With the local timber industry ever waning in Mendocino County it’s educational to look back and see what a role logging railroads and lumber mills once played in the local economy.
Take logging railroads — there were once at least 23 separate locations in the county supporting a railroad. Remember railroad lines were constantly consolidating and changing ownership. As an example, the Albion railroad, beginning in the 1880’s, eventually controlled Navarro’s railroad.
Albion’s rail lines went east as far as Comptche and Navarro — Andersonia, across the river from Piercy in the north county built 17 miles of track but never operated. It did hook up to the Bear Harbor and Eel River Railroad which did run successfully 1896-1905 — Boonville’s Charles Lumber Company 1952-1957 hard eight miles of track but this writer is unfamiliar with this line.
One of the problems concocting lists like this is the quality of the research materials. This writer is using a typed list decades old for this story which was written by an unknown historian. Whomever that person was I hope their resources were accurate.
Alphabetically on to Branscomb, which had a one mile railroad before 1924. Then Cuffey’s Cove, just north of Greenwood (Elk) had a rail line in 1875. De Haven, up by Westport, had a rail line in the first two decades of the 20th century. Fort Bragg’s railroad started in 1882 and became one of the biggest in the county eventually reaching Willits with 50 miles of track. Glen Blair had 15 miles of track 1886-1903 before it was absorbed by Fort Bragg’s operations.
Greenwood (Elk) had four miles of track in 1876 but later expanded to 40 mikes and survived until 1935. Gualala had 23 miles of track 1872-1923. Hardy Creek on the north coast had five miles of track while Laytonville, like Branscomb, only had one mile. Starting in 1901 Mendocino’s varied lumber company lines ran 15 miles into the woods. Navarro had at least 10 miles of track from the 1880’s to the 1920’s.
Rails around Noyo harbor all became part of Ft. Bragg operations. Rockport had six miles of track from the 1890’s to the 1930’s. Westport had five miles of track in the early decades of the 20th century while Whitesboro near Albion had 10 miles of track in the 19th century. Willits had Northwestern Pacific Railroads came through from Sonoma County headed north to Humboldt County.
Remember — all this trackage had one purpose — getting cut down trees to a sawmill and then finished lumber to a shipping point. My favorite tiny rail line was in Cleone north of Fort Bragg. A tramway in 1885 extended from Laguna Point in what is now MacKerricher State Park to Little Valley a few miles east. Gravity rolled the loaded finished lumber cars downhill, then horses pulled the empty cars back uphill to the sawmill.
Again — in alphabetical order — here are the places that had lumber mills worthy of notice and the year they began. Ackerman Creek in Ukiah had a mill in 1859, Albion in 1852, Anderson Valley in 1876 and Anderson in 1905. Bear Harbor and Branscomb had mills in the 1880’s, Cahto, west of Laytonville, in 1857 and Calpella in 1858. Caspar started a mill in 1860, Covelo in 1862, Cuffey’s Cove in 1870 and Cottoneva (Rockport) in 1867.
In 1864 Fish Rock on the south coast had a mill, Fort Bragg in 1884 though Noyo had one in 1852, Garcia River In 1869, Glen Blair in 1882, and Greenwood (Elk) in 1875. Hardy Creek was cutting timber in 1892, Howard Creek and Laytonville in 1895, Little River in 1864 and Long Valley near Willits in 1859.
Mendocino’s milk started in 1852 and Navarro a decade later. Needle Rock on the far north coast had a mill in 1896, Newport near the Ten Mile River in 1875, Potter Valley in 1863, Salmon Creek south of Albion in 1876, Schooner Gulch in 1875, Sherwood in 1867, Signal Port in1864, Usal in 1889, Wages Creek in 1881, and Willits in 1901.
Ukiah didn’t have a mill until 1861, but scored a huge one with the Masonite operation in 1950. These, then, are some of the railroads and mills that made the county what it is today. This writer certainly may have missed some noteworthy locations but it was fun to pull this many together.
There was a mill at Wheeler between Usal and Bear Harbor on the Lost Coast. It operated between 1948 and 1959.
Originally Mendocino County had approximately 640,000 acres of old growth redwood in an 85 mile continuous coastal belt. Today there are less than 1,000 acres remaining.
Between the Willits grade and Hopland there were at least 13 mills big enough to have teepee burners,. Ukiah valley was so smoky on summer days it looked like a lake from up on the little hills west above Low Gap Road. Only the Methodist church steeple was visible.
When we Newmans arrived in Anderson Valley in 1957, there were – if memory serves – approximately ten mills operating, every one with a “teepee” burner. They are all gone now.
I’ve found old mill railgage spikes in my trampong thru the woods.
Caspar, South Fork & Eastern RR (Hare Creek and Noyo)??
PS: I love to read anything written by Katy Tahja. She’s an awesome historian.