Mt. Baker Highway: History - Timber

Timber production has been crucial to Whatcom County’s economic growth. Each June, the Deming Logging Show celebrates logging traditions. Nearly all of the region’s “old growth” or virgin forest was harvested between 1890 and 1945. Old growth trees can be found in the Mt. Baker Wilderness and in the 1,400 acres of the North Fork Nooksack Research Natural Area (Hwy. Mile 43).

The first loggers were homesteaders, who settled the Nooksack River valley between 1860 and 1880. Commercial timber operations began in the 1880s. Oxen and horses dragged mighty logs down to the sawmills. It was back-breaking work, and serious injuries were common.

The advent of “steam donkey” engines dramatically increased timber production. In 1891, the Bellingham Bay and British Columbia Railroad Company completed a rail line connecting Bellingham with Sumas. Over the next 20 years, the company built about 70 spur lines to mills and logging camps.

Early this century, the Forest Service permitted logging and mining in the national forest as long as they didn’t impair recreational benefits. Forest Rangers designated which areas could be cut, but they couldn’t require companies to minimize environmental impact or replant trees. At the height of the boom in 1920, 75 saw mills were in operation. In 1925, Whatcom County’s lumber and shingle mills had processed 340,925,000 board feet. Although the number of mills dropped to 24, technological advances increased annual output to 258,626 board feet by 1959. To date, 90,000 acres of public land and 223,613 acres of private land have been harvested.

Timber production has dropped off in the last decade because the region is home to two threatened species, the Spotted Owl (also endangered) and the Marbled Murrelet.