The Eatonville Lumber Company was in operation until the 1950s and a major employer of the town. Here is one of the company’s locomotives taking trees from the nearby forests.
Pat Van Eaton says (below), “The Class C 70-3 Shay locomotive #3053 was built in Lima, Ohio, February 20, 1920 for the Eatonville Lumber Company.
It carried 3,000 gallons of water and a road weight of 79 tons with fuel and other added equipment.
According to the factory records, it burned coal, but that may not ben the case as the cinders would have caused forest fires. Mostly likely it burned oil because the stack has no screen.
It was leased to Tacoma Rail on January 5, 1944 and was sold to Sauk River Lumber Co., Darrington, Wash., February 27, 1948, who scrapped it in the early 1950s. The Lima Locomotive Works built 582 Class C Shays before they ceased building them in 1945. They built 2,767 Shay Locomotives of all sizes.”
Photo courtesy fo the Kjelstad family.
Click on image to enlarge.
Eatonville To Rainier 