The Oregon Lumber Company was a company west of

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the list of cities in Oregon, largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, Columbia rivers, Portland is ...

, that claimed extensive land via the

Homestead Act of 1862 The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead. In all, more than of public land, or nearly 10 percent of th ...

. The company was formed by

Charles W. Nibley Charles Wilson Nibley (February 5, 1849 – December 11, 1931) was the fifth presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) between 1907 and 1925 and a member of the church's First Presidency from 1925 until his ...

together with David Eccles and George Stoddard in 1889. The company had its principal holdings near

Baker City Baker City is a city in and the county seat of Baker County, Oregon, United States. It was named after Edward D. Baker, the only U.S. Senator ever killed in military combat. The population was 10,099 at the time of the 2020 census. History Pla ...

, Oregon, and in the Sumpter Valley, with others near Hood River area, and around Chenoweth.Kamholz, E. J., Blain, J., Kamholz, G., & Ebrary, Inc. (2003).'' The Oregon-American Lumber Company: Ain't no more.'' Stanford, Calif: Stanford University Press. It also owned a number of associated railroad companies constructed primarily to haul its timber. According to

Hugh Nibley Hugh Winder Nibley (March 27, 1910 – February 24, 2005) was an American scholar and an apologist of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) who was a professor at Brigham Young University (BYU) for nearly 50 years. He was a ...

(Charles W Nibley's grandson), much of the rain forest west of Portland was acquired by the company using illegal claims under the Homestead Act.Nibley, Hugh. ''Approaching Zion'' (''The Collected Works of Hugh Nibley,'' Vol 9), p. 469. It was part of the large group of business enterprises controlled by Nibley,Godfrey, Matthew C. (2007). Religion, politics, and sugar : the Mormon Church, the federal government, and the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company, 1907-1921. Lehi, Utah: Utah State University Press. pp. 188–190. . OCLC 74988178 who was to become presiding bishop of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

from 1907 to 1925. The company became the Oregon-American Lumber Company in 1917, with headquarters in Vernonia, Oregon. Eccles gradually became the predominant owner. The company underwent multiple amalgamations and changes of ownership and was dissolved in 1957.

References

{{Reflist 1889 establishments in Oregon 1957 disestablishments in Oregon Defunct companies based in Oregon Defunct forest products companies of the United States