Dawson, Oregon

Unincorporated community in the state of Oregon, United States

Dawson is an unincorporated community in Benton County, Oregon, United States. Dawson lies about 6 miles west of 99W on Dawson Road west of Bellfountain, northwest of Alpine, and north of Glenbrook. Dawson was the terminus of the Southern Pacific Bailey Branch (later operated by the Willamette & Pacific Railroad), which served the local sawmill into the 1990s^[1] but has since been abandoned.

The Hull-Oakes Lumber Company sawmill in Dawson was the last steam-powered sawmill in the United States, and the only mill in the Pacific Northwest capable of cutting logs more than 70 feet in length.^[2]

References

^ Burkhardt, D.C. Jessee (1994). Backwoods Railroads: Branchlines and Shortlines of Western Oregon. Pullman, WA: Washington State University Press. ISBN 9780874221046.
^ "Sawmill owned by the Hull-Oakes Lumber Company in Dawson, Oregon, 1963". www.salemhistory.net. City of Salem, OR. January 17, 2003. Retrieved May 15, 2024. The mill is unique in that it is the last steam-powered mill in the United States. It is the only mill in the northwest that can cut timber over 70 feet in length.