The Simpson Investment Company is a privately held holding company based in

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...

in the US

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

that specializes in manufacture of forest products. Founded as a logging company in 1890 by Sol Simpson, the company is now owned by the

Reed family The Reed family is an American business family that focuses on owning land. The family currently controls Simpson Investment Company, established 1890, and its spin-off Green Diamond Resource. The family owns 1.37 million acres across California ...

Former divisions

The Simpson Lumber Company conducted logging operations and was based in

Shelton, Washington Shelton is a city in and the county seat of Mason County, Washington, United States. Shelton is the westernmost city on Puget Sound. The population was 10,371 at the 2020 census. Shelton has a council–manager form of government and was the ...

. Four mills were sold to Interfor and the Shelton property was sold to Sierra Pacific Industries. The "Simpson

Tacoma Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, northwest of Mount ...

Kraft Company" produced pulpwood and

linerboard Corrugated fiberboard, corrugated cardboard, or corrugated is a type of packaging material consisting of a fluted wikt:corrugated, corrugated sheet and one or two flat linerboards. It is made on "flute lamination machines" or "corrugators" and i ...

products. Previously owned by St. Regis the mill on the shore of Commencement Bay was acquired by Simpson in 1985 and sold to RockTenn in 2014. In

West Linn, Oregon West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. A southern suburb within the Portland metropolitan area, West Linn developed on the site of the former Linn City, Oregon, Linn City, which was named after U.S. Senator Lewis F. Linn ...

, Simpson operated a vintage paper mill from 1990 to 1996. Simpson announced in 2008 that it would be entering the "green power" industry by building a new power plant at its Tacoma Tideflats mill that would generate power via the burning of sawmill and other forest waste. In August 2009, construction of the power plant was completed. It generated 55 megawatts of power which is sold to Iberdrola Renovables and used by the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

Railroad

The Simpson Company built and operated a logging railroad known as the ''Simpson Railroad''. When it closed in July 2015 it was the last logging railroad operations in the continental United and dates back 120 years. The railroad was once extensive and branched out into several hundred miles of forestland in the

Olympic Peninsula The Olympic Peninsula is a large peninsula in Western Washington that lies across Puget Sound from Seattle, and contains Olympic National Park. It is bounded on the west by the Pacific Ocean, the north by the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the ...

but at the end was limited to just ten miles of operational track. The rail line was to transport lumber and as a transportation network to remote logging camps and towns. Construction of the railroad line was an engineering feat as demonstrated by the large and complex bridges built to span gorges and the mountainous terrain the railroad traveled through. The Vance Creek Bridge and the High Steel Bridge were built in 1929 and used until 1985 when the line was abandoned. The Vance Creek Bridge still stands, and the High Steel Bridge is still in use as a

forest road left, alt=Pathway through forest., Concrete pathway through deep forest in India. Forest tracks or forest roads are roads or tracks intended to carry motorised vehicles or horse-drawn wagons being used mainly or exclusively for forestry purposes, ...

. The High Steel Bridge is one of the tallest rail bridges in the United States and has been listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. In January 2019, Green Diamond Resources leased the railroad's remaining 10 miles, plus sidings, to the Peninsular Railway and Lumbermen's Museum, a locally based 501(c)3 non-profit organization. The all-volunteer group is advancing plans to operate several Simpson locomotives and other rolling stock for tourist trains designed to highlight the significant role lumbering and the railroad played in developing the economies of the local area, the Olympic Peninsula, and the entire Pacific Northwest. The name “Simpson Railroad” and associated graphics and logos have been licensed by Simpson for the museum's use. https://www.simpsonrailroad.org Simpson Railroad Website

References

External links

* {{Commons category-inline companies based in Mason County, Washington forest products companies of the United States logging railroads in the United States Washington (state) railroads