Commerce developed quickly in the area as pioneers cleared land and became established. Pasture and grazing were common, but before refrigeration and good roads or bridges, transportation was difficult. The Clear Creek Creamery cooperative was formed to convert milk into butter, which was easier to transport and keep fresh. Horace established a slack-line ferry across the Clackamas River in 1872, and it was large enough to carry a carriage. Floods swept the ferry away in 1882, and a year later the county built a covered bridge, the longest in Oregon. Foundations of that old bridge can still be seen along the riverbanks downstream from the current bridge. Industry also grew rapidly with the C & E Railroad, whose trestle crossed the Clackamas River and whose rail bed passed behind the cabin before continuing south along what is now the driveway. The railroad extended beyond Logan and West Viola, serving six logging mills and all the farms in the area, and the old trestle pilings can still be seen at low water downriver from the bridge on the north side.