The McKenzie River Valley has long had a history of people coming to visit in order to fish, hunt, raft, or just walk through our forests. People love to take in the fresh air and just being on the river or hiking to our lakes and waterfalls. These visitors, especially since the days before the automobile, have needed a place to stay overnight. Early pioneers and homesteaders let people stay in their homes or barns, and soon lodges and hotels seemed to be the logical next step.

One of the first moves toward tourism was made by Carey Thomson around 1909. He rowed boats for friends to fish and then started rowing commercially. He found that fishermen from other

parts of the state had heard of him and were coming and asking for him specifically to take them fishing. Carey Thomson was the first person on record to take people down the McKenzie River for money. He expanded his business and was joined by Billy Price and Rube Montgomery, Ben Minney, and Felix Sparks. Most of these men were from homesteading families. Carey Thomson built the very first sportsman’s lodge on the McKenzie River. It was a farmhouse he and four sons built which had all the modern luxuries: running water and private rooms.

His buddy Billy Price saw how much business Thomson was doing and he opened the Nimrod Inn. A hotel in Gate Creek (Vida) opened and later the Holiday Farm in Rainbow. Many existing hotels started to cater to hunters and fishermen like the Antler Inn located in Blue River and the Log Cabin Inn up river in McKenzie Bridge. Tourism became a pillar of the McKenzie River economy. Advertisements hit the newspapers. Stagecoaches brought people to the river and when automobiles were invented the stagecoaches replaced motorcoaches.

Over the years tourism waxed and waned, and many beloved lodges burned down. Fire is always a danger for businesses in remote areas. Many of the lodges were made out of timber cut down from the surrounding forest without sprinkler or fire suppression systems. The Holiday Farm burned down, the Log Cabin Inn burned down, the Castle Rock Lookout burned, Phil’s Phine Phoods burned, The Blue River Tavern burned, the Cougar Room burned down, The Minney Family Barn burned down, the first Walterville Church burned down, and many other places burned down, but people keep rebuilding.

The modern lodges now have fire suppression systems while keeping the mountain/pioneer theme. Here are a list of many of the lodges on the McKenzie River today: