Historical society helps lug donkey engine to Issaquah
By James Gibowski

This article appeared in The Issaquah Press, July 21, 1993

When it comes to retrieving a donkey engine, the Issaquah Historical Society has been stubborn as a mule.

And it has paid off.

Seventy-three years after being abandoned by its original owners and four years after being sighted by Weyerhaeuser workers in the Tacoma Watershed area 20 miles east of Cumberland, the entire 42,000-pound donkey engine has been lugged to Issaquah.

"This is a rare find", said Issaquah Historical Society Vice-President Ted Cook Jr. "It’s like a Christmas present. Now that you’ve got it, what’re you going to do with it?"

Actually, Cook knows what will be done with the engine, which now lies in a lot off 1st Avenue SE near Bush Street in Issaquah. For the next several years, the engine will be dissembled, cleaned, fixed and put back into working condition. Some parts will also have to be reconstructed.

"We’ll take out all the pieces. Everything is massive," said Cook, who will work on the project along with other volunteers.

Once the work is done, the engine will be on view as part of the society’s logging display.

The standard tandem drum yarding engine, built by Puget Sound Iron and Steel Works sometime before 1910, was owned by the Forbes Timber Company.

The engine, which rests on rails, had two cables. After trees were cut, the cables were attached to logs. One-by-one, the logs were dragged uphill to the engine.

One drum contains a 3,750-foot cable, which is 1-1/8 inch in diameter. It could move a log 550 feet per minute.

The other drum has a 7,200-foot cable five-eights of an inch in diameter. Logs could travel 1,075 feet per minute.

Four years ago, the engine’s smoke box was transported to Issaquah, where it was to placed near the Issaquah Historical Society Depot. The word "SAVE" was painted on the rest of the engine to help claim it for the historical society. Rowan Hinds, before he was elected mayor, was one of the Weyerhaeuser workers who helped in the process.

Recently, the rest of the engine was hauled from its original site to Issaquah free-of-charge by Marenakos Rock Center and Valley Excavators Inc.

"If it hadn’t been for Marenakos and Valley, we could never have gotten it out of there," said Cook, who noted the historical society was fortunate that Rod Hyde, president of Marenakos, recently joined the Issaquah organization.

The Weyerhaeuser workers found the engine after cutting down trees near it. Cook said the four-year growth of trees replanted by the company already had been making removal more and more difficult.

Cook said the engine is in good shape and nearly all of its parts are intact.

"The grease is still on the bearings," said Cook.

After the engine was brought to its present location, the City of Issaquah queried about the unique looking object.

"The city already called and said, "What’s that monster out there," said cook.

The city could have saved a phone call and asked the mayor. Four years ago, he was one of the first people to see it since 1920.

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