Logging
		Wilburton Mill:
				Logging Train
				Hewitt and Lea Sawmill In 1903, Wade Hewitt and Charles Lea took over the operation of a sawmill located at the head of Mercer Slough where the railroad trestle now stands.
		Wilburton Trestle:
				Wilburton Trestle 1960's

The Vanished Eastside Logging Railroads  By Richard K. McDonald     Early loggers used a succession of oxen, horses, wooden tramways, and steam donkey engines to harvest the immense forests east of Lake Washington. These methods were limited to about two miles coverage from whatever waterway gave access to Everett or Seattle sawmills. Beginning in 1878, the first of four mainline railroads penetrated the Eastside. As quickly as rail shipment became possible, a host of saw mills and some 25 logging railroads appeared along the main routes. Except for the old photos, little remains to suggest how much rail activity took place between 1890 and 1947. Logging railroads extended from 1 to 45 miles. A number of characteristics were shared. All used steam locomotives, usually of the geared type. Rails were laid around tight curves and up slopes with as much as a nine percent grade, more than three times the allowable climb of regular lines. Almost no gravel ballast was used, and cuts and fills were kept to a minimum. Wood was so cheap that bridges were sometimes made by stacking whole logs across gullies like matchsticks.   This low cost construction and subsequent urban development account for the lack of visible railroad remains. Hikers on the north and east slopes of Tiger mountain can still see some old grades. One mystery about High Point is the seeming lack of a connection between the uppermost grades and the bottom. There was no rail route, so the lumber company used a steep tramway with donkey engines to pull cars to the top. This is one of a series of articles which have appeared in Marymoor Museum newsletters. Dick McDonald is the son of Lucile McDonald and has assisted in the writing of A Foot in the Door, the reminiscences of his mother.