Old Smoke Stack — Attraction in Garibaldi

Hammond built the smokestack 1927 to spare the townspeople of Garibaldi from choking on the fumes from his saw mill. Even today, it remains one of the tallest manmade structures along the Oregon coast.

From a local newspaper: The future of Garibaldi’s iconic smokestack was debated by the Garibaldi City Council Monday night, March 18.

Built in 1927, the smokestack – one of the tallest manmade structures on the Oregon coast – was the landmark of the Hammond Lumber Company, for a time the largest lumber mill on the coast. The stack, built of thick reinforced concrete, replaced two metal smokestacks, and was reportedly built tall deliberately, to improve air quality in the town. It’s weathered 86 years of often inclement weather, but it’s started to disintegrate and has become a safety hazard, realtor Rob Trost advised the city council.

Trost is general manager of Old Mill Investment LLC and one of the owners of the former mill property on Garibaldi’s waterfront, where the smokestack is located. A wide area around the structure is currently fenced off with barbed wire, to keep the public away from potential falling debris.

The cost to have the smokestack demolished by a private company is prohibitive, Trost suggested. City manager John O’Leary agreed. “The estimated demolition cost is close to half a million dollars,” O’Leary told the council.

However, the National Guard could do it, O’Leary suggested, as part of their “Innovative Readiness Training Program”; they could absorb personnel and equipment costs, and treat it as a training exercise. “I think demolition is the most final solution,” O’Leary told the council. “I’m not sure making it safe...

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We couldn’t quite get up close, but even from afar, it stirred something. You just know it’s seen some heat. Dark, mysterious, and full of flavor—we were left wanting more.

A brief encounter, but...

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