This Cache starts at a site that provides a great view of what remains of the Broughton Lumber Company Flume. Here you will find some of the information needed to calculate the final Cache coordinates. As youngsters, we (Dan & Janet) both remember this flume as a major landmark on trips through the Gorge. We anxiously waited for the first glimpse of the dripping wooden flume snaking its way down the hillside. We hope you'll enjoy reading about it and will share a bit of our fascination with this piece of Columbia River Gorge history.
Area History:
The Broughton sawmill was located on the hill at Willard, Washington. There, massive logs were rough-sawn into timbers called 'cants'. The cants were then splashed into the water-filled flume for a 9 mile trip to the finishing mill at Underwood, Washington, a descent of 1000 feet. Originally built in 1913, by the Drano Flume and Lumber Company, it carried cants and cordwood as far as Drano Lake. It was purchased by the Broughton Lumber Co. and extended to the Underwood Mill in 1923. The flume transported approximately 30 million board feet of lumber each year until 1986 when the firm closed the sawmill at Willard. This was the last operating lumber flume in the United States.
Occasionally passengers were given a ride down the flume in a specially designed boat that was normally used by the flume inspector. Those who actually made the trip described it as a wild ride! Anyone who survived the trip to the bottom was issued a personalized certificate stating 'I Survived a Ride Down the Broughton Flume'. The two most famous passengers were 'Charlie, the Lonesome Cougar' of the Disney film by the same name and TV's Lassie. The flume was the scene of a 1960s episode in which an injured Lassie was transported in a flume boat down the hill to a waiting veterinarian.
There are preserved sections of the flume at: The Western Forestry Center in Portland, Oregon; Camp 18 Logging Museum in Elsie, Oregon; Daubenspeck Park in Bingen, Washington and in Dan & Janet's backyard.
Details:
The above coordinates are your first waypoint. Here you must answer the following questions:
How many full-time crew members did it take to keep the flume in good repair? (a)_____
How many thousands of board feet did the Willard mill process in a 19 hour work day? (b)_____
How long in minutes did it take the cants to travel the entire length of the flume? (c)_____
From the first waypoint, drive east following the flume to its end. You should recognize the logical end when you see it. How many highway and railroad tunnels combined are between the first waypoint and the end of the flume? (d)_____
ww = 3 + c - a - d
xxx = a x (b - c) - (c + d)
yy = c - (a + d + 7)
zzz = (a x b) - (2 x c) - 18
The cache is located at N45° ww.xxx / W121° yy.zzz