The Rough World of Washington Logging Towns

Early Logging Towns

During the first decades of significant settlement, logging was very much a small organization enterprise. Often a few men would set up a site near the shore of Puget Sound, cut down all of the surrounding trees, and overload the closest ship for transport to California. Transport by any means other than boat, was difficult in the back-country. Towns remained small, and the culture of the logging men was libertine and suffused with machismo. 

 An early lumber mill on the shores of Puget Sound

No town of any size existed without a saloon. With little else to spend their money on, men congregated to gamble, drink, fight, and carouse with prostitutes. There were few white women, so most of the hookers were native Indians or Asian women.

While logging also occurred in Oregon, the cultural effects were mitigated there by the presence of numerous farming families, who brought something of a check to the excesses of taverns and prostitution. In Washington, the loggers had the place to themselves for many years, and the area gained its reputation as a den of vice and lawlessness. Few outsiders dared venture into some of the towns.

Most notorious were the cities around Grays Harbor, such as Aberdeen and Hoquiam. In a single year over forty dead bodies were found floating in the water under varying circumstances. Billy Gohl was credited with many of the murders, as well as innumerable assaults, thefts, and arsons. Part-time psychopath, part-time bartender and union agent, he took a special delight in targeting sailors at liberty.