A visit to the old Edward Hines Lumber Company site; Spring 2001

A visit to the Edward Hines Lumber Company mill site, Burns, Oregon; Spring 2002

-----In the spring, 2001, Yvonne Smith and I visited Burns, Oregon, and the former site of the Edward Hines Lumber Company's sawmill. This site was originally 320 acres and is now divided among a number of companies. Chief among these is an operation of Louisana-Pacific where laminated beams are manufactured. While there is plenty of activity around this property, much of it looks like a war zone. In the above photo you see the base of the still-standing smoke stack. I don't know the identity of the building to the left of the stack. Whatever its function, the building is now deserted and in a sad state of "unrepair."

In the November 9, 1929 issue of the Burns Times-Herald appeared the following:

----During a short visit over the Edward Hines sawmill plant adjoining this city on Thursday, in company with F.W. Pettibone, general manager, the writer found many interesting and instructive sights. For instance: The Hines sawmill plant now nearing completion, has the latest improved machinery; it has innovations that are so new they have never yet been tried out; that there are over 400 electric motors being installed to operate the plant; that six of these motors are of a type that regenerate electricity in such manner as to distribute to other units of the sawmill plant of such surplus as is not being used at the point of contact. These motors are Synchronous, four of 250 horsepower capacity, two of 300 horsepower each..
-----Then to emerge on the surface to face great sheds covered with steel and extending some half mile in one direction; to have it explained how one man with the use of modern facilities may handle 100,000 feet of lumber per day, cranes and other apparatus conveying it from the green shed to the dry kilns and then across to other sheds and on to the planing mill, box factory or loaded upon railroad cars for shipment. It is all very interesting and gives one an insight of what we nearly have within our community.
----- Mr. Pettibone said that we’d witness smoke issuing from the top of the smoke stack within the next two weeks, as they are going to turn fires under the boilers and start the process of drying out the brick walls that incase them. One interesting feature that was called to the attention of this writer was the installation of plant [sic]. Mr. Pettibone termed his “stove pipe” which is the connection from the boilers to this smoke stack—it is 24 feet in diameter.
-----Painters have begun work on the mill plant and it is going to be one of the most attractive features of the entire plant, including the metal covered sheds extending for thousands of feet all over the plant grounds. The tall water tower has already received its coat of silver and it glistens in the sunlight. The interiors are to be all painted white.
----- It was found the log pond is being filled with water to be ready to receive logs which will be coming down from the timber at Bear valley within the next week or ten days.
----- One can gain little conception of the enormous outlay and minute details of preparing plans and assembling such a plant without being given some information by one who can explain the workings of this big undertaking.
----- When one stops to think that on June first there was very little showing appeared on the 320 acre tract that the sawmill plant occupies, yet in five months such an accomplishment as one sees is almost unbelievable. The placing of the machinery, with every piece fitting in, to realize the preparation necessary to assemble such a plant, the plans carefully worked out, all took the time of experts and the knowledge of technical men to supervise the installation.

-----The building ending at the right side of the above photo was one of the many marvels of the Hines site. It measures 1/2 mile in length, running almost true north-south. The building is still in use today but I didn't enter the building or determine which company uses it.

-----Another innovative feature of the Hines operations was its 40 dry kilns; I counted: there are 40. I would have liked to get a closer look but since I hadn't obtained permission to enter the area I stayed away. There is plenty of opportunity for accidents here and I didn't want anyone to get worried — most of all me.

-----At some point (which I can't recall just now), Hines did away with their 32-40 acre long pond (various sizes reported by different "authorities"), filling in the entire area. A few years ago part of the original point was redug and made into a "bass pond." This was to be one of the amenities for the manufactured home park to be build around the permitter of the pond. But Harney County's economic outlook dimmed and plans for the park were abandoned. What remains today is something of an eye-sore.