File:Loading crew with Willamette donkey engine and Simpson Logging Company's two-truck Shay locomotive no 2, Camp 2, near Matlock (KINSEY 1351).jpg

PH Coll 516.4033

Sol G. Simpson and his family moved to Mason County in 1887, where Simpson worked laying ties and rails for the Port Blakely Mill Company's logging railroad. He formed S. G. Simpson Company in Matlock in 1890. Three of Simpson's brothers joined him in Mason County, and two of them worked for him. Simpson Logging Company opened its first sawmill, the Reed Mill, at Shelton in 1925. Numerous other mills and logging operations along the West Coast have been acquired by Simpson over the years. [Source: James, David. Grisdale: Last of the Logging Camp. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1986.] This particular Shay locomotive (s/n 2587) was built in 1912. Simpson Logging Company acquired it new and used it until ca. 1921, when it was transferred to Fredson Brothers Logging Company of Shelton. It was scrapped in 1939. Camp no. 2 was located on Scotts Prairie, southwest of Matlock, and was in existence from 1925 to 1930, when it and camp no. 1 were merged into camp no. 3. Caption on image: Simpson Log. Co. C. Kinsey Photo. No. 32

• Subjects (LCTGM): Loggers; Railroad cars--Washington (State); Steam donkeys--Washington (State); Railroad tracks--Washington (State); Railroad locomotives--Washington (State); Forests--Washington (State); Lumber industry--Washington (State); Simpson Logging Company--People--Washington (State); Simpson Logging Company--Equipment & supplies--Washington (State); Mason County (Wash.); Group portraits
• Subjects (LCSH): Shay locomotives; Slash (Logging)--Washington (State)--Mason County