Stoddard Lbr. Co.

Somebody has made it easy to identify this rather abused photo. We are looking at the Stoddard Lumber Co. mill at South Baker located on the Sumpter Valley Ry. Note that the track in the foreground which is the mainline between Baker proper and South Baker is dual gauge. Some may recognize this mill which I have shared other photos of describing it as Baker White Pine Lbr. Co. Baker White Pine went into receivership in 1928 with ownership passing to the long established Stoddard Lbr. Co. Stoddard was founded by brothers of David Eccles wife, with George Stoddard being the leader of the Stoddard operation up to his death in 1919. Oregon Lumber Co. and Sumpter Valley Ry.'s early central figure was David Eccles who held an interest in Stoddard Lbr. and assisted them in the acquisition of their first two logging locomotives. It seems that the business affairs of these companies with intertwined ownership overlapped from time to time. Stoddard Lbr. was also behind the Grande Ronde Lbr. Co. at Perry, Or. , the Nibley Mimnaugh Lbr. Co. at Wallowa, Or. and a couple of operations in California. After George Stoddard's death, based on his book "Beckoning Frontiers", Marriner Eccles, David Eccles son took a management interest in the Stoddard affairs. Marriner Eccles is best known as a banker, and chairman of the Federal Reserve during the Great Depression and WW2. It seems that Eccles began to divest the family's ownership in the lumber industry in the 1930's with Stoddard Lbr. being sold to the Lighthall family that had gained control of Oregon Lbr. Co., Sumpter Valley Ry. and the Mount Hood Railroad. The scan is from the SVRR Archive.