Relic six ton logging engine endures in Stella
Historic engine known as the Little Ant rests in a covered shed in Stella, Washington. B. F. Brock, a longtime local pioneer, preserves the six ton locomotive once used by Ordway and Weidler on the Columbia river logging railroad completed in May 1883 and retired in 1890 for a larger engine.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
B. F. Brock
Cowlitz County
Wash
Columbia River
Ordway & Weidler
Brock
Stella, Wash
Narrow gauge locomotive shipped for Oak Point logging line
This week George W. Weidler and Julius Ordway received from Seattle a narrow gauge locomotive to be used on their logging railway near Oak Point. The engine Ant, the first railroad engine on Puget Sound, arrived in 1874 and saw varied service before being sold to Oregon loggers and moved north via the Emma Hawyard and Olympia Tenino line to Kalama for transport onward. The county seeks voter approval to buy The Meadows 94.5 acre site for permanent King County Fair grounds, with two acres excluded for a private home near Pacific Highway.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Geo. W. Weidler
Julius Ordway
Seattle
Oak Point
The
Post Intelligencer
Ant
Puget Sound
Portage Road
Seattle Coal & Transportation Company
Columbia
Oregon
Sound
Emma Hawyard
Olympia and
Tenino
Kalama
P. F. Purcell
Pacific Coast
San Francisco
Ant locomotive story and Brock family enterprise on Coal Creek
The Ant steam locomotive began service in 1883 pulled logs to the Columbia river from Brock’s timber lands on Coal Creek. Brock, pioneer builder and farmer with 1070 acres, bought The Ant for about 2000 dollars and later advertised a racing tract with a grand stand and facilities valued around 850000, seeking buyers for the tract with improvements.
Also Mentioned on This Page
EEE Eee Freeebies
SEPP
Peer Eere Seegers
Othe Ant
Mr. Brock
Morning Oregonian