Porter W. Yett was born in Tennessee in 1892, and came to Portland with his family while still a young child. In 1911, at the age of 19, he joined with William D. Wheelwright and Sanderson Reed to form the City Motor Trucking Company, delivering paving materials to construction projects around Portland. Mr. Yett was the manager of the company. In 1927, while continuing to operate City Motor Trucking, he became interested in transit concrete mixers, trucks which mixed concrete while they were en route to the construction site. The following year he was one of the founders of Swigert, Hart & Yett Company which specialized in concrete mixing and delivery. He made several improvements to the trucks over the years. An active athlete and outdoorsman, he was involved in baseball, boxing, football, fishing and hunting. He died in 1962.
The films in the Porter W. Yett Motion Picture Collection were taken by Mr. Yett in the early years of the Swigert, Hart & Yett Company to document their construction projects. The films were used for marketing and promotion of the company's services and products. Several cement and concrete projects are featured including ramps to the Broadway Bridge, widening and paving several Portland streets, the Denver Avenue viaduct, and grain elevators on the Willamette River. A number of buildings are included, among them a Buick warehouse, Shell Oil plant, an addition to Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church, and Grand Central Public Market. The collection also contains films taken during trips to Crater Lake, Boston, and New York.
Each film has been numbered separately.
Preview videotape available for materials noted below.
The collection is open to the public. Only materials with preview videotapes are available to view.
The Oregon Historical Society is the owner of the materials in the Research Library and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from the Research Library before any reproduction use. The Society does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from the copyright owners.
Porter W. Yett Company Motion Picture Collection, Oregon Historical Society Research Library.
Gift of Steve Yett, 1998, accession number 23454.
Some materials were not copied to video due to damage or the fragile condition of the original film.
The collection is indexed under the following headings in the online catalog. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons, or places should search the catalog using these headings:
This film documents concrete construction techniques of the 1920s. The film especially shows building a street using shovels and a pneumatic tamper at a downtown Portland construction site, possibly on Third Avenue. The middle segment shows a company picnic.
There are four segments to this film. The first shows a paving project on SE Morrison St. between Water and First Avenue. There are several scenes of men working with the newly poured cement to level and smooth it. The location shown in the second segment is unknown. It shows men pouring cement at a construction site near trolley or railroad tracks. The third segment is again near the east bank of the Willamette River, and includes the waterfront from the Hawthorne Bridge to the Morrison Bridge. It includes footage of several gravel barges covered in snow. The final segment shows the construction of the Sears, Roebuck Co. building. It includes scenes of the work site and pouring concrete over rebar.
There are four segments in this film. The first shows a paving project on E. Burnside at 3rd Avenue. It includes footage of cement mixers and African-American laborers. The second segment shows a freight truck from Portland-Eugene W.V.T. (Willamette Valley Transfer) Co. at a loading dock on SE Water Avenue as traffic goes around it. The third segment shows equipment on a freight train (the box was labeled "plant on rock car." The final segment shows workmen mixing concrete at a construction site near a residential neighborhood. No exact location is given.
There are four segments in this film. The first shows a roadbuilding project near an airport, possibly on Swan Island, including the workmen stopping to watch a small plane landing. The second segment shows the repair of a street where the old concrete had been cut. There are closeup views of the edge of the old concrete showing the gravel and stones included. The third segment demonstrates a machine for smoothing and tamping large areas such as roadways. The final segment shows construction of a Portland Electric Power Company (PEPCo) conduit near the Portland airport. The workmen are filling a ditch containing a pipe.
There are five segments in this film. The first shows a keg-shaped cement mixer truck with a gear and chain drive mechanism to keep the drum revolving. The truck is shown, often in close-up, pouring cement into large crates for dumping over reinforcement in the paving of Front Avenue. The second segment shows a broadcast tower being built for KGW radio, and emphasizes the reinforcement and pipes that will be covered by the concrete. The third segment is a family trip to Crater Lake, and features the chipmunks of the area. The fourth segment is a short scene of golfing, and may be part of the Crater Lake trip. The final segment shows another style of concrete mixer truck with a conical style of drum. Several of the trucks are lined up to show how they tilt when pouring. The trucks are then loaded inside a shed. The film ends with the trucks delivering cement into chutes at a construction site.
The film starts with an outdoor use of the Yett Transit System for delivering cement, showing a truck on a ramp next to the building site. Using up only three feet of the street, so traffic can pass, the mixer truck pours concrete into a hopper which is lifted to the top of the construction site and dumped into the form. The second scene shows a similar truck pouring concrete into indoor forms for a warehouse floor.
The film opens with construction trucks on a downtown street blocking one lane of traffic as they deliver materials to the construction site. Several dump trucks back up a short ramp to deliver their loads into a hopper. The second section shows the finale of construction of additional storage units for grain at Terminal No. 4 in St. Johns. The wooden tower used to deliver concrete to the top of the building site is pulled down on 4 September 1930. Two men involved in the expansion project, Albert Merrill of the Commission of Public Docks and Mr. Fargo, the contractor's chief engineer, settle a bet regarding the fallen tower.
Appearing: Albert D. Merrill, Mr. Fargo.
The film shows the paving of a residential street, from the dumping of the concrete to the smoothing of the finished road surface.
This film shows several stages of the construction of the Denver Avenue viaduct over the Oregon Slough to the Interstate Bridge. It shows a coffer dam holding back the river while underwater concrete is poured into the forms for the abutment. It then shows the building of the roadway atop the abutments. A Pope & Talbot lumber mill is in the background.
This film shows city and county officials inspecting several road building projects including paving commercial streets, paving residential streets in the city and suburbs, and street widening in the city and suburbs.
Appearing: Clay S. Morse, Multnomah County Commissioner; Porter W. Yett; Angus Fleming, Chief City Street Inspector (Portland); George Buck, Multnomah County Road Master; Mr. Osborne, Paris Transit Mixer Co.; Charles F. Swigert; Jesse Hannam, Supervising Engineer (Portland).
Scenes of the construction of the concrete silos at the Kerr Gifford & Co. grain elevator on the Willamette River. The film includes many views of the construction site, moving the concrete by truck, hopper, chutes and wheelbarrows. The silos are approximately five stories high when the film was taken. One scene shows close-ups of several unidentified men, possibly managers of either the construction or the flouring operation.
This film shows the construction of the Tenth Avenue ramp to the Broadway Bridge. It includes views of the construction site, pouring concrete from mixer trucks through several kinds of chutes, preparation of forms for pouring footings, wall and roadbed, and using wheelbarrows to move concrete from truck to pouring site. There are several good close-up views of working concrete around steel reinforcing rods.
Appearing: Fred T. Fowler, City of Portland bridge engineer; Alfred Hansen, A.M. Pilbuch, City of Portland bridge inspectors; Mr. Lindstrom, general contractor.
2 copies. Second copy not repaired due to fragile condition.
Continuing the construction of the ramp to the Broadway Bridge, including pouring the sidewalk area connected to the ramp. The film includes many scenes of the reinforcing steel used on the ramp, pouring and tamping the concrete around the reinforcement, and overviews of the construction site. The railroad yards are shown briefly.
2 copies. Appearing: Olaf Laurgaard, Portland City Engineer.
The film opens with scenes of loading cement into mixing trucks at the Swigert, Hart & Yett plant. Examples are shown of road paving, including tamping and rolling the surface, and paving an alleyway, where space is extremely limited. Further examples include widening East Broadway and paving Omaha Avenue and a ramp to the Broadway Bridge. Several men inspect the work, and enjoy some chewing tobacco. Includes scenes of the railyards near the Broadway Bridge, and the construction elevator used to move concrete to the upper parts of the construction site.
Appearing: D.W. Rowe, engineer for Lindstrom & Feigenson; Geo. B. Herrington, secretary of the Portland chapter of Associated General Contractors; Wm. Feigenson, president of Lindstrom & Feigenson; H.D. Mercer, secretary and treasurer of Mercer Steel Co.; Mr. Lindstrom of Lindstrom & Feigenson; Alfred Hanson, an inspector.
Documentation of the "old method" of road paving in which the materials to form the concrete were delivered separately and mixed on site. The film shows the stockpiles of gravel and sand, the bags of dry cement along the side of the project, and the mixing machine which produced each load of concrete.
2 copies.
Filmed on a large construction site, this reel demonstrates the use of a large chute for delivering concrete several stories below street level. Mixers pour concrete directly into some of the chutes which appear to be about two stories long. Other trucks pour their loads into hoppers which lift the concrete up to the beginning of the chute. All of the chutes are delivering concrete to a rebar-covered floor area.
The film begins with concrete being poured into a portable mixer truck at Swigert, Hart & Yett's main plant. Gravel is delivered, and dumped into a pit from where a conveyor belt takes it up to the hopper to be added to the mixture. The scene moves to a road-paving site where several children watch the crew pouring and smoothing the cement. Mr. Yett explains the procedure to Mr. Morse and Mr. Fleming. Hoses sprinkle water on the curing concrete after it has been leveled and tamped using a long board. The group next moves to an alley in a residential area where there is little extra space between the houses to demonstrate how well the mixer trucks work in tight areas. The men stand on boards suspended over the street to smooth the concrete as there is no room to use their usual long-handled rollers. The film ends with Mr. Buck inspecting a newly paved road.
Appearing: Clay S. Morse (Multnomah County commissioner), Porter W. Yett (Manager, Swigert, Hart & Yett, Inc.), Angus Fleming (chief Portland city street inspector), George Buck (Multnomah County road master).
Scenes of several construction projects, beginning with a large building, then a site near the Steel Bridge, a round storage building, and a site requiring cement footings, possibly the Broadway Bridge ramp.
Camerawork is wobbly and erratic.
The film begins with a large crane hoisting a section of metal support into place. Then the roadbed is prepared and poured. Trolley tracks supports are laid in the concrete on the outside lanes of the viaduct. The film includes many views of the steel reinforcements for the concrete. It also shows a small tractor. Lindstrom & Feigenson are the contractors for the project.
The film is in four segments. The first shows the Swigert, Hart & Yett plant where mobile mixers are being loaded. The second documents building a cement wall at the Shell Oil Plant in northwest Portland. The third shows mixer trucks delivering to a building site where a hopper is used is used to pour concrete. The fourth shows the beginning of the construction of the Sunday School building at Mt. Tabor Presbyterian Church on Belmont Street. In one scene a trolley passes the building site.
2 copies.
This film shows the building of a concrete wall, partially below ground level. Wheelbarrows are used to move the concrete from the mixer truck to the forms. The film ends with the finished wall.
The film documents the construction of the Grand Central Public Market building (later Grand Central Bowl, a bowling alley) on SE Morrison between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The footage includes several pans of the neighboring buildings, as well as images of the construction work. Construction scenes include pouring the concrete floor, driving pilings, moving concrete with wheelbarrows, filling forms around rebar, and smoothing out the poured concrete.
The film shows the construction of a ramp to the Broadway Bridge, emphasizing the retaining walls and the closely spaced reinforcing steel that the concrete must surround. There are also scenes (repeated in other films) that show the Portland railyards, men wiring reinforcing steel rods together into a framework, the use of timber falsework, excavating with dragline and shovels, and a elevator used to raise concrete from the mixer truck to the hopper for filling wheelbarrows. There is also a scene of men using chewing tobacco.
Repeats scenes from MI 06273, MI 06274, MI 06276, MI 06281, and MI 06288.
The film begins with a steam-powered pile driver working in the midst of a large construction site. Part of the site is a lumber storage yard for the building of forms. After the pilings are all in place, reinforcing steel rods are laid in a mesh over them. There are many scenes of the concrete being poured by wheelbarrows on various levels of the construction, and men adjusting equipment throughout the site. By the end of the film the grain silos are more than one story high. In the final scenes, a man sits atop the chute pouring cement from the hopper into the wheelbarrows to operate the control gate.
The film opens with a close look at the retaining walls on the 10th Avenue ramp to the Broadway Bridge. The next section shows concrete being poured between the ties on railway tracks, and steel reinforcement being wired together. There are several views of timber falsework, followed by digging using dragline and shovels. The end of the film returns to the Broadway Bridge site.
The film shows two paving projects. The first widens East Broadway (now NE Broadway) by several feet on each edge of the street. One side of the street is nearly finished when this footage was taken. Workmen are pouring and filling the other side. Traffic moves down the middle of the road, on the old street bed, and on the side streets. The second project is the paving of Omaha Avenue (now N. Omaha Ave.). One side of the street has been finished, and work continues on the other half. The project is inspected by several men, including Charles Swigert, part owner of Perfect Mix Cement.
Appearing: Mr. Osborne (Paris Transit Mixer Co.), Chas. F. Swigert (Swigert-Hart & Yett Co.), Jesse Hannam (supervising engineer of street paving, Portland)
Various scenes around a cement company plant including an old-style mixing truck, the aggregate storage piles, the interior of the mixing plant, tilting the cement mixer by hand and washing out the interior of the mixer, filling a mixer truck, and the conveyors used to move sacks of cement to the second story of the mixer building.
Note on can reads "Seattle film."
Documenting several Boston area concrete and aggregate companies: Boston Transit Mixers, Boston Concrete Corp., and William I. McCormack Sand Co. Also includes harbor scenes, various cement plants, and a railyard in the snow.
Camerawork is wobbly and erratic.
Many scenes of city streets after a snowstorm, including horse-drawn wagons removing snow, piles of aggregate waiting in a concrete company yard, street vendors and a mock boxing match in the street, and a stone church.