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Timber &
Lumber Industry
Rail and Timber
Timeline
The
timber and lumber industry was shaped in Tuolumne County by the early gold
miners. Wood was a basic building material for gold mining devices such
as the long tom, sluice box and was required for transport of water by way
of large flumes. Flumes were basic water channels made of lumber to
transport gravity fed water down sheer canyons and foothills to the mining
camps during the early placer and hydraulic mining days. When placer
mining played out and as hydraulic mining was being curtailed, underground
hardrock mining expanded. The demand for timber grew rapidly. Lumber was
becoming the primary building material for homes and commercial businesses
taking the place of the temporary canvas tents and shelters used in the
initial settlements. In 1848, planks of lumber were made by hand sawing
timbers with whipsaws. Many man-powered sawmills were common in mining
camps. Demand for timber to support underground work grew rapidly, and
sawmills sprang up further from camps and towns higher into the mountains
following the receding timber harvesting sites.
Sugar Pine
Railway #8 in 1903
Next came water powered saw mills, where
the use of rivers and channels of water were used to move saw blades up
and down through a system of gears and a waterwheel. Lumber produced was
limited to a few thousand board feet cut in a day. In 1850 steam powered
saw mills greatly improved production. By 1856, two-dozen mills were in
operation in Tuolumne County of various types. By the 1890s hardrock
quartz mining had a revival, the “Second Gold Rush,” because of mining
technology improvements such as steel strand cables and electricity.
Another improvement originally invented in 1861 was a system of “square
sets”, which provided strength and rigidity by interlocking massive beams
as large as eighteen inches by eighteen inches into large square cubic
structures. This concept allowed deeper and safer mining complexes to be
constructed underground. At the beginning of this Second Gold Rush,
smaller companies were trying to meet the demand for lumber. The major
lumber operations in Tuolumne County were S. S. Bradford, N. L. Knedsen,
Alfred Hiatt, the Sonora Lumber Company and Hale Company.
It was not until the Sierra Railway
incorporated by in 1897, that large mills were conceived and built to cut
lumber for local use and export out of the county. The first major
operation incorporated in 1899 was the West Side Flume and Lumber Company
(later renamed the West Side Lumber Company). In 1900, West Side Lumber
opened a large mill in the town of Tuolumne and eventually added a drying
kiln, planning mill and box factory.
Tuolumne County’s second major lumber
operation was the Standard Lumber Company, headquartered initially in
Sonora and later at the company town of Standard. It was incorporated in
1901 by D. H. Steinmitz, and was joined by T. S. Bullock after the West
Side Lumber Company was sold to a Michigan corporation. The new company was formed by the acquisition of S. S. Bradford’s mountain sawmill, timber land, planning mill, and sash-door
factory in Sonora. In addition, N. L. Knedsen’s mill and lumberyard in
south Sonora were taken under lease as part of the holdings of the
Standard Lumber Company. In 1908, the company was awarded a one million
dollar box contract with Fruit Grower Supply Company of Los Angeles. They
cut more than 15 million board feet of lumber, 75 per cent went to the box
and door factories and the rest was shipped via railroad to other markets
outside of Tuolumne County. The Sierra Railway was providing freight and
passenger service. It brought in box cars from all over the United States
bringing in grain, coal, crude oil, dynamite and lumbering machinery and
exporting lumber and mining ores. Tuolumne County was one of California’s
leading mining districts with over 300 patented mines and about 1000 ore
stamping facilities.
Westside Lumber Mill and Log Pond.
Changes began to take place in the timber and
lumber business. Initially, Pickering Lumber Company acquired the
Standard Lumber Company and its Sugar Pine Railroad in 1921. In
1925, Pickering also acquired the West Side Lumber Company and its
railroad. However, after the depression of the 1930s, Pickering
Lumber Company closed down all operations. In 1934, West Side Lumber
and its railroad were returned to its former owners. By 1937,
Pickering reopened its remaining operations after receiving a Federal
economic recovery aid loan. After improved roads were built for
automobiles and the trucking industry, logging trucks were selected over
railroads by West Side Lumber Company. In 1961 the West Side Lumber
Railroad was closed down and four years later Pickering Lumber Railroad
(old Sugar Pine Railroad) also closed.
Fiberboard Paper Products purchased
Pickering Lumber Company in 1965. Following their bankruptcy, it was
bought by Louisiana Pacific and finally purchased in 1995 by its current
owners, Sierra Pacific Industries. The Sierra Railroad hauled
freight and processed timber products and contracted to haul logs from
out-of-state to be processed at Sierra Pacific Industries (SPI) located
next to the old company town of Standard. In 2009, SPI closed the Standard
Mill ending 150 years of major timber/logging industry in Tuolumne County. For more information, order CHISPA, Vol. 18, No. 4,
April-June, 1979, “West Side Revisited,”
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