Multnomah-Washington-Statewide County OR Archives Biographies.....Christenson, C. M. 1883 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com January 10, 2011, 9:52 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 612 - 613 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company C. M. CHRISTENSON, of Portland, one of the prominent logging operators of the Columbia River valley, was born in Iowa in 1883 and is a son of J. C. and Elsie Christenson, the former now deceased, while the latter is now eighty-one years old. He attended the public schools of his native state and in 1898, when fifteen years old, came to Oregon, locating south of Hillsboro, Washington county, where he engaged in farming. Two years later he began greasing skids for Malcolm McFarland, at Westport, Oregon. He was a good worker and when seventeen years old was next to the highest paid man in the camp, receiving sixty-five dollars a month. He was later made hook tender, at seventy-five dollars a month, working from six o'clock in the morning until eight o'clock in the evening. Afterward he built skid roads and tended hook until 1903, when he took charge of the logging camp for Joe Hinton, who was logging on the Tualatin river. In 1904 Mr. Christenson began the logging business on his own account, contracting to furnish logs for a mill fourteen miles from a railroad, and was compelled to haul the logs over a mud road. The mill sold its lumber at eight dollars a thousand feet, delivered at Forest Grove, consequently it failed and Mr. Christenson lost what the mill owed him. However, he traded his log account for shingles, and traded the latter for horses in eastern Oregon. He brought the horses down to the valley and employed them in grading on the Portland Railroad and Navigation line near Tillamook. He also took a contract for hewing the culvert timbers and piling for that railroad. In 1906 he took a logging contract with the Donald Lumber Company, near Banks, Oregon, and to settle his account with this firm he was compelled to take over what timber they had left. This he marketed to several mills, and then bought three-quarters of a million feet of timber on the Portland Railroad and Navigation line near Strassel, Oregon, which he marketed to the Inman-Poulsen Company and Charles K. Spaulding. When he had this timber about half logged off, he bought another tract from the railroad, for which he was to pay as he cut the timber. He handled that job during 1911-12, and with the proceeds made a first payment on two and a half sections of timber land at Timber, Oregon, from which he sold logs to the Portland mills. In 1915 Mr. Christenson moved to Lewis River, Washington, against the advice of his friends, and logged there during that and the following year, coming out in 1917 with a clear profit of thirty-five thousand dollars. He then bought a section of timber on the Nehalem river, the cutting of which he finished in 1920. From 1915 on he had been operating as the Christenson Logging Company, and in 1918 he organized the La Dee Logging Company in partnership with J. W. Bailey and C. B. Buchanan, the new concern having a paid-in capital of twenty thousand dollars. They bought the J. K. Gamble equipment and logged the McPherson timber tract until 1925. In 1920 the Christenson Logging Company was dissolved and he has since devoted his attention to the operations of the La Dee Company, of which J. W. Bailey is president, Mr. Christenson, vice president, and Varnald Beach, secretary and treasurer. In 1926 the La Dee Company bought from the receivers the remains of the Porter-Carstens Logging Company's stand of timber near Escatada, and contracted to log off the remainder for the Union Lumber Company. They are still engaged in this operation, putting in from six million to eight million feet of logs a month. They employ about one hundred and seventy-five men and have a fine equipment, being regarded as one of the important and successful logging concerns of this section of the country. In 1909 Mr. Christenson was united in marriage to Miss Lura E. Peterson, who was born in Benton county, Oregon, and is a daughter of C. A. and Daisy (Starr) Peterson. Her father has served as postmaster at Buxton, Oregon, for forty years and her maternal grandfather moved the first flour mill into Benton county, for the erection of which he carried the nails from Oregon City. Mr. and Mrs. Christenson have five children: Chester, eighteen years of age; Lorene, sixteen; Howard, fourteen; Grace, twelve years; and Nelda, six years of age. Mr. Christenson is a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, and his family are members of the Rose City Presbyterian church. Mrs. Christenson takes an active interest in the work of her church and is also prominent in the Parent-Teacher Association. Mr. Christenson has been the architect of his own fortune and has worthily won the success which has come to him. In all of his affairs he has shown clear headed judgment and all who have been associated with him hold him in high esteem for his ability and sterling character. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/multnomah/bios/christen1305gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 5.5 Kb