Area	Basin-wide/General
Topic	Tour: Gualala Historical Photos Logging Series 1880-1941

 

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This photo shows a 17 foot diameter tree being logged on March 4, 1906 in lower Rockpile Creek. Active fallers Ben Anaya and Gus Ingman are to the right and left of un-identified men standing on cut surface. Note that the fallers have written their names on the tree. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#03900 Glover).


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This picture of a log drive using oxen is from the 1880s on the Gualala River. Person in white shirt is Mike Moungovan and Ed Boyle (with goad stick), who was the team driver or "bull puncher". Tub next to trail was for water to keep the log skid track slippery. This location was likely near the coast due to the difficulty of transporting logs without railroads, roads or trucks. Vertical black line is as a result of crack in glass negative. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#03902, Philbrick).


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Oxen were still in use in the Gualala woods around the turn of the 20th Century as this photo shows. Cecil Gasper (at right with goad stick) was the bull puncher and at far right is a Chinese man with water buckets over his shoulders. His job was to run in front of the team and keep the skid road wet and slippery. This location was likely near the coast due to the difficulty of transporting logs without railroads, roads or trucks. Vertical black line is as a result of crack in glass negative. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#03903, Escola).


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This picture shows a logging crew in the Gualala Woods about 1905. Note that the streambed near the upper center of the photo is paved with log sections in what has been popularly termed a "corduroy road." Needless to say, this was very bad for fish habitat and left a legacy of problems. This location is thought to be Doty Creek not far from the coast. Vertical black line is as a result of crack in glass negative. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#05263, MCGS).


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This picture shows a typical railroad landing in Gualala Woods about 1902. The big man in the front at left is Chester Byrne, the steam donkey engineer. The combination of mechanized yarding and the railroad increased the speed and efficiency of forest harvest. Note that the landing and the draw of an ephemeral stream at left are paved with log sections in what has been popularly termed a "corduroy road." Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#L-3932, Pellacio).


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This picture shows a view of the inside of the Westside Gualala Mill Company with a working band saw near the turn of the 20th Century. The mill burned down in September 1905. Note that the log is over eight feet in diameter. Interior photos are rare because of the need for extremely bright lights to use cameras of the day. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#07008-P, MCGS).


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This photo shows loading a lumber schooner at Signal Point between Gualala and Point Arena. The lumber chute allowed ships to be loaded without have to dock or enter a harbor. Photo provided by the Kelly House (#1370-19), which received them as a gift from Bill Zacha. Picture also appears in Richard Tookeri's book "Loading by High-Line on the California Coast."


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The photo above shows the first logging truck in use in the Gualala Woods in 1941 in the Little North Fork Gualala River. People shown from left to right are Hobart Webster, Carl Rhoades and George Myland and Cecil Rowe. This was some of the first use of trucks for logging on the north coast, which became more prevalent after WW II. Photos provided courtesy of the Held-Poage Research Library and the Mendocino Historical Society from the Robert Lee Collection (#05264, McNamee).

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