Crew with donkey engine, camp 2, Simpson Logging Company, near Matlock, ca. 1927

Sol G. Simpson and his family moved to Mason County in 1887, where Simpson worked laying ties and rails for the Port Blakely Mill Company's logging railroad. He formed S. G. Simpson Company in Matlock in 1890. Three of Simpson's brothers joined him in Mason County, and two of them worked for him. Simpson Logging Company opened its first sawmill, the Reed Mill, at Shelton in 1925. Numerous other mills and logging operations along the West Coast have been acquired by Simpson over the years. [Source: James, David. Grisdale: Last of the Logging Camp. Fairfield, Washington: Ye Galleon Press, 1986.]Camp no. 2 was located on Scotts Prairie, southwest of Matlock, and was in existence from 1925 to 1930, when it and camp no. 1 were merged into camp no. 3.