The story of what happened at the place which became known as Hines, started long before the Edward Hines Lumber Company entered the picture. Few know this story; here are some photographs that may shed some light on the subject, but not much.
Herrick timber As early as 1919, Edward Barnes (formerly of Minnesota) came to Grant & Harney counties and started acquiring, what he called, "timber rights. This was not an uncommon practice. Timber without land cost less.
More Herrick timber E.W. Barnes, after acquiring "lots" of timber, needed a why to get it milled. His own holdings were insufficient to warrant the building of a mill (he didn't have that kind of money anyway) so he prevailed on the Federal Government to put up the first sale of public timber from the Malhure National Forest.
Still more Herrick timber The successful bidder, the only bidder, was Frederick Herrick from Idaho.

The sale had lots of provisions, among them, Herrick would have to build a railroad from Crane to the mill site and then another railroad from the mill site to Seneca where the timber was located.

Foundations This photo did not translate well to the web. It is a look at the main mill's foundations. The hand writing appears to indicate three people standing among the foundations. I can make out "Barnes" and "Herrick" but I'm unable to figure out what the initials stand for (on the right of the three).
Bunkhouses Bunk houses. I assume that these were intended to be taken to "Camp 1," which was what the logging camp at Seneca was called.

The mill building is in the background.

This operation, from the very beginning to the very end (in the mid-1980s) was a class act all the way. Maybe that is why Herrick went broke.

Skeleton of main mill building The skeleton of the main mill building; the stacker-unstacker building to the right. This was an "all steel" mill, no wood structures here.
Interior skeleton This is inside the main building but I'm not sure just what you'retores I'll find out.
As far as Herrick got This is how things looked when Herrick gave up and took bankruptcy. Was there any equipment inside the structure?  Haven't determined that. Hines paid Herrick $850,000 for the operation (railroads had been completed) then went on to spend three million more to complete the mill.
Mill Pond This is the 32-acre mill pond from about the south-east corner. The part of the pond closest to the mill appears to be frozen but that is merely steam. The pond's water came from a geothermal spring near by.

At some time in the life of Hines Lumber Co., the pond was filled in. It has now been dredged out as part of a housing project being built on the old site.
Working end A plant awaiting birth.