Palmer Mill - Devils Rest Loop - 01/27/13

[JimWaigand]

I know that the FS burned down the remaining Palmer buildings in 1944 because they were a fire hazard. But is there anything left to see at the Palmer mill/town site or is it all long gone?

Mostly what's left are RR grades. I've found some rails, steam donkey sleds, fragments of dishes & stoves, cables, shoes, bottles, equipment, chimney foundation. There was an old Palmer, downstream along Bridal Veil Creek, which burned in a forest fire. The rebuilt New Palmer is what the FS burned in the 1940s. Lots of stuff. It's probably illegal to actually dig and excavate for these things, but several things are on the surface or hidden by plants.

[BrianEdwards]

FYI, Ted got back to me a while back, and this map was a bunch of tracks copied and pasted, then the original deleted He said his gps only stores so many tracks, and he keeps it cleared out. So basically what we have is what we get

[Don Nelsen]

FYI, Ted got back to me a while back, and this map was a bunch of tracks copied and pasted, then the original deleted He said his gps only stores so many tracks, and he keeps it cleared out. So basically what we have is what we get

I have saved everything I've ever tracked from day one and a lot more since that file I sent to EP. I've walked criss-cross through the forest to make sure I didn't miss anything so by now I'm pretty sure I've got it all - never absolutely sure, though! There are some more old logging road grades I found just this past winter, too. What I think would be fun, is to get a few of us interested parties together and do a mega loop through the area, documenting for some of the newer guys on all of our GPS units the old RR grades, old roads grades, etc. I can show those who don't know how to spot a rail grade, etc. + I know where most if not all the old steam donkey skids are. A project for a Loonie hike?

dn

[JimWaigand]

get a few of us interested parties together and do a mega loop through the area, documenting for some of the newer guys on all of our GPS units the old RR grades, old roads grades, etc. I can show those who don't know how to spot a rail grade, etc. + I know where most if not all the old steam donkey skids are. A project for a Loonie hike?

dn

Count me in. I'd love to go.

[aircooled]

I've also been looking for locations of the old towns.

The Geographic Name Information System has coordinates, but they don't jibe at all with the old maps.

http://geonames.usgs.gov/

For Palmer, they say N 45.31.14 W 122.07.44 (45.5206748 -122.1289754 DEC) Which would put Palmer some 12 miles from Bridal Veil (by roads) and south of the snow gate. I've attached an image from the 1916 map of the Oregon National Forest. It shows Palmer where we all think it to be.

Also below are two Metzger maps from 1927. I marked where I think Brower was on Metzger60. On Metzger61, you can see where the Apex rail line ended just south of Bridal Veil Creek. At this point logs could have been loaded onto a flume? This would be a logical place for a mill town - there's road and rail access and water. The original Palmer was burned down in 1902 by a fire and rebuilt 1.5 miles up the road. and this area is exactly that far by road.

[Don Nelsen]

Jeff,

Looks to me that the Metzger maps are correct. The little hook at the end of the Apex line encloses the site of Palmer - or new palmer as it was called. The mill was definitely there and the old firebox is still to be found next to the creek right where the old photos show it to be. That curve in the RR line can be seen in the old photos, too. Most of it was on a high trestle. Funny how the geonames coordinates are so far off. The location they give is right on an old RR grade, though, and about 4/10 of a mile SW of the old Apex Camp.

My posting efforts are still compromised due to my computer failure and can't do much with tracks or pics yet.

-Don

[aircooled]

My posting efforts are still compromised due to my computer failure and can't do much with tracks or pics yet.

Sorry about your 'puter woes! I've attached an image of Palmer. We see the curved Apex rail line on the left (???) and a flume to bring logs across the creek. But also some rail on the other side. And would this be Bridal veil Creek or a tributary?

[Don Nelsen]

My posting efforts are still compromised due to my computer failure and can't do much with tracks or pics yet.

Sorry about your 'puter woes! I've attached an image of Palmer. We see the curved Apex rail line on the left (???) and a flume to bring logs across the creek. But also some rail on the other side. And would this be Bridal veil Creek or a tributary?

I'm pretty sure the photo was taken from the west side of the main branch of the creek looking downstream due south. There is a tributary just around the corner to the left in the photo. At the site of New Palmer, the creek flows more or less to the south before it makes meandering turns to the SW and finally to the NW where it reaches the Columbia. Evidence of the town site is right where the photo show it to be. The mill firebox, too. There were RR lines in many other places besides the main line shown on the old maps. Some old maps I've seen show three different main lines. As the forest was cut down, operations moved along with the RR line.

Don

[Peabody]

Here's an image of the 1889 plat of the imagined town of Brower.

Here's the link to the entire document.

[Don Nelsen]

I've done very little exploring at the Brower site and it was before good GPS equipment. Let's go take a look.

Don