Baker White Pine Lumber Co. Camp Scene With A Twist

At first glance we would assume that this is a logging camp of the Baker White Pine Lumber Co. A close examination will show that the camp cars do in fact have Baker White Pine stenciled on their siding. Notice on the left hand side of the photo that there is a diminutive narrow gauge Heisler which is easily identified due to the elaborate spark arresting stack, is Stoddard Lumber Co. #2 referred to by Stoddard crews as "Old Brigham". This little Heisler had begun its logging career with the Blue Jay Lumber Co. in Pa. So what gives? Is this a Baker White Pine scene or Stoddard? Extant Heisler records show Baker White Pine ordering parts in 1926 for Heisler C/N 1306 which is Stoddard's #3 36 ton engine. Perhaps Baker White Pine was also using the little #2. The Baker White Pine Lumber Co. fell on hard times in the mid-1920's with the general down turn in lumber markets. Just prior to this, with extensive timber holdings yet to be tapped, they constructed a top quality mainline to reach this timber. This may have led to them becoming overextended financially. They borrowed money from the owners of the Stoddard Lumber Co. in this period, so perhaps they also owed money related to rental on one or both of the above mentioned locomotives. In 1928, Baker White Pine went into receivership. The Stoddard Lumber Co. in 1929, being one of the largest creditors ended up owning the assets of the Baker White Pine and adding their 3 Climax locomotives to their roster as Stoddard #1, #2 and #3. The roster section of "Rails Sagebrush and Pine" says that the Stoddard Heisler #2 was scrapped in the 1920's. Since a place was not reserved on the roster in 1929 for Stoddard Heisler #2, we can assume the little engine was scrapped before that time. Therefore this photo is in fact likely a Baker White Pine Scene despite the presence of a Stoddard engine. The scan is from the SVRR Archive.