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Draft:Camp 18

Coordinates: 45°53′11″N 123°36′52″W / 45.886404°N 123.614545°W / 45.886404; -123.614545
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  • Comment: I have added two more reliable sources to ensure notability. Saul McGill (talk) 15:23, 19 January 2023 (UTC)
  • Comment: Sources seems mostly like blogs or unreliable sources. Willamette Week being the exception. Bkissin (talk) 21:07, 25 December 2022 (UTC)

Camp 18 Restaurant
Map
Restaurant information
Established1986; 38 years ago (1986)
Owner(s)Gordon and Roberta Smith
Street address42362 US Highway 26, Seaside, Oregon
CityElsie, Oregon
Postal/ZIP CodeOR 97138
CountryUSA
Coordinates45°53′11″N 123°36′52″W / 45.886404°N 123.614545°W / 45.886404; -123.614545

Camp 18 is a historical landmark restaurant with a memorial dedicated to the Oregon loggers who perished during the work in the 20th and 21 centuries. The restaurant is located about 60 miles west of Portland and a mere 22 miles east of the Pacific Ocean on the Highway 26.[1][2]

History

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Gordon Smith, owner and founder of the restaurant, was born in Astoria and raised in Jewell. Coming from a family with deep roots in logging industry, Smith bought 50 acres of land along East Humbug Creek off Highway 26 in 1966 and built a sawmill there, and in 1986 he and his fellow logger Maurie Clark built by hand a restaurant nearby.[3] Gordon harvested all the material for the 14,000-square-foot log building himself. He brought in the lumber and hand-peeled, drawknifed and sawed it at his sawmill on the property across Humbug Creek, which he operated from 1966 until the restaurant opened.[4]

The Camp 18 restaurant got its name due to the fact that it is located at milepost 18 on Highway 26. In Oregon, logging camps were usually numbered and had no names.[1]

In December 2007, when a big storm on the coast caused tree debris to block Highway 26, Camp 18 took in more than 100 trapped people. People were fed and left to spend the night in the restaurant.[5][6]

The logging museum of Camp 18 houses artifacts that are more than a hundred years old.[7]

Memorial

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In the annexes adjacent to the restaurant, there is a souvenir store and a lumberjack memorial dedicated to the memory of fallen loggers and all those who worked in the logging industry. The museum and memorial belong to a non-profit organization that operates separately from the restaurant.[4]

Herman Doty, the museum's president, runs a blacksmith shop in Rockaway Beach. He used to be the treasurer of the museum's board and then became its president.[5]

On the territory of the museum there is a trail along which there is old logging equipment. The entrance to the museum is framed by a bronze monument.[5]

The museum's collection is constantly being updated. Families whose relatives were loggers in the Pacific Northwest can hang their own plaque in memory of a loved one.[5]

Landscape, design and operation

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The restaurant is owned and operated by the Smith family.

Traditional Pacific Northwest materials and construction methods were used in the construction of the massive restaurant building. An 85-foot ridge pole, which weighs about 25 tons, is placed under the ceiling.[8][9] It is 5,600 square feet of lumber.[4]

The front doors of the restaurant are hand-carved. Each door is made from a single old growth fir log and is 4,5 inches thick and weighs approximately 500 pounds, with iron handles in the shape of axes.[10] There are two fireplaces in the dining area of the restaurant. Each of them weighs 25 tons and is made of local stone. The chandeliers are made of elk antlers. The interior is complemented by many taxidermied animals. A life-size cougar is located on the balcony of the second floor.[1][11]

On the grounds near the restaurant, there are such historical exhibits as:

  • "Steam donkey", or "donkey engine" – it was once widely used in the logging industry. One of these instances is the Dolbeer single spool, a first-generation model;
  • Caterpillar-type tracked vehicles designed to work in the woods;
  • An old fashioned red caboose from Clark & Wilson Lumber Company;
  • A railroad skeleton log car;
  • A large band saw from a sawmill;
  • A self-propelled Ohio steam crane;
  • Carved wooden statues of loggers, bears, wolves and a Bigfoot over nine feet tall;
  • Dining car – this is used as a bathroom during the summer tourist season;
  • A wooden water tower;
  • Boilers;
  • Oil tanks;
  • Logging graders;
  • Straddle buggies;
  • Steam bathhouses;
  • Logging cables.[9][1][12]

The restaurant is famous for big portions due to the fact that the work of a lumberjack has traditionally been very energy-intensive and more calories had to be consumed than the average person needs.[1] [13][14]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e "At Oregon's Camp 18, A Rustic Retreat With Culinary Charm | GALO Magazine". www.galomagazine.com. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Business News April 2021 – The Cedar Mill News". cedarmillnews.com. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  3. ^ James, Tyler (2 March 2017). "Camp 18: The Logging Themed Oregon Restaurant You Must Try". That Oregon Life. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b c "Camp 18 Restaurant - a must stop on the way to the Oregon Coast". Pechluck's Food Adventures. 13 July 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  5. ^ a b c d Hoard, Linda K. "Camp 18 is home to rich history, food". Discover Our Coast. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  6. ^ Connection, Oregon Coast Beach. "December 2006: the Massive, Deadly Storm a Year Before the Big One". Oregon Coast Beach Connection. Retrieved 28 December 2022.
  7. ^ "The Blessing of the Log". Prost Amerika. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  8. ^ Kroeger, Kyle (7 October 2022). "18 Fun & Best Things to Do in Seaside, Oregon". ViaTravelers. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  9. ^ a b Crane, Julianne G. (15 September 2014). "Camp 18 in northern Oregon includes a logging museum, good eats, old friends Diana & Jim Garot". RV Wheel Life. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  10. ^ "Eat Like a Logger in the Oversized Log Cabin of Paul Bunyan's Dreams". Willamette Week. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  11. ^ Armstrong, Catherine (1 December 2019). "The Coziest Place For An Oregon Winter Meal, Camp 18 Restaurant, Is Comfort Food At Its Finest". OnlyInYourState. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  12. ^ "12 Top-Rated Attractions & Things to Do in Seaside, OR | PlanetWare". www.planetware.com. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  13. ^ "Camp 18 Restaurant". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  14. ^ "Road Trip: 10 Must-See Spots Along the Oregon Coast". 10Best. 7 August 2015. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
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