John F. Ford
- A Logging Camp Cook Shack - c. 1898As low as $5.00The pies are on the table in this unusual indoor photo of an early cook shack, created entirely from natural light. Learn More
- A Logging Foreman Admires his Crew's Output - c. 1898As low as $5.00Almost lost in the center of this giant pile of toothpicks is the foreman of the logging operation, posing on top of one of many large logs awaiting transport to a mill. Learn More
- A Young Logger in a Log Chute - c. 1905As low as $5.00While not signed by Ford, the original for this photo was acquired with other similarly formatted photos that were signed by him. Learn More
- Astoria, Looking East - 1901As low as $5.00From the wooden planks in the streets to the barges in the harbor, this view by photographer John F. Ford shows lots of detail. Learn More
- At Work in the Woods - c. 1898As low as $5.00Four men - and a dog - pose near medium-sized trees in an unknown location, probably on one side or the other of the lower Columbia River, where John F. Ford took many of his photographs. Learn More
- Benson Logging Railroad Through Tall Trees - c. 1905As low as $5.00Simon Benson was a technical innovator, and one of the first to use logging railroads rather than ox teams to haul his cut logs to the river. Learn More
- Bringing the Logs Back to Camp - c. 1900As low as $5.00Smaller logs are brought back to a logging camp by a team of six mules, pulling them along a skid-road of logs placed across the path. It appears that this logging camp also was home to a small sawmill, as stacked lumber can be seen behind the team. Learn More
- Cans of Salmon, Warren Packing Co., Cathlamet - c. 1900As low as $5.00Several hundred thousand cans of salmon stand ready for shipment in the Warren cannery in Cathlamet, Washington. Learn More
- Choker Setters at Work, Deep in the Woods - c. 1898As low as $5.00Chokers are lengths of cable with a sliding bell that are wrapped around logs in the woods, to allow them to be pulled out to the yard. In the era of this photo, power was provided by a steam donkey. Learn More
- City Hall, Portland, Oregon - 1900As low as $5.00
This early portrait of Portland's City Hall was taken in the days of concrete sidewalks, electricity and streetcars, but before paved streets and automobiles. The building was only five years old at the time, having been completed in 1895.
Learn More - Closeup of a Double-drum Steam Donkey - c. 1898As low as $5.00Steam donkeys acquired their name from their origin on sailing ships, where the "donkey" engine was a secondary engine used to load and unload cargo, or raise the larger sails. Learn More
- Double-drum Steam Donkey Crew - c. 1898As low as $5.00Taken at a different location than most of our John Ford logging photographs, this view gives us a good look at the men and equipment involved in steam-powered logging over a century ago. Learn More
- Douglas Fir, Twelve Feet in Diameter - c. 1898As low as $5.00Every Oregon photographer a hundred years ago needed to offer photos of people standing in front of giant trees. Learn More
- Eight on a Log - c. 1900As low as $5.00How many ways can you pose a group of loggers? John F. Ford is known for his gift of creating poses that are artistically and visually interesting. Learn More
- Falling Fir Trees - c. 1898As low as $5.00A crew of two pose next to a "medium-sized" Douglas Fir in this logging image from Ilwaco photographer John F. Ford. Learn More
- Finishing a Log Raft on the Columbia River - c. 1900As low as $5.00This well-composed view of a cigar-shaped log raft was taken by John Ford on the lower Columbia, the area where he created most of his photos. Learn More
- Hauling Logs out with Mules - c. 1900As low as $5.00Oxen and steam donkeys were the primary ways to bring logs out of the woods during this era, but mule teams and horses were sometimes used, especially for smaller logs. Learn More
- Hop Picking near Butteville - c. 1900As low as $5.00Many historic photos of hop picking show large crews posed in the foreground. Photographer John F. Ford chose to show one worker and a man who appears to be his supervisor. Learn More
- In Their Sunday Best - c. 1898As low as $5.00Five siblings line up on a rustic porch - likely in a logging camp - to pose for a family portrait. Their hats alone make the photo notable. Learn More
- Jack Screw Men and Steam Donkey - c. 1898As low as $5.00The crew that uses the screw jacks to maneuver logs poses here in the yard in front of a covered steam donkey. Learn More
- Jack Screw Men Yarding a Large Log - c. 1898As low as $5.00A very old logging tool, the jack screw was used to move heavy logs, either in the woods to position them for hauling by oxen (and later by steam donkeys), or in the yards to roll the logs into position. Learn More
- Log Raft, Lower Columbia River - c. 1900As low as $5.00This portrait of an ocean-going log raft places its building in context, with some support buildings on the shore to the left, and a couple of tugs awaiting it in the right background. Learn More
- Logging "Roll Way", with Tracks, Yard & Steam Donkey - c. 1898As low as $5.00A good overview of many aspects of a turn-of-the-last-century logging operation, captured here by Portland photographer John F. Ford. Learn More
- Logging Camp, Deep in the Woods - c. 1898As low as $5.00This idyllic lumber camp scene is somewhat unusual, as camps were more often located surrounded by stumps than next to standing trees. Learn More
- Logging Crew with Their Steam Donkey - c. 1898As low as $5.00Everyone gets into the picture in this John Ford photo of a double-drum steam donkey. It's likely summer, as the crew hasn't bothered with a roof for the operators. Learn More
- Looking North on Sixth Street, Portland - 1900As low as $5.00This unusual photo shows a side view of the 1890 Hotel Portland on the left. Most photographs look into the courtyard, between the two wings of the building. Learn More
- Multnomah Falls, Without a Footbridge - c. 1905As low as $5.00This photo was taken between the time of the timber footbridge, in place from about 1883 to 1899, and the building of the current concrete bridge in 1914. Learn More
- Oregon City Suspension Bridge - c. 1900As low as $5.00In addition to displaying many details of the bridge, this photo by Ford also shows the river side of some of Oregon City's downtown buildings. Learn More
- Oxteam Entering a Tunnel Below Clatskanie - circa 1900As low as $5.00Two drivers with their 12 ox team prepare to pass through a tunnel, somewhere near Clatskanie, on the south side of the Columbia River. Learn More
- Pioneer Courthouse, Portland - c. 1900As low as $5.00While best known for his logging photos, John F. Ford occasionally ventured into the big city. In fact, he briefly operated a studio in downtown Portland. Learn More
- Pond Monkeys - c. 1898As low as $5.00Pond Monkeys were men who hopped from log to log in a mill pond, guiding the floating logs into the intake for the sawmill. This Ford photos shows a large group - likely more than would normally work together. Learn More
- Pondering an Accident on the Benson Logging Train - c. 1900As low as $5.00In this wonderfully detailed John F. Ford photo, a group of concerned workers discuss their next move after a large log has broken loose and severely damaged the firewood tender for the Benson Logging & Lumber Company train. Learn More
- Preparing to Saw Up a Newly Felled Tree - c. 1898As low as $5.00While this is a staged photo, the logger in front is demonstrating the actual saw that he will use for "sawing up", the process of cutting the felled tree into lengths that can be transported to a mill. Learn More
- President Theodore Roosevelt at Kalama, "North of Portland" - 1903As low as $5.00
In 1903, Roosevelt visited Oregon as part of an eight-week, 25-state tour of the American west. He gave a total of 263 speeches, seven or eight per day on average, in his five and a half weeks of public appearances.
Learn More - Saldern's Logging Road, 13 1/2 Percent Grade - c. 1898As low as $5.00Climax Engine Number 2 works to push three large logs up a steep grade near Grays River in southwest Washington. Learn More
- Salmon Ready for Canning, Cathlamet - c. 1900As low as $5.00There are a number of postcards and stereoviews showing similar scenes, but this image is recreated from a larger print by photographer John F. Ford. Learn More
- Sawing Up - c. 1898As low as $5.00Falling big trees was only the beginning. It took many more hours to saw up each tree - to cut it into sections that could be hauled back to the yard, using cables from a steam donkey. Learn More
- Skid Road Along the River - c. 1898As low as $5.00In this signed photo by John F. Ford we see yet another view of animals pulling logs along a skid road. In this case, it's oxen, and the location of the road along a river makes it especially scenic. Learn More
- Small Trestle on a Logging Skid Road - c. 1900As low as $5.00
What do you do if you need to run a logging skid road across a ravine? You build a small trestle, like this one.
Learn More - Steam Donkey Under a Small Shed - c. 1898As low as $5.00Another in a series of detailed logging photos by John F. Ford, this view shows the type of small shed often constructed around steam donkeys to protect the operators (and the machinery) from the worst of the weather. Learn More
- Steam Schooner Arctic with Log Raft - c. 1902As low as $5.00The steam tug in the foreground is the "Arctic", built in Bay City, Oregon in 1901 for the J. S. Kimball Company of San Francisco. Learn More
- Sternwheelers Tahoma and Bailey Gatzert in Portland Harbor - c. 1900As low as $5.00We can clearly read the name of the Tahoma in the foreground, and the previous owner of this photo identifies the ship behind it as the Bailey Gatzert, due to its unusual upper deck that ran all the way to the bow. Learn More
- Surveyor With a Fossilized Log - circa 1900As low as $5.00This crisp view of a surveyor and an exceptionally large petrified log was taken by photographer John F. Ford sometime around the turn of the last century. Learn More
- The Saldern Crew Pauses in a Cut on their Logging Road - c. 1898As low as $5.00The logging crew poses in a substantial earth cut made for the logging railroad that supported their operation. It's not clear whether these men helped build the railroad grade as well as doing the logging. Learn More
- Tillamook Head from Seaside Beach - c. 1900As low as $5.00Turn-of-the-century tourists take in the ocean view at Seaside, Oregon's first seashore resort. Learn More
- Tunnel for Newly Completed Astoria and Columbia Railroad - c. 1900As low as $5.00When Northern Pacific completed its transcontinental railroad in 1883, Astorians assumed they would finally be connected by rail to inland cities. Learn More
- Two Timber Fallers Begin Their Saw Cut - c. 1898As low as $5.00A classic scene - this photo shows two fallers standing on their springboards, starting their sawcut to fall a substantial Douglas Fir. Learn More
- Warren Packing Co. Cannery at Cathlamet, Washington - c. 1900As low as $5.00Photographer John Fletcher Ford is best-known for his logging photos, but also created a series of views of salmon canneries along the Columbia River. Learn More
- Yarding the Big Logs - c. 1898As low as $5.00This well organized yarding area run by Saldern Logging Company near Grays River, Washington, demonstrates how logging crews staged their large logs till they could be loaded on railroad cars for a trip to the mill. Learn More