New Collection in OSU Archives’ Flickr Commons: The Harold Frodsham Photographic Collection

We’ve seen the natural beauty of the Pacific NW landscape and the view from loggers in the forests, now we turn our focus inside — to the historic mill pictures in the Harold Frodsham Photographic Collection.

Harold Frodsham was the general manager of the commercial and mercantile departments of the Red River Lumber Company in Westwood, California, from the mid-1920s until 1934, when his position was eliminated. Frodsham, from England, died in Susanville, California in 1958 (he had lived in Westwood and Susanville since the early 1920s).

The Red River Lumber Company was organized in 1883 in Minnesota and began acquiring northeastern California timberland in 1894. The Company began construction of Westwood, its company town in southwestern Lassen County, California, in 1912. The lumber mill at Westwood was essentially completed by 1918 and operated until the mid-1950s.

The Harold Frodsham Photograph Collection consists of 19 images of the interiors and exteriors of lumber mills in Oregon during Frodsham’s tour of mills in Oregon and northern California. The original prints are 3.5 x 5.5 inches and are annotated with detailed descriptions. The collection includes images of the Booth-Kelly Lumber Company (Springfield), Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company (Bend), Pelican Bay Lumber Company (Klamath Falls), Shevlin-Hixon Company (Bend), and Silverton Lumber Company (Silverton). You’ll also find photographs showing hauling equipment, stackers, and conveyors, as well as one image of the Brooks-Scanlon Lumber Company Camp 1 in central Oregon, where Ponderosa pine is being logged.

What else can you tell us?

To read more about the collection, check out the guide to the Harold Frodsham Photograph Collection.

All of the images are available online in the Oregon Explorer Digital Collection of historic photographs.