Happy Birthday “Big Log”

Many cities in the United States honor local tragedies or accomplishments with memorials or monuments. St Louis has the Gateway Arch honoring the US expansion west; Enterprise Alabama has the Boll Weevil Monument honoring, well, the Boll Weevil, residents recognized a blessing when the beetle wiped out the cotton which helped farmers diversify crops, which ultimately promoted prosperity. In Forks, we have the log not just any log but “The Big Log.” Do not call it a stump!

In the summer of 1939 community members began to notice that tourists got really excited whenever a “one Log Load” came through town. There would be picture taking of the load and with the load and all kinds of excitement from the out-of-town visitors. So the Forks Chamber of Commerce set out to get a permanent big log for display.

Local business owners decided that having a “Big Log” on display twenty-four hours a day seven days a week would be a unique and wonderful attraction.

It was decided to place it at Jake Hahn’s triangle lot across from his service station (the lot now displays a totem pole). Somewhere along the line the location got changed and the Groffman lot next to the Oddfellows hall was eventually decided upon.

Groffman, who owned a store with an empty lot next door, right in the middle of town, agreed to donate the space with the provision that only the town would get credit if the log was used in advertising and that no advertisements or posters would ever be displayed on the log.

But the first big log didn’t come easy. On its way into town, it fell off the truck and rolled down a bank. Bob Tuttle bucked the big log into a more manageable size, got it back on the truck, and on August 25, 1939, the first big log went on display.

A short time later a carved thunderbird, a gift from the Quileute Tribe, was affixed to the front of the log. Bernard Judson, Groffman’s grandson who grew up in Forks and now lives in Hawaii, recalls the little observance that accompanied the contribution of the Thunderbird. Judson said, “I remember a small ceremony with the Chamber of Commerce, Tribal Elders, Oscar Wahlgren, Ray Goss the pharmacist, and my Grandfather.” Judson also remembers that his grandfather took a step ladder and magnifying glass out to the log to count the rings to see how old it was and that his grandfather was disappointed that the log was less than 30 feet long.

Sadly that log split and became a danger, but the big log idea had caught on, and it was replaced by a new big log without the thunderbird in August of 1955. This new log was bigger around but shorter. It was donated by Nanson Anderson and a carved board with a timeline of the life of the tree was bolted to the front. Rosmond Bros. donated the cedar for signage.

When Groffman sold his store to Harry Sackett, Sackett added a high lead block to the attraction in April 1963. The huge red block had been built around 1919 by the Lamb Machine Company of Hoquiam and the 1500-pound piece was quite an addition.

Eventually, Sackett’s sold out and sometime in 1977 the big log was changed out with a better cement base and the big red block was gone. The Lion’s Club placed new signage on the front of a new log in March 1977 and in August 1995 the Club assisted with another new log and covered the log with a roof to help preserve it.

When Twilight entrepreneurs took over the building next to the “Big Log” they decided to fence it in. Only the front of the beloved “Big Log” could then be seen. But even the Twilight fans lined up to have their pictures taken in front of this local attraction.

And that is how it was until the downtown fire in October 2012, two buildings were lost but the Fire Department managed to save the “Big Log.” It is now a little charred on the backside but the fences are gone and the “Big Log” is free again.

These Days the Big Log is getting more attention again as those waiting to view the Forever Twilight in Forks collection at the Rainforest Arts Center take time to get a photo at the old attraction. Many also say that the 2012 fire torched the likeness of a wolf on the side burned in the fire.

While it is not the Gateway Arch or even the Boll Weevil Monument it is Forks’ really “Big Log.” Never to be confused with a stump.

Christi Baron, editor