By the early 1900’s, steam yarders, known as steam donkeys, industrialized logging by replacing oxen that had earlier replaced mules and donkeys. These large steel and cast iron steam machines stretched cables to downed logs and yarded them to a landing area. Each steam donkey had a unique ear-piercing sound that signaled its crew another load was ready to be yarded. At the peak of their use in the 1920s, a variety of toots and blasts could be heard in downtown Reedsport, and residents said they could recognize the distinctive whistles of as many as 40 steam donkeys logging in the hills around the community. After clearing a section of felled timber, a steam donkey, attached to a sled of logs, would be moved by securing its cables to stumps so the tons of machinery could pull itself to the next site. Miles of cable were strung through a series of pulleys from the steam donkey up a spar tree and out to logs a quarter of a mile away.