It many aspects it is one of Red River Lumber Company’s most unusual and significant logging camps. For the most part, Red River camps were given numbers and not names. It was by far the largest and many of its building were a permanent nature versus the portable.
This was a major move on Red River’s part since Red River bagan logging operations in the fall of 1912. , Red River had nearly exhausted its timber supply tributary to Westwood, and now its logging operations moved thirty-five miles north, near Poison Lake. Red River was reluctant at first, as its holdings were on the market, but the forest service offered nine million board feet as an enticement. This was in 1941, and government was gearing up for the war movement and lumber was deemed an essential commodity.
In the summer of 1941, work began on the construction of Camp Bunyan, home to 350 men. In 1943, a second camp, Camp Harvey was located to the east. By the end 1944, Red River had sold its Westwood operation to the Fruit Growers Supply who continued logging in that area until 1948.