Bend, Oregon's Lumber Industry

Kelly Cannon-Miller, executive director of the Deschutes Historical Museum talked about Bend, Oregon’s origins as a mill town, explained what life was like while the mills were in operation, and discussed the impact of their closing. Two of the largest lumber mills of their time were located in Bend. Brooks-Scanlon and Shevlin-Hixon opened in 1916 and were located on opposite sides of the Deschutes River in Bend. Both mills were a major part of the city’s economy during much of the 20th century.

C-SPAN’s Local Content Vehicles (LCVs) made a stop in their “2014 LCV Cities Tour” in Bend, Oregon, from March 3-5, to feature the history and literary life of the community. Working with the BendBroadband Cable local affiliate, they visited literary and historic sites where local historians, authors, and civic leaders were interviewed. The history segments air on American History TV (AHTV) on C-SPAN3 and the literary events/non-fiction author segments air on BookTV on C-SPAN2. close