Rt. 5, Box 6361 Issaquah, Washington 98027 AND Tom Shelnutt Rt.
4, Box 6125 Issaquah, Washington 98027
The economy of the Pacific North-west today is very diversified;
varying from the aircraft industry to tourism. But the building of
this economy was largely made possible by the rough and tumble
logging industry Washington and Oregon were famous for during the
first half of the twentieth century.
Logging, as it was known between 1910 and 1950 would have been
impossible without the steam donkey, for only this machine could
yard the logs to the rail spur as fast as they could be cut. In
order to supply the bigger and more powerful donkeys with water
many logging companies used heavy Bull Dog piston pumps to pump
from the nearest stream or lake to the yarding site. These were
usually powered by a big six horse Fairbanks Morse like the one I
have.
The engine on the left is a 6 horse Stover. The Flywheels are
40′ with a 51/2 bore with a 10′
stroke. It is rated at 340 RPM.
The engine on the right is a 6 horse Fairbanks Morse Z type. It
has a 6′ bore with about a 6′ stroke with 30′
flywheels. The picture shows about a 15 year gap in gas engine
design in size and efficiency. The Stover I think was built in 1901
and the Fairbanks Morse was built around 1917. Both engines are in
operating order. If any one has any information on the Stover
please let me know.
The engine in the background is a 3 horse Fairbanks Morse Z
type. It is driving a 3 cylinder Bull Dog Pump. The second engine
has no name plate so I do not know the make but it is about 2
horse. If anyone can give me the name please do.
The pump and engine I have are typical of the sets once all over
the woods of Washington and Oregon. The pump is a three cylinder
single acting machine and as it is positive displacement can pump
pressures ranging from 200 to 400 pounds per square inch. These
pumps have a tremendous suction and were used on delivery lines as
long as one half mile. The engine is a 6 horse Fairbanks Morse Z
type and it was a common mate for these pumps. The set, including
the wooden sled, is heavy and weighs nearly a ton. It usually took
a separate yarding operation just to get them down to the creek at
a new setting. But these machines were slow speed rigs and
virtually never wore out and needed little attention day by
day.
The pump and engine I have restored, although of the typical
variety, were put together for a different use. As they are the
original mates to each other they will tell the same story. The
area where I live, 10 miles east of Seattle, has a very active
history of logging and coal mining. Much of this activity was
centered around Lake Sammanish, the second biggest lake east of
Seattle, and the little town of Issaquah at the south end of this
lake. Prior to 1900 a large sawmill was built on the east side of
Lake Sammamish near the railroad; directly across the lake from
where I live. This mill cut logs that were hauled out of the hills
by oxen, and later railroads for 10 miles up and down the big lake.
Growing with the fast jumping lumber demand the mill became quite
large and in 1917 the mill company bought two Bull Dog water pump
sets with gas engines to supplement their fire protection system.
One of these sets contained the engine and pump I now have. The big
mill jumped into the ‘roaring twenties’ with the rest of
the lumber industry and did its part to sustain the most frenzied
decade of logging in history.
The two 1917 pump sets did their job during this time but not
good enough evidently, because the whole works burned to the ground
in either 1927 or 1928. By this time the lumber demand was off and
the great depression started shortly thereafter so the mill was
never rebuilt in its former glory. The mill company no longer
needed both of the 1917 pump sets so the set I now have was sold to
the Harris Coal Mine Company up the lake just south of Issaquah.
Coal mining was Issaquah’s largest industry from about 1890 to
1923 when the last big mine shut down. However, several smaller
concerns kept digging coal out of the hills around Issaquah for
many years afterward. The Harris firm was one of these and they had
a small mine directly over a ridge from Issaquah.
They set up the old mill’s 1917 pump set and a smaller one
down the ridge on the Issaquah side and pumped from a small creek
up and over the ridge to the mine’s washing plant. This must
have been quite some distance because the operator told us that
there was a pin hole in the delivery pipe a short ways from the
hard working engine and the water shot out of this hole higher than
his two story house.
The engine on the left is a Witte 1? hp. I have completely
restored this engine to running condition. Engine in the middle is
a 1? air cooled ‘The Busy Boy.’ It has a make and break
ignition and is the oldest engine I have. Engine on the right is a
1?-2? hp. International harvester with mag and spark plug. It is in
running condition. The tractor in the background is a 1923 Fordson
in running condition.
The engine on the left is a 3 hp. Fairbanks Morse. It was
originally a make and break but was later changed to a spark plug.
The engine in the background is a 4? hp. model E type C ‘New
Way’ upright. It is frozen up and is missing the timing gear
with cam. Anyone that has parts or information I would like to hear
from them.
The old 1917 pump set worked steadily for Harris until the mine
was closed in 1940. The two pump sets were left up in the woods at
the mercy of the weather and vandals until 1950, when the man who
ran the pumps for the mine company got a truck and hauled them
home. He kept the big Fairbanks Morse engine and gave the Bull Dog
pump to his brother who tied it to an electric motor and used it
for his water system. Although the pump was put in a nice dry pump
house the engine sat out in the weather continuously until 1966
when I acquired it. It was completely frozen and for many years sat
on its haunches with its head pointing at the stars. The cylinder
eventually filled with water and condensate and during one severe
winter this froze. As the half buried flywheels were frozen in the
ground and the crank was on back center either the cylinder or the
rod had to give. In this case the rod took on a severe bend and
twist that would not allow the engine to turn a full revolution
when the workings were freed because the rod struck the top
cylinder wall. It took 15 tons on a hydraulic press to straighten
the rod back to its original shape which says much for the power of
ice. As soon as I had the rod straightened, restoring the engine
was mainly a matter of perseverance in loosening frozen parts. In
1967 my brother and 1 dug up about 150 feet of water pipe in
exchange for the old Bulldog pump and the old engine and pump were
together again after 17 years. As the pump had been in use and
under cover it was in good shape. I had a missing valve and sleeve
machined for it and hunted up an old bull gear and pinion to tie it
to the engine with and was all set to go. I feel very fortunate to
have this pump set as most of them went the way of the steam donkey
in the early 1950’s.
Although this pump set is the only one I have a complete history
on, my neighbor, Tom Shelnutt and I, both 18 years of age, have
collected quite a few old gas engines. My collection includes a six
horse Stover, the six horse Fairbanks Morse (the pump engine), the
Bulldog pump, a 3 horse Fairbanks Morse, a 2 horse nameless (do not
know name), 2 Model T engines, and a 5 ton steam winch off a ship.
Tom’s collection contains a 3 horse Fairbanks Morse, a 1? horse
Fairbanks Morse, a 1? horse Witte, a 2 horse International, a 4)4
horse New Way, upright, a 1? Busy Boy and a 1923 Fordson Tractor;
and we are still looking for more additions to our collections.
