Replica installed at environmental education center is a legacy to lumbering
By Howard Buck
Published: July 29, 2011, 5:00pm
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Mike Brown, a work foreman with Clark Public Utilities, left, and Richard Johnson, right, a retired fish and wildlife employee and foundation board member for Columbia Springs, work together to guide a historically accurate replica of a fourteen foot waterwheel Friday July 29, 2011 in Vancouver, Washington. The project called "Step back in time" marks a historic location where the first lumber mill was located during the early 1800's when the Hudson's Bay company made a presence in the region.Photo Gallery
Past and present met Friday morning at the Columbia Springs Environmental Education Center.
It was a good match.
The upper half of a replica 14-foot diameter water wheel was lowered precisely into place — all 3,000 pounds of rough-hewn Douglas fir and heavy steel hubs — so that nuts slid easily onto large bolts, just as planned.
“Comin’ down easy … real easy,” barked Pat Slawson, expertly manipulating the large Clark Public Utilities boom lift donated for the 90-minute task. His crew mate, Mike Brown, gave careful instructions as he held a thick guide rope.
By mid-August, the standout addition to the old Vancouver Fish Hatchery grounds should be fully installed to serve its purpose: to honor the birthplace of lumbering in the Pacific Northwest, as practiced by Euro-Americans.
Mounted atop twin 9-foot concrete pedestals near Columbia Springs’ west parking lot, the water wheel lies a short distance from where Dr. John McLoughlin had Hudson’s Bay Company workers build the region’s first water-powered sawmill in 1828.
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Fort Vancouver workers felled timber for the burgeoning settlement, and before long, lumber was exported to points beyond. The Northwest’s signature industry was born.
Later, in the 1860s, Lewis Love’s gristmill replaced the sawmill, which lay in a small, sharp chasm that lies between Southeast Evergreen Highway and the Columbia River bank, just east of — and far below — the Interstate 205 bridge.
Original gristmill stones are displayed at Columbia Springs. It’s where 5,500 area students drop in each year to learn the cycles of native fish and other riparian creatures integral to the Northwest’s natural abundance.
The historically accurate water wheel, which might someday revolve over an active water fixture, is a meaningful addition.
“The story of the birth of lumbering right here in our backyard, in this urban setting, is pretty exciting,” said Richard Johnson, veteran member of the Columbia Springs board of directors.
“It’s a good story to be told, especially to the young. They learn about the biology of the neighborhood; we wanted them to learn the history, too,” he said.
Johnson, 68, a retired state fish and wildlife employee for 37 years, played a lead role on the project.
He did much of the sawing and fitting and bolting of the large, treated fir slabs supplied by a Battle Ground lumber firm. He did some of the work at home but assembled most of the pieces on the center grounds. The team followed blueprints drawn up by Portland architect Richard Bixby.
The project’s budget settled at about $44,000. The center won a Clark County historical promotion grant of $21,186 last year, with many local suppliers, donors and volunteer labor covering the rest.
“There’s a lot of monkey work, a lot of sweat work, to get this up and secure,” Johnson said Friday, happy for the big step but not quite yet finished.
Center officials hope to finish up — 24 wooden paddles, or “buckets,” must be completed and attached — in time to show off the large wheel during the Hooked! event on Aug. 18. The evening of live music, food and wine, and carnival games is a popular summer fundraiser.
A new interpretive panel will fully explain the history and impact of the original sawmill. There also are distant plans to construct a partial replica sawmill a few yards away, Johnson said.
