USA > California > Mendocino County > History of Mendocino County, California : comprising its geography, geology, topography, climatography, springs and timber > Part 16
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On our way to the mill we pass through a little village of shanties and cottages, which prove to be the residences of the choppers and the men en- gaged in the woods. Farther on we pass through a barren, deserted section, whence the trees have all been cut years ago, and naught but their blaek- ened stumps remain now, grim vestiges of the pristine glory of the forest primeval. Now we pass around a grade, high overhanging the river, and with a grand sweep enter the limits of the mill-yard. Our great log is now rolled from the car to the platform, and in its turn is placed upon a small car for transportation to the saws. A long rope, which passes around a drum in the mill, is attached to the car and slowly but surely it is drawn up the incline into the mill. Our log is too large for the double-circular, hence the
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MILLS AND MILLING.
muley-saw must first rip it in two. This is a slow process, and as we have nearly thirty minutes on our hands, while waiting for our log to pass through this saw, let us pay a visit to the shingle-mill. The timber of which shingles are made is split into triangular or wedge-shaped pieces, about four feet long and about sixteen inches in diameter, which are called bolts. The first process is to saw the bolts into proper lengths for shingles, although in some mills there are drag or cross-cut saws, run by steam, which cut off sections of the log just the desired length. A block is then fastened into a rack which passes by a saw, and the shingle is ripped off. As the rack passes back a ratchet is brought into requisition, which moves the bottom of the block in toward the saw just the thickness of the butt of the shingle, and the top of the block in to correspond with the thickness of the point. When the shingle is ripped off, of course its edges are rough. These are subjected to a trimmer, when it becomes a perfect shingle. The shingles are packed into bunches and are then ready for market.
We will now return to our log, which has just been run back on the car- riage and awaits further processes. A rope, attached to a side drum, is made fast to one half of it, and soon it is lying, back down, on the carriage in front of the double-circular. Through this it passes in rapid rotation, until it is sawed into broad slabs of the proper thickness to make the desired lumber. These slabs are then passed along on rollers to the pony-saw, where they are ripped into the different sizes required, such as two by four, four by four, four by six, etc. It is then piled upon a truck, the number of feet now being marked upon each piece, and is wheeled away to the yard ready for shipment. The other half of the log is sawed into boards seven-eighths of an inch thick. At the pony-saw it is ripped into plank, four, eight, and ten inches in width. These are passed on to the planer, and the four-inch lumber comes out tongued and grooved ready for ceiling, and the eight and ten-inch boards come out rustic-siding. The ten-inch rustic is cut with a certain design and is called " channel," and the eight-inch is cut with a different design and is called "V rustic." It must be remembered that rustic-siding is used in Calfornia for weather-boarding, and the style of lumber used at the East for that purpose is almost unknown here except on old houses. Eastern weather-boarding is called clapboards here, and the four-foot rove boards, used for covering roofs, are called shakes. So much, parenthetically, for localism. The heavy slabs which we saw come off the first few times the log passed the saw, are cut into proper lengths and sawed up for pickets. They are passed through a planer, and then through a picket- header, a machine with a series of revolving saws which cut out the design of the picket-head, the same as the different members of a moulding are produced. The trimmings and the saw-dust are used for fuel as far as neces- sary, and the remainder of the refuse is piled up and burned. During the season of running the fire never goes out at the waste-dump.
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
Thus have we taken our readers through the entire process of converting the mighty forest monarchs into lumber, and we hope we have succeeded in making the description, in a measure at least, as interesting to them as it was to us when first we saw it. When you have seen the operations of one mill you have seen all, except in minor detail, full descriptions of which will be found in the township histories in the body of this work.
To convey an adequate idea of the magnitude and importance of the mill- ing and lumbering interests of Mendocino county, we have compiled the accompanying table from the most reliable data to be had at the present time. The figures and estimates have all been given by mill men themselves ; therefore they may be considered reasonably correct. These facts are thus given in tabulated form for the sake of convenience, as at a glance any desired fact concerning any mill that ever did exist in the county can be seen.
The Mill History of Mendocino County-in Tabular Form.
BY WHOM BUILT.
LOCATION.
WHEN BUILT.
CAPACITY
ACRES OWNED.
FEET CUT.
PRESENT OWNERS.
Stephen Holden
Ukiah
1861
1,000
200,000
Thos. Elliott.
Calpella
1858
3,000
1,000,000
Jno. Gschwind.
Anderson Valley
1868
8,000
20,000,000
Thos. Hiatt
Anderson Valley
1876
8,000
10,000,000
H. Irish
Anderson Valley
1878
8,000
5,000,000
Rutherford & Webber
Gualala
1862
50,000
12,000
124,000,000
. Gualala Mill Co.
John Woods.
- - near Gualala
1869
15,000
5,000,000
Russel Stevens-
Fish Rock Gulch
1864
18,000
5,000,000
Stevens & Whitmore
near Point Arena
1869
40,000
2,700
35,000,000
Nickerson & Baker.
A. Saunders
Schooner Gulch
1875
22,000
10,000,000
A. Saunders.
Jas. Dixon
Miller P. O.
1873
15,000
600
4,000,000
. A. Newfield.
Jas. Dixon.
Greenwood Creek
1875
20,000
$ 15,000
5,000,000
Redwood Lumber Co.
Fred. Helmke
Greenwood Creek
1875
50,000
23,000,000
Redwood Lumber Co.
Winslow Hall
Cuffy's Cove
1870
16,000
5,000,000
Tichenor & Co
Nevarra
1861
35,000
15,000
120,000,000
. Tichenor & Co.
A. G. Dallas.
Albion
1853
35,000
27,000
125,000,000
McPherson & Weatherby.
A. W. McPherson
Noyo
1858
40,000
17,000
120,000,000
McPherson & Weatherby.
Salmon Creek Mill Co.
Salmon Creek
1876
20,000
700
10,000,000
Salmon Creek Mill Co.
Britt & White
Salmon Creek
1880
30,000
- Britt & White.
Stickney, Coombs & Reeves
. Little River
1864
30,000
1,000
10,000,000
Coombs & Perkins.
Harry Meiggs
. Big River
1852
55,000
22,000
225,000,000
Mendocino Lumber Co.
Kelly & Randall
Caspar
1860
45,000
10,430
115,000,000
J. G. Jackson.
Capt. Richardson
Albion
1852
1,000
G. Hagenmeyer
Noyo
1852
1,000
Fields Bros - -
Newport
1875
25,000
2,000
20,000,000
. Stewart & Hunter.
R. W. Miller
Cotineva
1876
25,000
3,200
15,000,000
. R. W. Miller.
Simpson & White.
Cahto
1865
2,000
500
1,750,000
Simpson & White.
Hiram T. Hatch
. Sherwood Valley)
1861
10,000
2,000,000
H. T. Hatch.
E. Pryor
Ackerman Creek 1859
3,000
750,000
Coombs & Perkins
Stillwell Gulch
1878
20,000
86,000,000
Coombs & Perkins.
MILLS AND MILLING.
141
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
From the preceding table it will be seen, that there are nineteen saw-mills in running order at the present time in Mendocino county, with capacities ranging from two thousand to fifty-five thousand feet of lumber per day ; or, an average capacity of twenty-nine thousand nine hundred and forty- seven feet. During the twenty-six working days of a month, they could all cut and place upon the market a total of fourteen million seven hundred and ninety-four thousand feet of lumber; or, during the lumbering season, which usually lasts nine months, the total yield of all these mills would be one hun- dred and thirty-four million one hundred and forty-six thousand; which, at an average price of $10.00 per thousand feet, would yield an income of $1,341,460. Thus, we are enabled to form a proper conception of the gigan- tie proportions of this great industry and its importance to Mendocino county. All mill-men have estimated that from one-fifth to one-third of the timber has been cut. Striking an average and granting that fully one- fourth of the it has been cut, there will yet remain three billion three hundred and eight million one hundred thousand feet standing in the woods. Now, if we suppose that mills enough run to cut one hundred and twenty- five millions each year, there will be timber enough to keep all going for more than a quarter of a century to come. Hence, knowing that no such amount will be cut each year as is mentioned above, it is very safe to esti- mate that there is timber enough standing in Mendocino county to keep the mills running for from fifty to seventy-five years. Of course, the labor will increase from year to year, and the expense of production be thus enhanced, but the price of lumber must advance in proportion.
The calamity which will befall the people of Mendocino county by the exhaustion of the forests of redwoods could be in a great measure averted, if the growth of the young redwoods were fostered. In 1811 a Russian col- ony was established at a place now called Fort Ross, and judging from the number of stumps still standing, and the extent of territory over which they extended their logging operations, they evidently consumed large quantities of lumber. Beside these old stumps from one to six shoots have sprung up, many of which have now reached a size sufficient for lumbering purposes. This growth has been remark ble, and goes to show that if proper care were taken, each half century would see a new crop of redwoods sufficiently large for all practical purposes, while a century would see gigantic trees. But no care is taken; and, in fact, it seems that an affort is made to thor- oughly eradicate all traces of the forests. The stumps are fired just to see them burn, and fire runs over the land every fall, which serves to com- pletely destroy the young shoots. The protection of our forests should be a charge of our legislature; for, while the men of to-day may not remain to suffer for the want of these forest trees, the commonwealth of the State will remain, and its future weal should be cared for by the present generation.
The lumber of this county reaches market by vessels only. The schooners
143
MILLS AND MILLING.
reach those mills on the coast or within a short distance of it. All along this coast the shore of the ocean is from fifty to five hundred feet higher than the water ; hence, great chutes have to be constructed for the delivery of the lumber on board the vessel. These chutes are of peculiar construe- tion, the lower portion of them being formed by an apron which can be raised and lowered to suit the stages of the tide. The aprons are never allowed to rest upon the edge of the vessel, as the ceaseless swell of the ocean causes the vessel to rock continually, and it would be chaffed and the apron destroyed if they came into contact. The lumber goes down these chutes at a great velocity, and a brake is placed on the chute in such a inanner that as the lumber passes under it the speed is checked. It is necessary to stop it on its mad flight, else it would fly far over the edge into the sea.
Quite a village is always built up around a mill, consisting of the homes of the managers, some of which are quite palatial ; stores, saloons, black- smith shops, hotels, and the host of small houses occupied by the families of the lumbermen. Things flourish as long as the lumber lasts in the vicinity, but when it becomes hard of access, and it is found to be cheaper to move the mill to the timber than the timber to the mill, then comes a collapse to the town, and in a short time it becomes a veritable " deserted village." There is one village in Sonoma county that had at one time boasted of a thousand inen, and there are only three families in the place now. The mill buildings, which had all been built on a grand scale, were fast going to decay, more for want of care than age. The chute over which forty-two million feet of lumber had found its way to market was tottering into the sea. The tramways were in disjointed sections, and the cars lay straggling alongside the track-mere wrecks of their former selves. The windows and doors of the houses were all broken, and where once had been the' rush and bustle of mill machinery cutting thirty thousand feet of lumber per day, and the activity of a thousand people, now the stillness of death reigned supreme. At another point only the grade of the tramway and the debris of the mill remained to mark the site, and the inhabitants near by could only give legendary information concerning the mill. At another place the mill buildings were in good repair, but all the machinery was gone. Quite a number of people still lived in the village. This was just the transi- tion period. The mill had ceased operations at that point, but had not begun at the new location. But not more desolate and forlorn-looking are these deserted villages than is the surrounding country. No more dreary and uninviting landscape can be conceived than is presented by a section of country which has been " chopped out." The ground is covered with charred trunks, and the black stumps stand in grim array, looking like an army from the regions of night, with here and there a tree standing gnarled and crooked, unfit for lumber, but burned to its top, donned as it were in a garb of
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
mourning for the departed greatness of its fallen brothers. Utterly gone, root and branch, and nothing is growing up on the land to take their places.
The woodsmen are a strong, hardy race, but not so inured to hardship as their brothers of the northern pineries. Here the work is done in the summer- time, beneath fair skies and in a bracing and salubrious atmosphere. The strong sea-breeze penetrates the deepest forests and lowers the tempera- ture, so that it is seldom uncomfortable, even at midday ; while the nights always require two or more blankets. The life they lead is one fraught with but little variety, hence but little pleasure. There is a wonderful amount of tread-mill and hard work about it. They board in messes generally, and a Chinaman does the cooking. They are early risers, hence retire early, as there is nothing to keep them up but the recreation of a game of cards or the telling of threadbare stories. But, on Sundays they all go to the mill- town and have a " good time," as they call it, which too often means a drunken orgie. They are inveterate card players, often spending the whole Sunday in the saloon playing for the drinks. The mill-men live in the vil- lage and hence see more of life. They congregate nightly at the saloon and play cards or billiards for an hour or two and then retire. On Sundays, many of them go shooting, or find some out-door amusement for a change from the in-door experience of the week. Those who do not have families board at the mill hotel, and are well provided for. We joined in a dinner at one of these tables, and was surprised to observe the quantity, quality and variety of the food furnished them, and what was best of all, it was well cooked and nicely served.
The mill proprietor always has a store from which it is expected that all employés will purchase their supplies. By this means a large percentage of their wages is paid off, and at a large per cent of advantage to the proprietor. During the winter months is the idle season here, and the woodsmen and mill-men generally drift to San Francisco, and when the spring opens they all start for the mills again. In some instances they return to the mill where they were employed the former year, but not generally. They like a change of location and scenery as well as any one, and they, above all others, have reason to desire a change of location. They are easily managed by those in authority, and it is only when the proprietor fails, leaving their accounts unsettled, that they become at all aggressive. They use good, Saxon English, interspersed with strong expletives, on such occasions. It is claimed that some mill-men use that as a dodge to avoid paying their men, or for forcing them to take their pay out of the store. But that kind of a game does not work the secend time, for the hands all along the coast get posted during the winter and keep away from the mill where that trick is played.
It must be remembered that lumber is not the sole product of the red- woods. Every year thousands upon thousands of railroad ties and fence
145
MILLS AND MILLING.
posts are cut in these forests and sent to market. No inconsiderable amount of it is cut into cord-wood and sent to the cities, where it is sold for kindling wood. Another use for it is found in the construction of fences. Rough pickets are split out of it, and one end pointed and driven into the ground. The tops are then nailed to cleats overlapping each other. The grain of the redwood is very straight, and it splits easily, hence its desirability to work up into such materials. Sometimes a board will shrink edgewise as well as sidewise, but it is not the rule for it to shrink endwise. "Shakes," as they are called, are not made of redwood to any great extent, although it rives very easily.
The visitor to California has not seen it all until he has spent a week in the deep recesses of a redwood forest. It is then, standing beside the tower- ing monarch of the forest, that a man will realize his utter insignificance, and how inestimably ephemeral he is compared with many other of God's handiworks. He looks upon a tree that stool when Christ was yet in his youth, the circles of whose growth but mark the cycles of time almost since first man was, and on whose tablets might have been written the records of the mighty men of old-the wanderings of Abraham, the march of Moses. and his people, the glory of David, the wisdom of Solomon, the greatness of Alexander, the birth of Christ, the dawn and progress of the Christian day. The rise and fall of all nations and peoples has this hoary headed patriarch seen. Could he but speak he could tell us of the long forgotten past. He could inform us who the real aboriginals were ; he could relate how the giants of old, both animals and men, disported beneath his shade centuries upon centuries ago. Thus boldly and grandly he stands in his primeval might and glory, but the woodsman's ax is struck to his roots, and he is laid low. His dissevered members serve the uses of man to which they are. applied, and a short half century will see returned to dust what it required ages to build up. And what shall take its place ?
For nearly three decades men have been plunging into the depths of these grand old redwood forests, and utilizing those stately trees. Steadily with the growth of California this interest has increased until it stands to-day a marvel on the commercial catalogue of the State. Millions of feet are cut yearly, and yet the source seems practicably inexhaustible. All along the streams putting back from the coast of the old Pacific this industry teems, and many mills have been built, and thousands of men find daily employ- ment, and millions of dollars are thus yearly earned and distributed among the laboring classes. To the city market it rolls in one unceasing tide, thence it is distributed to all parts of the State. Day and night the hum of this industry is heard in every mountain glen, and continues in one grand unceasing round, and the sharp ring of the glistening steel as it cleaves the mighty bolt makes mellow music to him whose home is in the redwood forests.
10
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
And what a home is that in the redwood forests ! How grand, gloomy and peculiar! What a sombre world it is! There is none of the cheerful- ness or variety of the maple, ash, or even oak groves-the alternating of sun- light and changing shadows. Only the straight, upright trunks of the monsters meet the view, as they stand in seried ranks like giant Titans going forth to do battle with the elements, or
" Bearded with moss and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic,
Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their bosoms."
But all of life is not so cheerless and grewsome in these forests, if one only has an eyesight to the bright and beautiful side of his surroundings. Beneath the shadows of these trees there grows a host of beautiful flowers to brighten and enliven the scene, supplemented by fragrant shrubbery, while the aroma emitted by the trees themselves is delicious. But when night comes and the gentle winds of evening are being wafted through their massive and exalted boughs-it is then that their true merit is set forth. If the breeze be light you hear a low, melancholy monody ; if stronger, a hushed sort of sighing. The wind is able to make a wonderful harp out of the giant redwood, and each bough becomes an Æolian harp. How the breeze plays upon the mighty forest until every leaf thrills with a note! And what a melody it sings when it gives a concert with a full choir of the waves of the " deep-voiced neighboring ocean," and performs an anthem amid its top- most boughs between the two worlds, that goes up, perhaps, to the very stars, which love music most, and sang, first of all created things, the wondrous glory of God, the mighty Architect of the universe.
147
BOUNDARIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
BOUNDARIES OF SCHOOL DISTRICTS.
IN Mendocino county there are fifty-nine school districts, and so many changes have been made since the organization of the county that it will prove of the utmost interest to have the boundaries of each district set forth in this work. We have taken the liberty to use the compilation made and published by ex-Superintendent of Public Instruction, Mr. John C. Ruddock. In his preface he says : " These boundaries are submitted to the public gen- erally, and to school officers throughout the county in particular, with the hope that they will, even though imperfectly, enable trustees to identify their respective districts. It can be readily seen that the boundaries are 'much mixed,' and that many of them are somewhat ambiguous. I have gotten them in shape as well as the records of the county, from the date of its organization, would permit. Where changes have been made they will be found arranged in the order of their dates, the last date being the present boundaries. Boundaries of districts should be well defined, and it would not be amiss here to say that the whole county sadly needs redistricting."
ANDERSON .- Approved May 18, 1859. Bounded on the north and east by the range of mountains dividing Anderson valley and Ukiah valley to the Redwood mountain on the county line, south and west by the Coast Range.
Subsequent changes : See Yorkville and Con Creek districts.
ALBION. - Approved August 21, 1866. Bounded on the north by Big Gulch and the north boundary of Albion election district, on the east by boundary of Albion, Nevarra, and Cuffey's Cove election districts, on the south by Mal Paso, and on the west by the Pacific ocean.
Subsequent changes : Albion River-Approved November 22, 1866 ; to be bounded by the boundaries of Albion election district. Albion-Approved November 24, 1866 ; name changed to Nevarra school district. Albion- Approved October 13, 1871 ; Albion school district annexed to Nevarra district. Albion-Approved May 22, 1872; to include all that portion of Nevarra district from Salmon creek to Big Gulch.
BEALL'S LANDING .- Approved May, 1876. Commencing on the coast on the township line between townships twenty and twenty-one north, and running thence east to the north-east corner of section five, township twenty
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HISTORY OF MENDOCINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.
north, range seventeen west; thence south to the north-east corner of section seventeen, township twenty north, range seventeen west; thence east to the township line, thence north to the line of the Cottonebee school district, thence west to the coast, thence along the coast to the place of beginning.
BIG RIVER .- Approved May 18, 1859. Bounded on the north by the county line, on the south by the Mal Paso, east by the Coast Range and on the west by the Pacific ocean.
Subsequent changes : Big River-Approved November 23, 1865 ; ordered that the boundary line between the Big River and Little River school districts. be changed so as to run on the south boundary line of William H. Kent's farm and thence east to the east boundary line of the district. See Casper and Little River.
BRIDGEPORT (Mal Paso) :- Approved March 6, 1873. It is ordered that a new school district be made out of a portion of Cuffey's Cove school district, to be called Mal Paso school district, and that the same be bounded as follows: North by United States township line between townships fourteen and fifteen north, range seventeen west, on the west by meanderings of the Pacific ocean, on the south by Mal Paso, and on the east by the line of Big River and Anderson townships.
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