Collection	Hawley, Brooks
Description	Doodlebug and dragline dredges of the Northwest Development Co. THERE ARE 8 IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS RECORD. Brooks Hawley notes: [These photos] are of the Northwest Development's operations identified with Fred Little. There were two outfits, possibly three. First was Little, Harris, and Wolfinger in October 1938, and the K. R. Nutting Dredging Co. of Silinas California in 1939, at least my May 1939. The dredging on the Northup place was done by the Wolfinger outfit. It moved to Carlsons on Deer Creek, but that ran into trouble. In 1940 they combined as Northwest Development. I don't remember all their moves. They did the Bailie place, buying of Firman Wilson, also at the old Schofield mansion, buying of Rhode Harris. At the last, one outfit was set up on the old railroad right of way below S wye [near the Sumpter smelter]. Rhode Harris came into possession of it. It set there some years and was the only doodle bug here started after the war, being in operation in 1949, called Brocton-Nevada Syndicate. It seemed to have financial troubles, was behind on wages when it quit. Was said the right-of-way was not favorable dredging as grease dropped from trains hindered gold recovery. [Photos 4, 5, 6, and 8 show] the old Monighan, a huge ancient old electric drive thing that waddled around, walking instead of on revolving treads. Everett Allen ran it a lot, around Sumpter and on the Bailie place. He liked it, said it had nive controls. It was the biggest dragline here. Most of this was favorable dredging such as under the old Schofield mansion. Some figures indicate the Little-Harris-Wolfinger-Nutting doodlebugs took out around $700,000. I always like to make fun of the Northwest Development Co. name, a hell of a name for a thing that only developed rock piles. This was a perfect example of a skin out and clear out company, working all the muss it could as close as it could close in around Sumpter.
Object ID	1992.1.544

Baker County Library District, 2400 Resort St., Baker City, OR 97814 -- Ph. 541-523-6419 -- www.bakerlib.org -- Send comments to:     gdielman@bakerlib.org
Last modified on: December 09, 2017