Workers from the Larch Corrections Center lumbered out of the underbrush Wednesday near Northeast Highway 99, dragging tarps overflowing with debris.

Tromping down muddy stairs, away from the makeshift shantytown just a stone’s throw from Interstate 5, the workers lugged the garbage to the railroad bridge above Highway 99 — the one emblazoned with the words “Hazel Dell” — and dropped items into a dump truck below. All the while, some workers grumbled about how the sheriff’s office was displacing homeless people.

But, from Clark County’s perspective, the homeless camp near the county-owned railroad tracks had become a huge dump. And while it was well hidden, numerous complaints made authorities feel they had to act. They said they try to clear homeless camps promptly by giving the residents notice they’ll be rousted before eventually swooping in and doing so.

Wednesday’s efforts were among the largest in recent memory, officials said, in terms of debris collected. Multiple trucks were called in to whisk material to the dump.

“It’s happened before, where (transients) have gotten under the rail bridge,” said Will Cahill, a railroad consultant working for the county who was at the camp Wednesday. “Tent city here was one of the bigger ones.”