Re: Baker White Pine-China Creek Drainage

Well I was on foot a long way from my pickup and rather turned around when I stumbled on the scene. It was just like they closed the door and walked away. It took hours to find my pickup, and I have no idea how to get back to the lost lokey shed.
My impression is that the completion of the BWP mainline from Curry on the SVRy also signaled the end of White Pine as a company mill town. The logs coming off the Curry line would likely have all wound up at the BWP mill in Baker rather haul over two summits. It may be that until the Curry line was completed logs from that area went down Trout Crk. then up the Burnt River to Whitney where they could be handled by SVRy taken up over Tipton and down to White Pine wye where an engine from the White Pine mill would have taken the logs down to the log dump at White Pine mill. Near as I know the rough lumber from the White PIne mill was then shipped back out on the SVRy to Baker for finishing. This back and forth does not sound very efficient. Which is presumably why the "Curry Line" was built. The Timberman articles are about the only source of info we have on a lot of this. If the Baker City newspapers are ever put on line, it would be great to research them for more info.