This image shows Dave Sullivan on his first visit to the Clark E. Hadley timberland. Here he's standing on the road that crosses the entire northern edge of the property. You can learn more about Dave (and Barb) Sullivan on the About Us page.

Clark E. Hadley Timberland

This website is all about the Clark E. Hadley timberland, a 72-acre tree farm located roughly 14 miles up the Wilson River in Tillamook, Oregon.

This website was created by Dave Sullivan to document his newly acquired timberland property. Dave and Barb Sullivan share joint ownership of the timberland with various descendants of Clark Hadley. The property has been owned by the extended Hadley family since at least 1910.

Clark E. Hadley was quite a pioneer character who among other activities, owned saloons and gambling rooms in Tillamook and Bend, operated the Hadley Lumber Company in Hobsonville and founded the Elks club in Tillamook. You can read more about Clark Hadley's business activities in his own words in the Clark Hadley Testimony page of this website.

The Hadley Lumber Company at Hobsonville was originally started by Joseph Smith. It later became the Truckee Lumber Company before being purchased by Tillamook businessman Clark E. Hadley.

(Image: Tillamook County Pioneer Museum)

The Hadley Lumber Company

The Hadley Lumber Company was located at Hobsonville, which currently is a ghost town, on the east shore of Tillamook Bay, about 2 miles south of Garibaldi via U.S. Route 101.

The community was named after pioneer John Hobson, who was one of the founders of the local salmon cannery. Hobsonville once had an economy based on lumber and the salmon cannery–the Tillamook Packing Company–which began operating in 1884. Hobsonville also had a hotel and a creamery, and was a stop on the Tillamook Bay and Pacific Railway and Navigation Co. Railroad. The Hobsonville post office ran from 1883 to 1913.

By 1930, Hobsonville was the home of several elderly Tillamook and Nehalem women, who talked with May Edel, an assistant to anthropologist Franz Boas. By 1940 the townsite was overgrown by alder trees but several buildings and the unoccupied hotel building remained. Shortly before 1940 the remains of the Smith lumber mill were washed into the bay.

(Source: Wikipedia's Hobsonville page)

The Tillamook burn destroyed 350,000 acres of prime timberland including the Clark E. Hadley timberland.
(Image: Oregon State Archives)

Tillamook Burn history

The Tillamook Burn was a series of forest fires that destroyed 350,000 acres (550 square miles) of prime timberland. There were four wildfires in this series, which spanned the years of 1933–1951.

According to Edward Wallmark, manager of the Tillamook office of the Oregon Department of Forestry, the Clark Hadley timberland burned in the first three Tillamook burn fires; that is, in 1933, 1939 and 1945.

A picture of wire rope found on the Hadley timberland. (Image: John Paul Cross, February 2021)

Wire rope is several strands of metal wire twisted into a helix forming a composite rope. Modern wire rope was invented by the German engineer Wilhelm Albert in the years between 1831 and 1834 for use in mining. (Text: Wikipedia)

Logging history

Clark Hadley bought this timberland in 1910 to provide logs for his Hobsonville lumber mill. Back then, logging was completely different than today: logs were moved through rivers and bays rather than by roads.

The nearby picture shows heavy wire rope found on the Clark Hadley timberland. This sort of cable was used to pull logs. Today, logs are pulled up to landings where they are loaded onto trucks. In the early 1900s, wire ropes pulled logs as well, but the destination was either to railroad lines or a river.

This wire rope likely pulled logs into the river. The end of each log would have been stamped with special log-branding axe to give it a distinctive ownership marking.

This 1938 photo shows a "steam donkey"; that is, a steam powered winch used in early logging operations. This particular steam donkey was owned by the Interstate Logging Company and is shown in the Tillamook Burn.

Haldley Plot Plan

The Hadley timberland was originally two 40-acre lots. Today it's smaller because 8 acres became the public Highway 6 along the Wilson River.

The Hadley timberland is legally known as:

Government Lots 17 and 18, Section 1, Township 1 South, Range 8 West of the Willamette Meridian, Tillamook County, Oregon, excepting therefrom any portion that may lie within any public roadway(s).

Basically, the property is a 72-acre parcel of timberland that has several potential homesites along the Wilson River. This Property probably could be partitioned into several smaller parcels that collectively would be worth substantially more than it is worth as a single combined legal parcel.

The original Hadley residence is currently used as the La Mexicana Restaurant in Tillamook, Oregon across from the courthouse.

The Hadley House

Don Kilgore writes: This house was built by C.E. Hadley (Clark) for his father C.B. Hadley. The house is still standing and houses the La Mexicana restaurant. I was raised in this house in my early years. When I was born my father was a B-24 pilot bombing Nazi targets throughout Europe from a base in Italy.

The Hadley House was built in 1905, and it remained in the family until 1977. Mr. Hadley owned the Grand Central Saloon & Billiard Parlor. Located on Stillwell Avenue, the saloon was one of the best appointed and thoroughly equipped establishments of its kind in the state in 1892, boasting electric lighting. (Source: 2016 Tillamook County Historical Society -- Walking Tour of Historic Tillamook Homes)

Fun Photos

The photos in this image carrousel were taken by John Paul Cross. They show the beauty to be found in the Clark E. Hadley timberland ... if you know where to look.

The Hadley family tree.

Hadley Timberland Ownership

This section may contain errors ... it is a work-in-progress. Eventually it should trace ownership of the Clark E. Hadley timberland from its original purchase around 1910 to the present day. The information in the page today comes primarily from internet searches and a Hadley Family Tree provided by Donald Kilgore, Junior. It needs to be verified and updated with actual Deeds from the Tillamook County Courthouse.

It appears ownership began when Clark Hadley bought the property around 1910. Ownership then flowed through Hazel Hadley to her three children in equal one-third shares: Michael Kilgore, Marijo (Kilgore) Jones, and Donald Kilgore.

Michael died in 2009 and his one-third share was divided once again to his three children: Patrick (deceased), Lara (San Antonio, Texas) and Hadley (Kansas City, Missouri).
Marijo (Kilgore) Jones died in 2019 in Plano Texas, and I don't know who inherited her one-third share. Her estate is being managed by her son, Christopher Michael Jones. Marijo also has an adopted daughter, Lisa.
Don Kilgore Jr. sold his one-third share to Dave and Barb Sullivan in February 2021.

More information about Donald K. Kilgore and his wife, Hazel Anne Hadley can be found on the Kilgore Family page.

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