through operations for the company at this location.
We don't know a lot of details about the history of the mill. A lot has been lost to history and time, but we were able to piece together some things based on some newspaper articles and other sources. There are no clear or close up photos of the mill that I've been able to find, so unfortunately what you see here is the best I can do. Kinsey captured the mill off in the distance when he photographed Elwood's Lane Creek Camp and that's the only reason we even knew it existed.
A period log truck like what the Gold Medal Shingle Mill may have used.
Log siding for the Elwood Logging Company
Clark Kinsey took the two photos on the right in what we believe to be around 1922ish. They are of the Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp. On the left is a zoomed in section of the far right photo, where Matt Wolford first discovered mill site. In fact, we had a lower resolution of this photo for several years, but it wouldn't be until we obtained this high resolution version that the elusive shingle mill would be discovered to have existed.
This was a pretty significant size 4 machine shingle mill and it was called the Gold Medal Shingle Mill, operated by a company of the same name. This is not to be confused with a larger "Gold Medal Shingle Mill" that existed in Portland, Oregon and burned to the ground in 1911. As shown in the photo, the mill was located just up the hill side from Elwood's Lane Creek Camp, but Elwood's involvement in building or operating the mill is a little bit questionable. We think he may have financed it's original construction in 1918, along with L. B. Menefee who also was part owner of the Elwood Logging Company both being silent partners originally. 1918 predated when Elwood would build the Lane Creek Camp shown in the photos and at that time he was logging out of the Elwood-Snow Camp a little distance to the north on the Kerry Line. His last spur from this operation did come close to the Gold Medal Shingle Mill site, but we don't think they actually connected. Lidar is not very clear in this area. We believe the mill got most or all of it's logs for it's Shingle operations from the immediate area around the mill and then used trucks to log areas a little further distance. There was a truck road that lead directly to the mill from a county road down below and we are very certain that a short railroad spur extended from the Kerry Line to a siding next to this road where shingles were loaded onto railroad cars. We do know for sure that the shingles were shipped out by rail and this is the only possible way that could have happened.
Logging and railroad items found at the Elwood Logging Company's Lane Creek Camp when friends Matt Carter, Will Cochran and I, visited the site in early 2025.
The following history is pieced together through various sources and newspaper articles and Timber and Lumber magazine reports.
In 1918, one article reports that the owner of the Elwood Logging Company builds this shingle mill to employ about 50 men, which had a camp and housing built near the mill. The Elwood Logging Company was incorporated in May 1917 to separate itself from the Elwood-Snow Logging Company which was logging north of here. The 2nd or new Elwood Logging Company had L. B. Menefee as part owner and Menefee owned and operated a number of mills, including shingles in the Portland area and other places. However, another source indicates this mill was actually built by M. J. Campbell and called the Matt Campbell Shingle Mill. In all likelihood the two men probably collaborated. Also, reports indicate that Campbell sold out and moved to Clatskanie where he operated another Shingle Mill and later he operated a mill out of Keasey. The Campbell family is said to have moved to Neverstill, around 1917 which was less than 3 miles by county road to the mill and then moved away around 1919 or 1920.
This coincides with other reports that in December 1919, the M. J. Campbell Company changed it's corporate name to the Gold Medal Shingle Company. We believe the Matt Campbell sold his interests in this mill to what we believe were his other partners, Elwood and Manafee.
In January 1922, the Gold Medal Shingle Mill was sold to the Nehalem Shingle Mill Company who was going to operate it as a cooperative. In March, 1922, the the owners Gold Medal Shingle Mill Company dissolved the company, with the mill now sold. It's unclear if the mill was ever operated by the Nehalem Shingle Mill Company or if it was left idle. But early reports say the mill was being "overhauled" at the time of it's sale. By 1923, the mill sold again, back to Elwood and now other investors.
Jas Elwood, W.P. Shively, W.R. Shively and F.R. Jackson, reincorporate the Gold Medal Shingle Mill Company name and repurchased the mill in late 1923. F.R. Jackson would be the mill manager through 1926. I can only guess that Elwood, having been operating his Logging Camp in 1922 and 1923 just a short distance from the mill, probably thought that he could make use of the mill and restart it since it was so close to his operation.
In 1924, the mill suffered a major loss, when a fire destroyed the mill's Kiln and 39 trucks of shingles inside, along with 1.5 million shingles stored outside. The main mill survived, and the Kiln was rebuilt.
A 1926 listing in the Directory of West Coast Lumbering, listed the Gold Medal Shingle Mill Company, on the Kerry Line as shipping to Kerry, Oregon and beyond. They had 4 Shingle machines, dry kilns, gravity rolls and a conveyor system and was steam powered. The manager that year was the previously mentioned, F. R. Jackson.
In June, 1926, another fire started at the mill, this time, destroying all of the stored logs and shingles on the property at a value of $25,000. Although the mill itself was saved again. Just 2 years earlier the new corporation had a capital investment of $10,000, so this was a huge loss. That combined with a very poor shingle market in 1926...the area likely having been mostly tapped out of easy to reach timber and the excess cost of repairs, all likely combined to doom the future of the mill. The mill remained listed in the 1927 Directory of the Lumber Industry, but it's not clear if it was operational or was rebuilt. No further mention could be found after that. In all likelihood the mill was shut down and disassembled for good. The main owners had long moved on away from the Kerry Line and the shingle market was still poor by then.
The mill did not appear to have a log pond and logs were likely stored dry, possibly southeast of the mill. Many logs were brought in through a huge landing where several long turn roads brought logs in almost directly behind the mill. A truck road was constructed to the north to allow truck logging up in that area. It’s not clear where else they might have gotten their logs. It seems as though the mill may have lasted as long as 7 years, which is remarkable for a large mill to have relied entirely on the local area, however, having suffered several fires and low shingle prices, it's very likely the mill was idle for a substantial percentage of it's existence.
Remains and artifacts I found at and near the Gold Medal Shingle Mill site when I visited the
site in early fall of 2025. Surprisingly little remains, indicating to me the site was stripped bare and the mill disassembled after it shut down.
Other than some large cable piles, there is not much left at the mill site. A modern logging road, first built in 1952, now plows right through where the mill once stood.
One interesting find was a single intact bottle that had a very rare makers mark. That makers mark identified the bottle as being made between 1917-1919, which is exactly the time period the Mill was constructed. A camp was located near the mill, although I couldn't find clear evidence of this camp on my first trip to the area. We will be returning to the area for more research and will update this article.
As for the Elwood Logging Company, that operation down on the flat, ended when they were cut out and the camp was picked up and moved in mid 1925 to Buxton, Oregon. However, Elwood left the engine house and machine shop still standing and when the first aerial photos were taken of the area in 1951, that lone building could still be seen, along with the farm house and barn, directly to the east of the camp and visible in the photo. The barn at the base of the mill haul road was also visible in 1951, but not for long.
By the late 1950s, this entire area was purchased and consolidated by the Longview Fibre company as their first tree farm and all buildings and structures were removed, razed or burned. Today, the land is owned by Weyerhaeuser.
We're still exploring and researching this operation, so more information and photos are likely to come in the future.
If you have more information and would like to share, feel free to email the author, Brian McCamish here.
One and only period bottle found at the mill site has a makers mark that dates it to the exact time period of when the mill would have been constructed. A broach from the homestead at the base of the mill's truck road and a rail road spike, among other spikes found, indicating that a loading spur existed at the base of the truck road where shingles were loaded into rail cars.
Relevant Newspaper reports and articles.
