The Oregon-American Lumber Company was incorporated in 1917 by David C. Eccles of Utah, who who would later sell 80 percent of the company to the Central Coal & Coke Company of Kansas City, Missouri in 1921. The Oregon-American Lumber Company acquired the DuBois timber tract west of Vernonia in 1917 and would also incorporate the Portland, Astoria & Pacific Railroad Company to facilitate transportation of logs from the tract to the grounds of the Nehalem Boom Company, another Eccles venture. The company built a large sawmill in Vernonia in 1923, which dramatically transformed the formerly isolated town. Whereas in 1920, it was estimated that 140 people lived in Vernonia, by the time the mill was constructed in 1923, the population would be nearly 2,000. By the end of 1924, Vernonia had 9 churches, 2 theaters, 7 hotels, a bank, and 3 schools among other amenities. The company was also known for hiring minority workers as employees, including African American and Japanese men, though Vernonia was also noted for having a Ku Klux Klan presence in the 1920's. The company also operated in other areas in Columbia, Tillamook, and Clatsop counties. In particular, the company operated in Keasey, which became a prominent railroad logging town for the Oregon-American mill at Vernonia during the 1920's and 1930's. In 1953, the mill was sold to the Long-Bell Lumber Company, and by 1956, it was sold to the International Paper Company, which closed the Vernonia mill soon after. (Sources: The Oregon-American Lumber Company Ain't No More by Edward J. Kamholz, Jim Blain, and Gregory Kamholz and Lumber Ghosts by Kenneth A. Erickson)
Kinsey Brothers Photographs of the Lumber Industry, 1890-1945
