Red River Lumber Company like so many other company towns issued scrip—a form of company currency utilized when an employee received an advance on wages. When an employee received scrip, the amount was deducted from his wages. It was basically worthless as it could only be redeemed in company stores. The usage of scrip declined when employees were issued badges. With an employee badge number, the employee or a member of his family could charge anything they wanted from the company store using that number. Those charges were then deducted from the employee’s paycheck.

In November 1923, John Thomas of the Oakland Tribune wrote a complete description of Red River’s operations at Westwood. As to the company scrip he noted, “The company runs a general merchandise and department store, covering a whole block. Here you can buy anything from a paper of pins to a threshing machine.

“All the employees of the big mill trade here, also dad, grandma, auntie and the kids related to the employees. This is the only store in town. The strange part of it is you don’t need money in this store. You use scrip or paper money—not Uncle Sam’s brand of currency, the kind the banks hand out. You procure books of scrip tickets from the office. These scrip books contain five, ten, twenty-five and fifty cent checks, or tickets, and are good in the big store, also the movie show, newsstands and clubroom. I never tried putting scrip in the plate of the church, as I did not attend.

“These scrip books are transferable to members of the immediate family, that is to pa, ma and the kiddies. Grandma buys her darning cotton, uncle buys his chewing and smoking, sis buys her new slippers and the kiddies their candy and chewing gum all with scrip.”

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Red River operated numerous logging camps from 1913 through 1944 when it sold to Fruit Growers. The camps were assigned numbers, though in no particular order. The majority of the camps were short lived and only had a span of one to maybe three years. One of the more interesting camps was Camp 33, but referred to as Town Camp, as it was located less than a mile west of Westwood. What made it unique was that Red River’s company town of Westwood would experience from time to time a housing shortage for its employees. On occasion, this camp was used to house mill workers instead of loggers.

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In 1922, the Red River Lumber Company announced that Westwood was to become a permanent town. Additional investments in community buildings commenced, such as a American Legion Hall and Masonic Hall. Across the log pond was Old Town home to large immigrant population. The residents of Old Town felt left out with no hall of their own. They, too, had their own fraternal organization the Centro Hispano Americano Society and desired to have a place to hold their functions.

In 1926, the residents of Greenville built a modest community hall for $2,100. This inspired the Old Town to do the same. They contacted Fletcher Walker, Red River’s resident manager, with a proposal to build a hall similar to Greenville’s and offered to pay half the costs.  Fletcher took the matter of under consideration and on August 20 wrote to His brother, Willis Walker, part of the local management, about the topic: “The Mexicans and wops want a recreation hall similar to the one recently built in Greenville. The Old Town bunch are willing to dig up $1,300 which will cover the labor cost, and they have $1,000 of it in the Bank, if you are willing to build a building on this basis. “The way it stands they cannot take part in the recreations on this side of the Pond as the majority of them do not speak English. A Hall of this sort would make a place for their parties, dances, a Movie occasionally, and a general social center and they have a Fraternal Society organized so they feel competent to police, janitor and generally conduct the building so it will make a better place for them all to live, and as this common labor is quite essential to the Plant as they do work that the short staked Americans will not stay long enough as to become sufficient in it has a commercial value to us that it is hard to measure dollars and cents, but I believe is a good proposition to go ahead with.”           

 Willis was agreeable and wrote back, “If for amusement only and thus we could do this much to retain men and helps on labor turnover.” Archie Walker who constantly watched Red River’s bottom line wanted to know if they would receive any rent for the building, or were they just donating the use of it? What is rather remarkable while the Walkers quibbled about spending so little money to build this hall, they did not blink an eye when in the previous year they had spent over $100,000 to build and furnish the halls for the American Legion and Masons, as well as the Westwood Theater.            

For the residents of Old Town, they were just pleased to learn that their request for a hall was approved. When completed they referred to their hall as the El Centro.

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This post nearly slipped through the proverbial crack. Some may recall the initial piece on Red River Facts. Those two articles were done prior to my fall from grace so to speak and and thus some things were sidelined.

As some may recall, the 1916 publication extolled the many virtues of Red River Lumber Company’s plant at Westwood. In the end not only did it inform the perspective customer that they would receive a superior product at the lowest cost. Satisfaction guaranteed. One statement that caught my attention: “Special items can be cut to order at Westwood with unusual promptness. Even should it be necessary to fell trees and cut logs, every operation from stump to car moves without friction or delay.”

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When the Red River Lumber Company established its company town of Westwood in 1913, it had to provide numerous amenities due to its remote location at the time. It was necessary to not only attract employees, but to retain them, as the lumber industry experienced a high turn over rate in labor. The Westwood Club was one of several facilities designed to meet the recreational needs of its employees. It included a restaurant, lunch counter, soda fountain, cigar and newsstand, barbershop, reading room and a billiard room.

On early Friday morning, March 31, 1944 a fire broke out in the Westwood Club though the cause, was never determined. Within twenty minutes the whole building was engulfed in flames. The heat so intense, that Nick Kannier’s automobile which was parked in front of building, burst into flames. Even neighboring buildings from across the street were smoking, on the verge of spontaneous combustion, which with quick action by the fire department prevented the same.

The J.R. Bartlett Company were the concessionaire of the Westwood Club, which included the clubhouse, cafe, pool hall, bar and lounge. There were four other tenants in the building—Ehorn’s Pharmacy, Quitman’s Apparel, Westwood Market and Kilpatric’s Used Furniture department. Estimated loss for all parties was placed at $125,000.