USA > California > Del Norte County > History of Del Norte County, California : with a business directory and travelers guide > Part 9
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is afraid to say so and supports no politics in particular.
The next place in the county worthy of mention is the village of
DEL NORTE.
Nestled at the foot of the mountains, Del Norte, Smith's River Valley, forms a pretty picture. The houses are white and new-looking, and contrast pleasantly with the surrounding forests and fields. There are about thirty houses in the village, most of them being well built and handsome. There is a neat little church in the village, built by the Methodists. The public school is taught by two teachers, usually having an attendance of about fifty scholars.
There are in the place two general merchandise stores, one hotel, two blacksmith shops, one harness shop, two shoemaker's shops, one variety store, one cooper shop, one grist mill and three saloons.
About four miles from Del Norte, near the mouth of the river, a general merchandise store is kept by Mrs. West- brook, and half a mile further on, at the mouth of Smith's River, is situated the Oceident and Orient Commercial Company's fishery and cannery.
Before observing the operations of the workmen in the cannery, we will note its situation and surroundings. Smith's River, a clear, limpid stream, heading away off in the Siskiyou Mountains, the snowy summits of the lofty peaks among which it takes its rise being visible from Happy Camp and vicinity, empties into the ocean a short distance below the cannery. Near its mouth are a num . ber of sloughs, branching out from right and left, and during the fishing season these waters are literally alive with salmon. The fishing season extends from the first of September to the middle of November. A smooth, level beach affords excellent facilities fer hauling seines,
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and as the fishing is not interfered with by rapid currents or obstructing drifts, it is an easy matter to catch and handle the fish.
Let us now proceed to the beach near the mouth of the river and watch the seine gang at their work, There are from ten to fifteen men at this work, and their operations are conducted in the following manner: First, a large seine is taken out into the middle of the river in a_ boat, and another boat takes one end of this and moving in a semi-circle lands the end on the beach some distance down the river. The first boat then takes the other end to the shore, and the men prepare to haul the seine. The seine is made of heavy twine, the netting being too large to de- tain the very small fish, and too small to allow the large ones to escape. The net is gradually hauled in to the beach, and here and there inside the bobbing corks which uphold it, a leap, a flash of silver sides and a dash of spray, betray the efforts of a captive salmon to free itself from the confines of the net. Slowly it is hauled in by the strong arms of the men, and as the two ends converge and the semi-circle narrows and closes, the water is lashed into foam by the crowding numbers of the finny tribe. Large flat bottome !! boats are rowed alongside, and when the seine is hauled in the fish are thrown into these boats. The fish caught weigh from five to sixty pounds. Loaded in the boats, the fish are taken to the cleaning room, a small building extending out some distance over the river. Here there is a chute which is lowered to the level of the boats by a rope and pulley worked by steam power. It is filled with fish and hauled up, when it empties itself on the floor of the cleaning room. Five or six men then cut and clean the fish, when they are taken to the cutting room. In this room they are placed npon a machine hav- ing six large knives, equal distances apart, and cutting pieces to the right lengths for cans. These lengths are then passed to a table where they are split up ready for
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the filling department. In the filling department about twenty men are employed in filling the cans. On each side of a long table the fillers are ranged, and after seeing the operation of can filling but few would have a taste for canned salmon. The men employed in this work at the Smith's River Cannery are nearly all Chinamen, and the disgusting manner in which they cram the pieces of fish into the cans with their claw-like fingers is enough to sicken any ordinary mortal. After being filled the cans are taken to the soldering machine. This little machine does more work in a day than twenty men would do in the ordinary way in the same time. A small furnace rests on the floor, and on top of this furnace is a groove filled with solder, kept hot by the fire in the furnace beneath. At the left of this furnace is an inclined plane, connecting with the groove, over which is a receptacle from which acid drops on the cans. At the right of the furnace four wires stretch from the grooves across the room, the third wire being lower than the others. The cans are first placed on the inclined plane, when they roll across the furnace, the bottom edge resting in the groove, passing through the hot solder on to the wires, from which they are taken and carried to the stoppers. The duty of the stoppers is to stop the vent-hole in the eans, which they do by the use of fire-pots and irons. There are fifteen men in the stopper's department, who daily stop the vent- holes in 10,000 cans. The cans are next taken to the testers, who put them in iron coolers, each holding 120 cans, which they lower by means of a pulley into a cook- ing kettle. This kettle holds five coolers, and is filled with water heated to a boiling point by steam-pipes lead- ing from the boiler room. If the smallest possible hole happens to be in a can, the contents will fly out through it on being subjected to the action of the boiling water. After being tested the cans are again lowered into the cooking kettles, and allowed to remain five hours and a
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HISTORY OF DEL NORTE.
half, which is sufficient time to thoroughly cook them. When the cooking process has been gone through with, the cans are placed in a tank filled with lye, to take off the grease, after which they are dipped into a large tank of cold water, and then taken to the cooling room. When they are thoroughly cool they are ready for the process of lacquering. This consists in dipping the cans into a compound, half asphaltum varnish and half turpentine. This compound is known as Egyptian lacquer, and is used to prevent the cans from rusting. It gives them a light gold color. It requires fifteen or twenty minutes to dry the eans after this process, when they are ready for the final process of labeling. This is done by women and girls. A bright girl can label 2,000 cans in a day. In the casing room three men case up the cans, each case holding four dozen, and they are now ready for shipment.
There has been a fishery at the mouth of Smith's River for over twenty years, but the present extensive cannery was established only a few years ago, the fish having for merly been put up exclusively in barrels. In 1877, Win. Fender, the owner of the property, leased it to the Occi- dent and Orient Commercial Company, for a term of ten years. Since the above named company came into pos- session of the property they have expended nearly $8,000 in improvements. The main building is 200 feet long and 60 wide. The minchinery in use in the cannery is of the best make, and everything is conducted in an economical. business like way which cannot fail to insure success.
The average catch of fish is from 100 to 1,000 at a haul, and as many as 1,500 have been caught at one haul of the seine. The capacity of the cannery is 10,000 cans per day. The number of hands employed during the fishing season is from 60 to 75, and the wages paid are from $1 to $2 a day.
During the season of 1880, 158,750 cans, or 7,000 cases, and 300 barrels were put up, which were worth in the
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San Francisco market: Cases, $6 per case; barrels, $5 per barrel; making the value of the whole, $43,500.
Some difficulty is at present experienced in shipping the goods to San Francisco. The entrance to the river is dangerous for either sailing vessels or steamers, on account of sunken rocks in the channel. An appropriation of five or ten thousand dollars, applied to the improvement of the mouth of the river, would be sufficient to make a safe and easy entrance. And when the wise Solons who are sent to represent Northern California in Congress devote less' of their time to making buncombe speeches and advocating measures as foreign to the interests of their constituents as China is to Maine. we may hope that something will be done for the improvement of the mouth of Smith's River.
If the needed improvements were made to the river, not only would the fish from the cannery be shipped, but lum- ber from mills on the river, minerals from the Low Divide and produce from valley farms would also form a portion of the exports.
There are only three villages of any importance in the county, the third being
HAPPY CAMP,
Situated ninety miles east of Crescent City. It is built on both sides of Indian Creek, near its junction with the Klamath River. Surrounded by mountains as it is, the only means of reaching it being by mountain trails, it yet has a thriving trade. The country around it is rich in mineral wealth, and a large capital is invested in mining property.
There are four stores at Happy Camp, three kept by white men and one by Chinese. They deal in general merchandise such as miners and farmers need. There are two hotels and two saloons. The stores do a large busi- ness. and it is said that they pay annually freight charges
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to the amount of twelve or thirteen thousand dollars in gold coin.
The above comprises all the business houses in the county, with the exception of a few cooper shops in Smith's River Valley. In the next chapter the lumber resources of the county will be considered, and the mills described.
CHAPTER VII. .
THE LUMBER RESOURCES OF DEL NORTE COUNTY.
From the southern line of Del Norte county, extending to the dividing line between California and Oregon, is a vast forest of the finest timber in the world. This belt of timber reaches from the shore of the ocean from ten to twenty miles back into the interior. The variety is mostly redwood, spruce and fir, though some cedar is found at a distance from the coast. The trees are of immense size, many of them being from ten to fifteen or twenty feet in diameter. It is almost impossible to estimate the amount of this vast body of timber, or the wealth which it will yet bring to Del Norte. Already the manufacture of these giants of the forest into lumber is becoming the chief industry of the county, and in the near future Del Norte will export more redwood, spruce and fir than any county in the State. Other lumber counties in California are fast losing their forests and will soon have no lumber to ship. The lumber business here is just in its infancy. The lumber now sawed is but a trifling amount to what will be cut in a few years to come. Its future value to the county cannot be overestimated. The capital now lying useless in city banks will in a few years find a safe investment here. For it is certain that as the production in other parts of the State decreases, more attention will be directed to the forests of this county. A short time
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ago the San Francisco Bulletin, reviewing the lumber in- terests of the Pacific Coast, said :
" The redwood and sugar pine forests of California are of great value, and, in the near future, must rank among the three or four greatest resources of our State.
" California redwood is now laid down in Denver, Colo- rado, though the freight charges on the Union and Central Pacific railroads are $250 per car-load of ten tons. But clear redwood, costing $24 per thousand in San Francisco, still manages to compete on favorable terms with pine cut in Colorado gulches, and with white pine brought from Chicago.
" Indeed, it is only a question of a few years when the forests of the Pacific Coast will be taxed to their utmost resources to supply the demands made upon them. Those who purchase timber lands at the present time are wise in their generation. The forests seem wide, and even inex- haustible; but how much of the great forest belt along the Atlantic is left to-day? It is among the coming events that the tallest pines of Puget Sound shall fall; the deep- est forests be pierced .with the steam saw and engine, which are taking the place of axemen and loggers. Agri- culture, mines and forests are the three pillars of the future, and the interests of the lumber trade appear likely to receive a mighty impetus within the next decade.
"A comparatively slight lowering of freight charge- would enable Pacific Coast lumber to be laid down in Chi- cago at a profit, and thus inaugurate a business of con- stantly widening dimensions, giving employment to thous- ands of men, and building up cities in places now covered with thick forests."
The timber lands in Del Norte county that may easily be made available are estimated as follows: Elk Valley, 24,300 acres; Smith's River, 51,200; Mill Creek, 48,000; Klamath River, 115,200; making a total of 238,700 acres. This estimate includes only those sections of timber land
LUMBER RESOURCES --- LAKE EARL MILL. 123
that may easily be made available. Taking the low esti- mate of 250,000 feet of timber to the acre, the above area would represent a total of 59,675,000,000 feet.
Calculating the number of working days in saw-mills at 300 per annum, and limiting their capacity to 25,000 feet per day, these forests would furnish material: To one saw mill, for 8,525 years; to five saw-mills, for 1,705 years; to ten saw-mills, for 853 years; to twenty saw-mills, for 426 years.
The dimensions as well as the kind of timber growing in this section, preeminently fits the same for ship building purposes, and this industry will some day occupy an im- portant position herc.
There are at present five saw-mills in the county, with a capacity of 11,500,000 feet per annum.
The vast lumber resources of this county were left ap- parently unnoticed and absolutely unheeded until the year 1869, when a meeting of the citizens of Crescent City was called for the purpose of taking steps toward the manufacture of lumber. At this meeting a company was formed, having in view the building of a large steam saw- mill, to cut lumber for exportation. Work was immedi- ately commenced, and, chiefly through the unremitting personal energies of Jno. H. Chaplin and J. Wenger, Sr., within a few months a mill was completed. The mill is called the Lake Earl Mill, and is situated about three miles north of Crescent City, on a large Lagoon known as Lake Earl. The Lagoon is some ten or twelve feet deep, and is separated from the occan by a narrow strip of sand beach, through which the water filters, and some say that the ebb and flow of the tides are perceptible on the lake. It frequently happens in winter, when the waters of the lake have accumulated to an unusual height by continued rains, that it breaks through the narrow barrier into the ocean; at which times it nearly empties itself and assumes the appearance of an extensive swamp. A slough onee
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stretched from the Lagoon across the low timbered land to Smith's River, which leads to the supposition that at some former period the river emptied into the lake.
Owing to the fact that the Lagoon, as stated above, is liable in times of high water to break through its banks, leaving but a few inches of water, and rendering it impos- sible to float logs, the Lake Earl Mill has been forced to remain idle four or five months in the year. Many schemes were devised to remedy this draw-back. A flume and gates were built at the mouth of the Lagoon, but failed to stand the force of the floods. Then a ditch was dredged out in the lake through which to raft logs to the mill. This project was also abandoned, as the shifting mud and sand in the bottom of the lake soon filled the ditch up again. Last year a dam was built across the head of the lake, about a quarter of. a mile below the mill, with gates so constructed that during the rainy season the surplus water can be let out. Inside this dam there is always sufficient water to float the largest logs. It will easily hold 3,500,000 feet, enough to keep the mill running nearly the whole year. The mill is connected with the Crescent City wharf by a railroad.
The capacity of the Lake Earl Mill is 32,000 feet per day. The lumber sawed is mostly spruce The mill runs double circular saws, besides edgers, slab saws, planers, etc. The circular saws are 64 and 60 inch. The men employed in the mill number 30; in logging camp, 30; total number of men employed, 60. The wages paid are from $26 to $75 per month and found.
From January 1st, 1880, to January 1st, 1881, the Lake Earl Miil sawed 4,000,000 feet of lumber, 500,000 feet of which was sawed for home consumption, and the remain- ing 3,500,000 feet shipped to San Francisco. The value of this lumber was $30,000.
J. Wenger, Sr., one of the owners, is Superintendent of the mill. It is thought that since the dam has been con-
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LUMBER RESOURCES -- ELK RIVER MILL.
structed across the head of the lake, thus insuring a suffi- cient quantity of logs to keep the mill running a greater part of the year, the annual product of the mill will be largely increased. Before the dam was built, it was impossible on account of low water to raft enough logs to the mill to keep it running. As it is now the logs can be rafted to the head of the lake during high water and se- cured inside the dam, from which they are drawn into the mill by steam power.
The largest mill in the county, and one of the finest on the Pacific Coast, is the Elk River Mill, at Crescent City. Winding down through a low, marshy prairie for several miles, is a small creek called Elk River, emptying into the ocean in the lower end of town. On this creek, a short distance above its mouth, the mill and connecting box factory are built.
The Elk River Mill was built in 1871, and is owned by the firm of Hobbs, Pomeroy & Co. The mill is two stories high, the upper story being occupied by the saw mill, the lower story by the box factory; an engine-room on one side of the main building. Elk River, the creek before- mentioned, brings the logs down from the woods, about three miles away. The creek is about five feet deep, and logs nine feet in diameter can be rafted to the mill, those larger than that being split in the woods. Arriving at the mill, the logs are hauled up an inclined plane by steam power, the whole work being controlled by one man. They are then given in charge of the head sawyer, who, by means of levers and pulleys, turns them onto the car- riage at his pleasure. While being sawed the logs are moved on the carriage by screws, turned by one man. The mill runs triple circular saws, the first a 64-inch saw, the second a 60-inch, and the third a 50-inch saw; also, a 21-inch horizontal. There are also on the mill floor a 50- inch pony, one edger, one slab saw, two trimmers, one picket saw, one lathe saw and one planer. The planing
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machine is worthy of special notice. It can plane from 10-inch timber to a small moulding. Its capacity is as follows: Surfacing, from 15,000 to 18,000 feet per day; tongue and grooved, 13,000; rustic, 12,000.
H. A. Peeples is Superintendent of the mill. It has been under his supervision for about one year, and during his management many improvements have been made. The planing-room has been enlarged, and the large planer now in use was put in to replace two smaller ones. Mr. Peeples has had the new machine placed in a different position from the others, and the room for piling lumber designed to be run through the planer has been increased two thirds. Formerly, the lumber, after passing through the planer, was carried from the machine and run through a chute to the yard. This unnecessary work has been avoided by placing the new machine in such a position that the lumber may be run directly from it into the yard. Another improvement has been made in the manner of working up lumber into pickets. Formerly, the lumber being first sawed above, was then run through a chute down stairs, carried to a saw, and after being worked up into pickets carried out into the yard. The necessity for this unnecessary work has been obviated by placing on the upper floor a saw in such a position that no unneces- sary carrying of timber is required, and the pickets are loaded on cars and run directly from the saw to the yard. Other improvements to the mill are contemplated, among them the replacing of the screws now used by steam head blocks. The present mode of turning screws is very heavy work, and but few men can do the work for any considerable time without losing health and . strength. One man can easily handle the head-blocks, by means of a lever and steam power. It is also intended to replace the edger now in use with a Stearn's gang edger.
The capacity of the mill is from 45,000 to 50,000 feet per day. The greater part of the lumber sawed is spruce
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LUMBER RESOURCES --- ELK RIVER MILL.
and redwood, only a small amount of fir being sawed, and that for home use.
The box factory occupies the lower floor of the building. The most of the boxes made are bread boxes, next sugar boxes, next boxes for canned goods, made for the packing house of Cutting & Co., San Francisco; also a large num- ber of coffee and spice boxes. The box factory turns out from 1,500 to 2,000 boxes of all kinds per day, and its management requires a man who has been years in the business, and who understands every particular in regard to the box trade. Chas. W. Blake, the Superintendent, has occupied his present position for over four years, and is evidently the "right man in the right place."
It is interesting to watch the progress of the lumber from the time it is taken from the yard till it is put up ready for shipment to San Francisco as box material. The lumber used for boxes is mostly spruce, though a few red- wood boxes are occasionally made. The lumber is first taken from the mill up stairs to the yard, where it is left to dry. From four to six weeks is sufficient for this pur- pose, and it is then loaded on cars and taken into the fac- tory.
We will follow a car load as it is taken in by the men, and observe the various processes through which it passes. Just inside the door is a circular saw, called an edger, and the lumber is unloaded within a few feet of it. Then the sawyer places one end of a plank on the table of the saw, and pushing on the other end drives it across the table, where it is caught by his assistant and pulled through, the saw taking off an edging of any desired width. It is then passed on to the man at the planer, who runs it through the machine, after which it is taken to a cut-off saw and cut into right lengths for boxes. These lengths, an inch and a half thick, are then placed on trucks and wheeled to a self-feeding, re-splitting machine, and after being split by this machine are passed to the packers.
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The packers press and tie into bundles called shooks the sides, tops and bottoms. The ends are nailed with light strips.
One million feet of lumber from the yard is yearly worked up in the factory into boxes. Besides this, 250, 000 feet of slabs and waste lumber from the mill are annu- ally worked up into sugar boxes and small bread boxes. This is all worked up while green, and is then piled in dry- houses and in the yard until dry, when it is put up in shooks like the others, ready for shipment.
The machines and saws in the box factory are: Three large splitting saws; one self-feeding re-splitting machine; two small saws for general use; two cut-off saws; one horizontal 42-inch header; two planers, one a double sur- face, and the other a single-surface; and one edger, also used for splitting.
The motive power of the mill is furnished by an engine, 20x24 inches. Another engine, 12x14, furnishes power to the box factory. There is also a very small engine for lathe work. Four tubular boilers furnish steam to these engines, and are each 54 inches in diameter, 16 feet long, with 50 3-inch tubes. A small boiler is to be added, for the purpose of supplying the lathe engine with steam.
The number of men employed is: In mill, 50; in box factory, 20; in logging camps. 30; total, 100. Wages, from $20 to $75.
From the 1st of January, 1880, to the 1st of January, 1881, the Elk River Mill sawed 6,000,000 feet of lumber, and the box factory worked up 1,250, 000 feet into boxes. Value of lumber sawed, 860,000.
A iron track railroad, one mile in length, extends from the mill to the end of the Crescent City Wharf.
Hobbs, Pomeroy & Co. own 1,600 acres of available timber land. Nearly all the lumber cut by the Elk River Mill is shipped to Hobbs, Pomeroy & Co.'s box factory in San Francisco, the largest box factory on the Pacific
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