Photo courtesy Idaho State Historical Society
The logging camp had a dramatic impact on the new town of Cascade, almost doubling its size. The newly appointed Cascade City Council decided they needed to annex the camp into the city to start collecting taxes. When they approached Boise Payette Lumber Company about the annex; however, they were met with stiff resistance. The Company warned Cascade that if they tried to annex the camp it would be moved out of town. Thinking the company was bluffing and wouldn’t go to the trouble to move all of the buildings, the City annexed the logging camp. Soon thereafter the Boise Payette Lumber Company moved the entire camp seven miles south to a new location called Cabarton, named for C. A. Barton, the president of Boise Payette Lumber Company. In addition to the equipment shops, a large commissary store was built, along with a school and company houses for workers. A water system and electric plant were also built. This company town lasted until the early 1930s, when logging almost shut down during the Great Depression. In 1935, the company town of Cabarton was moved two miles south of Donnelly and was called MacGregor. In 1939, the same town was moved to New Meadows. Many of the buildings from the Cascade, Cabarton, and MacGregor logging camps are still standing in what is called Company Town on the south side of New Meadows in Adams County. Despite the loss of the Boise Payette Lumber Company logging camp, Cascade continued to grow. In 1922, Joe Dion from Emmett started building a new sawmill along the river on the 8
COMMUNITIES OF VALLEY COUNTY
Photo courtesy McCall Pub
lic Library
south end of Cascade. Soon after the mill went into operation, it was purchased by Eccles Lumber Company of Sumpter, Oregon. Eccles brought a large work force with equipment and a small, narrow gauge steam engine. With local help they built a railroad track across the river and up to Beaver Creek to access timber. This gauge engine brought the logs to the mill. In addition to the track built to Beaver Creek, a short track was added on Pearsol Creek. A few trucks from Sumpter were also brought in to haul the easy logs from Pearsol. In 1928, Eccles sold the mill to Hallack & Howard Lumber Company from Colorado. Competition with the Boise Payette Lumber Company for timber areas accessible to trains forced Continued page 10