Page 5 - Copyright 2013 - Pamplin Media Group
Basic HTML Version
September 2013
THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW
5
Combs was so sure of his enterprise that in
May 1914, he announced that seven Beaver
Six vehicles would be ready for use in the
Rose Festival parade in June. Parts for 500
cars had been ordered, Combs said, and
assembly of the rst Beaver Six vehicles was
only days away.
But potholes in the road to production
began to develop.
War shortages created difficulties in
acquiring the patented Daimler-Lanchester
worm drive gears from England and concerns
were raised over the newly built factory’s
ability to fill the flood of customer orders
already on the books. Beaver Motor reacted
by abandoning plans for a full-size touring car
and launched a program to develop a smaller
vehicle to meet public demand.
Undaunted by the setback, the company
moved its executive of ces to Gresham in
1915. Six employees began casting four and
six-cylinder engines in a foundry, that was
once a woodshed for one of Gresham’s
pioneers, Dr. John Powell.
The obvious display of product con dence
was heralded by a Portland paper, noting,
“Beaver sixes...will become an everyday
spectacle on Portland’s streets within the next
90 days.”
In the fall of 1915, The Outlook and St. Clair
reported that workers had turned to more
pro table work, building drag saws, waiting
for the tide to turn in automotive production.
But by April 1918, the only thing coming out
of Beaver Motor’s Gresham factory were
saws.
Combs’ visions of Henry Ford-esque fame
suddenly come to a grinding halt.
Toledo-based Willys-Overland, Inc., cried
“infringement,” ling a lawsuit claiming Beaver
Motor’s engine design was a hair too close to
one patented by the Overland company.
Investors saw their nest eggs disappear and
the public wondered whether any Beaver
Sixes had ever been built in the rst place.
Which is the question still being debated
nearly a century later. While conflicting
accounts say between two and four vehicles
did see the light of day, the bottom line is no
one alive today has ever seen one.
It has been rumored that one Beaver Six
was seen around Gresham until just before
World War II. And another story still circulates
of the Portland bankruptcy trustee attorney
who burned a Beaver Six chassis in his
backyard in 1929, after his sons wore the tires
out. The irony is that supposedly, following
the bonfire, the Beaver Six’s owner was
approached by a representative of Harvey
Firestone and offered $5,000 for the car.
Combs’ failed auto factory eventually
changed its casting equipment and went on
to produce rail car wheels, sewer pipe, drag
saws, cement mixers and gasoline engines.
The Olympic Manufacturing Company used
the building to manufacture veneer until the
late 1990s, when it was razed to make way
for development of the Civic Neighborhood
and Gresham Station.
But in the end, the Beaver Six may have
been aptly named. In today’s market, if one
were found, it could be valued at nearly six
gures.
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2014 Columbia River Highway Calendar
Rare photos taken when the
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• Your purchase supports a highway exhibit opening in 2015 –
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• The exhibit marks the 100th anniversary of the highway’s opening
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national treasure which lures people from all over the world.
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NAME: ____________________________________________________________________
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contact Len Otto at 503-663-0794 or
“My teacher, Mrs. Borski, got our whole
class together and we walked over to the
ceremony,” Higgins said. “It was sort of a
eld trip because it had to do with Gresham’s
history.”
Higgins was seated in an antique car with
three friends for a photo op and posed for
photographers with the marker he helped
acquire. After all the festivities, Higgins and
his classmates gathered at the
former QFC grocery store (now
Best Buy) for punch and donuts.
Nearly 13 years later, Higgins
laughs about his 15 minutes of
fame. He figures he was a
nightmare of one-word answers
during a radio interview with
former Portland television
personality, Pete Schulberg.
Higgins also admits to taking
favors from his friends, who
vied for selection as his posse
for of cial photos.
It should come as no surprise
that Higgins is now a history
major at Portland State
University. Though unclear what
he will do with his degree when he nishes
school in a couple years, Higgins is already
steps ahead of his peers when it comes to
doing the job of historian.
“Raising money for the sign did something
good for the community’s history,” Higgins
said. “My mom always told me that the
project would be good on my resumé, but
I’ve yet to gure out how to do that.”
Michael Higgins now—a 22-year-old history major at Portland State University.
OUTLOOK PHOTO: JIM CLARK
“Beaver sixes...will become
an everyday spectacle
on Portland’s streets
within the next 90 days.”
as reported in a Portland
newspaper in 1915
AUTO: From PAge 3
sign: From PAge 4
