Longview #36: Weyerhaeuser Timber Company

3535 Industrial Way

Weyerhaeuser Timber Company on May 17, 2005.

On July 4, 1926, the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company decided to build a lumber mill in Longview alongside their competitor Long-Bell's mill. The Weyerhaeuser mill opened in June 1929.

R. A. Long hoped that Weyerhaeuser would use his Longview, Portland & Northern Railway to serve the new mill, but Weyerhaeuser had their own idea. Rather than use a railroad owned by their competitor to access the major railroads in Kelso, Weyerhaeuser would build its own railroad to the other side of the Cowlitz. There was just one catch, R. A. Long didn't want railroad tracks cutting through his new planned city, so Weyerhaeuser's railroad was built just outside the city limits to the west and north of town. Weyerhaeuser's railroad crossed the Cowlitz River on a wooden trestle with steel center span completed in 1926 north of Longview and Kelso, connecting to the Northern Pacific Railway at a new yard at Rocky Point. The railroad from Rocky Point to Longview would be known as the Columbia and Cowlitz Railway. From Rocky Point, the Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad would continue north to Ostrander and beyond into the company's timber holdings for harvesting.

Weyerhaeuser's Columbia & Cowlitz probably kept the major railroads from ever being very interested in serving Longview directly, as the Kelso side of the river would still have to be served as well. Weyerhaeuser's mill remains in operation and is one of the area's largest employers. The Columbia & Cowlitz and Weyerhaeuser Woods Railroad are still serving their owner as they have for over 80 years.

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