Jack Bowden Logging Railroads Collection, 1910-2005

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Bowden, Jack
Title
Jack Bowden Logging Railroads Collection
Dates
1910-2005 (inclusive)
Quantity
8 linear feet, (14 boxes and 1 map cabinet)
Collection Number
SHL013
Summary
The collection consists of research material on Oregon, northern California, and northwestern Nevada logging and freight railroads, logging companies and mills in the area, correspondence, drafted maps, images, DVDs and maps. Jack Bowden (John Curtis Bowden) translated a life-long love of railroads into a career with the Southern Pacific Railroad, two books and a research collection created over 60 years.
Repository
Oregon Institute of Technology Libraries, Shaw Historical Library
Oregon Institute of Technology Libraries
3201 Campus Drive
Klamath Falls, OR
97601
Telephone: 5418851772
Fax: 5418851777
libtech@oit.edu
Access Restrictions

The collection is open for research use.

Languages
English
Sponsor
Funding for encoding this finding aid was provided through a grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Biographical NoteReturn to Top

Jack Bowden (John Curtis Bowden) translated a life-long love of railroads into a career with the Southern Pacific Railroad, two books and a research collection created over 60 years. He grew up in small towns on both side of the Oregon-California border, after his father found work with Southern Pacific Railroad in 1926. Jack spent his career also working for the Southern Pacific Railroad in Oregon, California and Nevada. He went to work after his high school graduation as a railroad clerk, but most of his career was spent as a brakeman and conductor. He retired from the railroad in 1995.

Jack Bowden collected materials about regional railroads for more than 60 years. With Tom Dill, Jack wrote The Modoc: Southern Pacific’s Backdoor to Oregon (2002). He also wrote and illustrated the definitive book Railroad Logging in Klamath Country (2003). His other writing included articles and illustrations for The Trumpeter, the Klamath County Historical Society newsletter.

Jack Bowden was born on January 2, 1934 in Provolt, Oregon. In 1955 he married his wife, Marlene. They have two sons, John David Bowden and Michael Wayne Bowden.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The collection consists of research material on Oregon, northern California, and northwestern Nevada logging and freight railroads, logging companies and mills in the area, correspondence, drafted maps, images, DVDs and maps. It is arranged into Series I: Logging Railroads (9 boxes), Series II: Local History (1 box), Series III: Audio Visual (2 boxes), and Series IV: Maps (2 boxes and 1 cabinet).

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

Before materials from the Shaw Historical Library may be quoted in print or otherwise reproduced in whole or in part in any publication, exhibit, broadcast or other manner, the user must obtain permission from the owner of the physical property and the holder of the copyright. Copyright status for collections in the Shaw Historical Library varies. Reproduction of any item must contain a complete citation to the original. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user.

Preferred Citation

[item identification], Jack Bowden Logging Railroads Collection, The Shaw Historical Library, Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, Oregon.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

The collection is arranged into Series I: Logging Railroads, Series II: Local History, Series III: Audio Visual, and Series IV: Maps.

Location of Collection

Shaw Historical Library

Acquisition Information

Donated to the Shaw Historical Library by Jack Bowden.

Processing Note

Materials arranged into series by subject during processing.

Separated Materials

Bowden's books and pamphlets have been individually cataloged into the Shaw Historical Library's collection.

Related Materials

Copies of Jack Bowden’s books, Railroad Logging in Klamath Country (2003) and The Modoc: Southern Pacific’s Backdoor to Oregon (2002) with Tom Dill are in the holdings of the Shaw Historical Library.

A December, 2010 oral history interview with Jack Bowden is part of the Oral History Collection of the Shaw Historical Library.

Copies of the Klamath County Historical Society's newsletter, The Trumpeter, are also in the holdings of the Shaw Historical Library.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Series I:  Logging RailroadsReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
1
Wooden Box Campaign
1
Pit river #1-2
1
PG&E - Mt. Shasta Power Corp. Bartle (MCRR)
1
Lassen Lumber & Box Company
1
Weyerhaeuser
1
Great Southern Railroad, The Dalles Southern
1
LaMoine Lbr. & Trading Co.
1
Kesterson
1
Forest Lumber Company - Kirk, Mazama
1
Westwood California Red River fruit growers
1
Iron Mountain RR
1
Lake Tahoe area
1
Sacramento Valley & Eastern Railway
1
Columbia Southern
1
Lamm Lumber Company - Chinchalo, Kirk
1
Anderson & Bella Vista Railway
1
Brooks-Scanlon Bend (GN)
1
OC&E Ry
1
Crane Creek Lumber Company- Willow Ranch, (SP)
1
Algoma Lumber Company - Kirk, Algoma
1
Eastern Oregon area
1
Klamath Lake Railroad Copco Railroad
1
Fruit Growers Supply Hilt (SP)
1
Shaw-Bertram Lumber Company: Kirk, Chemult, West Switchback
1
Crater Lake Lumber Company-Sprague River
1
Feather River area
1
Klamath Northern
2
Weed Lumber Company, Long-Bell Lumber Company, Weed-Tennant (SP)
2
Brookings, CA
2
Crescent City, CA area
2
Westfir
2
Shelvin-Hixon Lumber Company- Bend area (GN)
2
Big Lakes Box. Co. Canby Railroad
2
Ackley Brothers Lumber Company
2
Palmerton Lumber Company
2
California & Oregon Coast RR- Marble Mtn. Mine RR
2
Oregon Northwestern Railroad Hines Lumber Company
2
Macdoel Penoyar area
2
Pelican Bay Lumber Company: Odessa, Bly, Kirk
2
Mohawk Valley, OR
2
Diamond Match Logging RR
2
Condon Kinzua & Southern Kinzua Lumber Co.
2
Almanor RR, Chester Logging RR, Indian Valley RR
2
Ewauna Box Company
2
Glendale, OR
2
Medco, Owens Oregon Lumber Company, Pacific Eastern
2
Owyhee
2
Southern Oregon Coast
2
Mount Shasta
3
Rogue River Valley Railway
3
Owyhee and its dam
3
Chiloquin Tbr. Co.
3
Coos Bay area
3
McCloud River Railroad
3
Deschutes Railroad (UP)
3
Pickering Lumber Company- Hackamore (SP)
3
Buck Rock Tunnel
3
Pucket
3
Nevada-California-Oregon
3
McGiffert Information
3
Braymill-White Pine Lumber Co., Oshkosh Lumber Co.
3
Wheeler-Olmstead Lumber Co.
3
Shasta View Lumber and Box Co.
3
Sumpter Valley Railroad
3
Klamath Machine and Locomotive Works
3
Miscellaneous small lumber companies
3
Trouble on the woods line
3
Timber units, tracts, sales, etc
3
California Northeastern
3
Mount Hebron Lbr. Co.
3
Oregon Eastern Branch Union Pacific
3
Old newspaper clippings of Klamath County Logging
3
Portland division bulletins
1926
3
Canby & Big Lakes Camp
3
Paper railroads
3
Terry Lumber Co. Round Mountain
3
Delta consolidated mining company
4
Wooden Box Campaign
4
Geared Locomotives: Shay, Climax, Heisler, Willamette
4
Miscellaneous Loco Rosters
4
Logging Locomotive info from Lima Shop Cards
4
Weyerhaeuser and OC&E Map
4
Extra copies Weyerhaeyser papers
4
Crater National Forest
1950
4
Modoc Ranger Dist
4
Braymill - White Pine Lumber Co. Willamette Papers #1
4
Port Supt Notices
1926
4
Weyco
4
Logging Locomotives
4
McCloud River Railroad Records
4
McCloud River Railroad Summary
4
Siskiyou County Sawmills
4
Terry Mill
4
Long Bell block maps
5
Castella & Soda Creek
5
Siskiyou Lumber Co. - Jerome
5
Delta Consolidated Mining Company - Delta, CA
5
Nine Lumber Co. - Leaf-Penoyar
5
Mr. D.S. Richter
5
Terry Lumber Co.
5
GN vs. SP
5
California & Oregon Coast RR Grants Pass
5
Johnson-Pollock Jerome
5
Logging Camp Life
5
Oregon State History
5
Logging II Characters
5
Delays to GN trains on joint track
5
Kirk & Martin
5
Algoma
5
Warko
5
Lumber Company List
5
Proposed Crossing (Modoc LBR Co.) Sprague (Calimus)
5
Braymill
5
Chelsea Pelican City
5
Klamath Lake Railroad Papers
5
Mccomber Savage Spur just West of Calimus
5
Pine Ridge
5
Lumberton
5
SP Locomotive Assignments
6
Map Klamath Lake RR at Thrall
6
Map, Fruit Growers Supply Company, Lassen Operation
6
Map, Klamath Quadrangle, 1895, Copy
6
Map, Lakeview District BLM
6
Map info: Crater Lake Lbr. Co.
6
Shaw - Bertram line at Chemult
6
Malheur Valley RR - Oregon Eastern
6
Up the Kilchis
6
OC&E R.W and property map
6
Jerry Harmons Rosters
6
Oregon rivers & streams many short line railroad and branch lines
6
Shevlin - Hixon Summit Cmp
6
Shevlin - Hixon Lbr. Co. Lost Creek Camp
6
Siskiyou County, California Lumber Mills
6
Klamath County, Oregon Lumber Mills
7
Klamath Falls logging related newspaper articles
1916-1934
7
Passenger Equiptment
7
Coast Area Railroad maps
7
Miscellaneous Foreign Line RR maps from CTC Magazine, etc
7
Northern California information: McCloud, Long-Bell, Siskiyou/Modoc Counties
7
Mixed xerox copies of maps all areas
7
Klamath Indian Reservation map
7
SP Electric Lines map
1917
7
USGS map of the Klamath Basin in 1905
7
Harris Springs
7
C.G. Nash Report on Medford Logging Line
7
Reynolds Lumber Company
7
OC&E
7
Benton Lumber Company
7
Back side of Mt. Shasta
7
Pacific and Eastern Railroad--Trumpeter
7
Sawmills of Northern Siskiyou Co. Southern Siskiyou Co.
7
Copco map - ownership land around upper Klamath Lake
7
Butt Lake
7
Shasta Dam Central Valley Project
7
California-Oregon Power Company Copco Lake Project
7
Place names
7
Dan Rancer
8
Land fraud
8
O.D. Nichols and W.F. Price Time books
8
Klamath County History Logging
8
Crater Lake
8
Dorris
8
Bend Museum papers
8
Natron cut off, Blackbutte cut off, Weed Lumber Co. Line
8
Specs. For Weyco Locos. No. 5, 6 & 7
8
Klamath Indian Reservation Map of Timber Sale Units
8
Bowden logging railroad maps
8
Various Lumber Companies
8
Logging Railroad Maps
8
Logging Industry Research Material
9
Long-Bell lookout area
9
Poison Lake
9
Lassen Feather River
9
Truckee-Oroville Triangle
9
FGS Hilt
9
Pacific Eastern Medco
9
La Pine
9
West of Gazelle
9
North Coast
9
Burns-Seneca - Oregon Northwestern
9
California & Oregon Coast RR - Crescent City, Smith River-Brookings
9
Modoc Siskiyou McCloud River
9
Coquille-Fairview-Bandon
9
Mt. Shasta Aeronautical Section 1938 R
9
Upper Klamath Lake Area 1923 USGS
9
Map of the Dalles-California highway from Bend to Klamath County Line, showing certain Brooks-Scanlon & Shevlin-Hixon lines
9
Mt. Hebron
9
Pickering Hackamore
9
OC & E - SP Connection
9
Dufur Friend
9
States of Oregon 1930 roads only
9
Deschutes National Forest #1
1940
9
Pacific and Eastern Railway Maps
9
Coastal Railroads
9
Lumber Mills
9
Logging Images
9
Railroad Logging, Various

Series II:  Local HistoryReturn to Top

1 box
Container(s) Description Dates
Box
10
Tule Lake Relocation Center
10
Obituaries
10
Big Bands
10
Local Area History
10
Rachael Applegate good history of Klamath County
1940

Series III:  Audio-Visual MaterialsReturn to Top

2 boxes
Container(s) Description
Box
11
Images
12
Images
12
BNSF Railway's Gateway Sub DVD
12
BNSF Railway's Oregon Trunk Subdivision DVD

Series IV:  MapsReturn to Top

2 boxes and 1 cabinet, 2 linear feet

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Logging railroads – History
  • Lumber trade--West (U.S.)

Personal Names

  • Bowden, Jack, 1934- --Archives

Geographical Names

  • Klamath County (Or.)