[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 80 (Tuesday, May 25, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E931]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    RECOGNITION OF THE CENTENNIAL OF THE MASON COUNTY LOGGING NO. 7 
                               LOCOMOTIVE

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                           HON. MIKE THOMPSON

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 25, 2010

  Mr. THOMPSON of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join the 
Roots of Motive Power and the Mendocino County Museum as they celebrate 
a rare achievement, the 100th birthday of an operating steam 
locomotive, the 1910 Baldwin Locomotive Works Mason County Logging #7. 
I would also like to recognize the 25th anniversary of Roots of Motive 
Power.
  The story of Mason County Logging #7 mirrors the history of logging 
in the Pacific Northwest. Logging locomotives were designed especially 
for their girth and flexibility to operate on spurs penetrating steep 
hillsides and deep canyons with their valuable loads. Locomotive #7 
started out with the Black Hills and Northwestern Railroad, a 
subsidiary of Mason County Logging Company, operating in the dense 
Douglas fir forests near the Washington State capital of Olympia.
  It remained in Washington for 80 years. A workhorse for more than 40 
years, it stood idle for 45 years and may have been lost forever to 
scrap metal. In 1984, however, with foresight Willits resident Chris 
Baldo began years of negotiations that culminated with his purchase of 
No. 7 in 1990. The old locomotive was placed on a lowbed and trucked to 
Mr. Baldo's Willits Redwood Company yard, arriving on September 24, 
1990.
  Preservationists like Mr. Baldo are not daunted by such a task as 
restoring what was at the time a rusty, nearly forgotten antique and 
bringing it back to life. His perseverance, tenacity and dogged 
determination turned the steam powered locomotive into a piece of 
living history. It took 11 years from Mr. Baldo's original purchase for 
No. 7 to complete restoration back in Washington until its return to 
California. In 2001, after a brief stint pulling Sierra Railroad 
coaches outside of Oakdale, California, No. 7 was moved back to Willits 
to its new home at Roots of Motive Power adjacent to the Mendocino 
County Museum in time for the Roots' Steam Festival on September 8 and 
9. The completion of a two-thirds mile track allows the engine to let 
off steam on special occasions.
  As we commemorate the significance of this locomotive, one of only a 
few hundred left in the United States, I also salute the Roots of 
Motive Power, an organization associated with the Mendocino County 
Museum and ``dedicated to the preservation, restoration and operation 
of logging and railroad equipment representative of California's North 
Coast Region from the 1850s until the present.'' With more than 300 
members Roots of Motive Power produces The Highline, a beautiful 
magazine-like newsletter and educational events. They also hold 
``steam-ups'' four times a year, one of which will celebrate the 100th 
birthday of No. 7.
  Madam Speaker, it's not often we pause to recognize a restored steam 
engine but the 1910 Mason County Logging No. 7 and the dedication of 
those who wanted to preserve its historical significance for the 
enjoyment of future generations deserve our praise. In addition, I am 
proud to ask my colleagues to join me in honoring the Roots of Motive 
Power in Willits, California, the ``heart of the redwoods'' for their 
dedication and long lasting contributions to preserving the best of 
times gone by.

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