[Article on Jim Hendryx, son of Bethewel, Klickitat, Washington]
[from Jeff Elmer's site, with permission. Additional information may be found at
http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~westklic/index.html]

The Goldendale Sentinel, Goldendale, WA., April 28, 1955, page 11
Includes portrait

JIM HENDRYX WAS EARLY-DAY "LOG DRIVER" ON RIVER

     "See where you have been running articles on some of the pioneers of this 
county," said Forrest Wallace, as we recently enjoyed lunch together. "Yes - 
we believe them to be a good feature and the old-timers seem to enjoy the writeups," 
we replied. "Well, sitting in the booth just back of us is a real character, You 
wouldn't believe it but the older man drove logs down the White Salmon in the early days,
and if you can get it out of him, he will have some interesting tales to tell . . . 
his name is Jim Hendryx... I'll introduce you to him after we finish our lunch" 
Wallace remarked.
     Following our introduction to Mr. Hendryx we made a date for him to stop in 
The Sentinel office for an interview. "Haven't got much time as my son is about 
ready to return home," the pry little man who will celebrate his 80th birthday 
Saturday said.
     "What about your early day experience in driving logs down the White Salmon 
River," we queried. "Oh, it wasn't anything -- just a job -- but an exciting one," 
he said.
     And exciting it was as Jim related his experience briefly. "I have driven 
many thousand feet of logs down the White Salmon River in my younger days," Jim 
started out "Just what do you mean Mr. Hendryx when you say 'drive logs' -- do 
you mean that you actually rode the logs down the turbulent waters of the White 
Salmon," we asked. "Certainly, we had to to keep 'em from jamming. A log jam just 
makes that, much more work for the drivers and I put forth every effort to avoid 
them - but I still had a few," the early-day logger said.
     "That must have been dangerous business," we said. "I don't think so never 
had a serious accident. Oh course there were times where I took a good dunking, 
but that was all in a day's work. Probably the most dangerous part of my log driving 
experience was when the logs would become jammed in what we called 'lower rapids.'
     I would have to go, down on a rope, place a charge and then go hand over hand 
up that rope to the top of the cliff and get there before that, dynamite went off," 
Jim replied.
     Mr. Hendryx started driving logs in 1907 down the White Salmon. He worked 
at his trade for ten years, delivering the logs to the river's mouth from where 
they were taken across the Columbia to a mill at Hood River. He received 30 cents 
per thousand for the ten-mile drive.
     All logging during the early days was done by team and honest-to-goodness man 
power. Jim received no extra pay for the many extra hours he spent getting logs 
started to their destination after a jam. He said he had seen logs jammed in the 
river for over a half a mile. The dynamite used in breaking up a jam was an 
additional expense for Jim and he put forth every effort to avoid such.
     In his prime we would guess that Jim weighed around the 160 mark so he must 
have been "all man."
     Mr. Hendryx was born April 9, 1875 at Fort Worth, Texas. He came to this county 
in 1886 with his parents, Bethell and Rosanna Hendryx. The family spent the first 
winter with Mr. McGrath, father of Jack McGrath, in Glenwood. The following, year 
his parents took up a 160-acre homestead in the Husum area.
     In 1900 Jim was married to Miss Janet DeMyles. In 1916 he purchased an 80-acre 
farm in the Husum area where he is happily settled and enjoys caring for his alfalfa 
and fruit crop and cattle.
     The family was blessed with four children -- one daughter, Rose passed away in 
1923. Living children are Jim and, Bethell, of White Salmon and George of Husum. 
Mr. Hendryx has two grandchildren he is mighty proud of, Nickey and Sharon, who 
live with their parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Hendryx, at Husum.