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Exporting Forest Products
E. H. Adams owned four railroad tie mills in the Kalama River valley and trucked his ties to the Port of Kalama’s first dock in the 1930s and
1940s. Standing at left are Adams and Ben Cheney. Ben Cheney owned a number of lumber mills in Washington and is
credited with creating and naming the 2”x4”x8’
stud. A big fan of minor league
baseball, Cheney Stadium in Tacoma was
named for Ben Cheney when he provided substantial funding to complete its construction.
Doty Fish Co.
One of the earliest depot agents in Kalama for the new railroad
was C. A. Doty. He found salmon more exciting than the railroad, however, and moonlighted by
purchasing salmon up and down the Columbia River. The
salmon was shipped by train to points north and south of Kalama. The Doty Fish Company opened for business in the 1890s, buying,
salting and shipping fish. Workers split the
huge salmon lengthwise, salted them, and packed them in barrels or boxes, some of which contained as much as seven hundred pounds
of fish. Not only did they ship salted fish by rail, but canneries from Astoria loaded
cans onto boats and sent them upriver where Doty
transferred them into boxcars waiting on a nearby rail spur.
Gold!
Kalama had a brief gold rush in the early 1900's when the
Darnell Mining and Mill Company opened
an ore extraction plant at the top of Fir Street. Brass bands, a minstrel show and a mining carnival whipped up hopes for quick riches. Several mines were
opened around the area, but none produced
substantial amounts of ore.
Fallert Creek Hatchery
Built in 1895, Fallert Creek Hatchery is the oldest operating
fish hatchery in the state of Washington. Established by the Washington State Fishing
Commission, the hatchery nurtured
four million fish its first year of operation.
By 1925 the hatchery had converted its dirt ditches into 25 concrete lined ponds. The hatchery continues in operation today producing three million salmon a year.