The Bordeaux logging community was established in the 1880s by French Canadian-born Thomas Bordeaux. Before the advent of a logging railroad, teams of oxen laboriously pulled the huge logs along makeshift corduroy roads. This photograph of one such team is said to be the model for the oxen team depicted in bronze on the doors of the Legislative Building. Photograph selected and captioned by Deborah Ross on behalf of the Olympia Historical Society and Bigelow House Museum.
Unknown photographer, 1880s, Washington State Archives