Yesterday I received a newsletter from the Central Sierra Historical Society. This is its werbsite: http://www.sierrahistorical.org/
The newsletter focused on the mountain sawmill at Dinkey Creek, CA (in the mountains northeast of Fresno, CA). That brought back my own memories of the mill.
A brief history. The Pine Logging Company built the sawmill and started operations beginning in 1937 after acquiring 3,500 acres from Southern California Edison (a power company which developed a lot of hydroelectric dams in the vicinity). The mill was relatively small, producing about a 100,000 board feet each working day during the season (between snow periods). There was no railroad involved, and it trucked the lumber to Fresno for drying and finishing. The mill was electric powered. It closed down in 1979.
My memories. During the 1970s I car-camped several times at the National Forest campground at Dinkey Creek, which is alongside its namesake. It was only a 10-minute walk from camp to sawmill. It was within earshot of a steam whistle which marked the beginning and ending of work shifts. On the way one crossed Glen Meadow Creek which had great swimming holes and was slower flowing and warmer than Dinkey Creek. The sawmill was a rectangular, wood-frame, corrugated-metal-sheathed building on the edge of a large clearing. On one side there was dry storage for logs, and the other side where the rough-cut lumber was sorted. The company seemed to ship the cut lumber out quickly as I never saw a significant amount of lumber lying about. From one end of the mill a conveyer carried sawdust and wood bits to a large metal “teepee” burner.
The company welcomed guests. Once checked in, you pretty much had a free run of the place. There was even a bench for visitors in the sawmill so one could comfor
Yesterday I received a newsletter from the Central Sierra Historical Society. This is its werbsite: http://www.sierrahistorical.org/
The newsletter focused on the mountain sawmill at Dinkey Creek, CA (in the mountains northeast of Fresno, CA). That brought back my own memories of the mill.
A brief history. The Pine Logging Company built the sawmill and started operations beginning in 1937 after acquiring 3,500 acres from Southern California Edison (a power company which developed a lot of hydroelectric dams in the vicinity). The mill was relatively small, producing about a 100,000 board feet each working day during the season (between snow periods). There was no railroad involved, and it trucked the lumber to Fresno for drying and finishing. The mill was electric powered. It closed down in 1979.
My memories. During the 1970s I car-camped several times at the National Forest campground at Dinkey Creek, which is alongside its namesake. It was only a 10-minute walk from camp to sawmill. It was within earshot of a steam whistle which marked the beginning and ending of work shifts. On the way one crossed Glen Meadow Creek which had great swimming holes and was slower flowing and warmer than Dinkey Creek. The sawmill was a rectangular, wood-frame, corrugated-metal-sheathed building on the edge of a large clearing. On one side there was dry storage for logs, and the other side where the rough-cut lumber was sorted. The company seemed to ship the cut lumber out quickly as I never saw a significant amount of lumber lying about. From one end of the mill a conveyer carried sawdust and wood bits to a large metal “teepee” burner.
The company welcomed guests. Once checked in, you pretty much had a free run of the place. There was even a bench for visitors in the sa
I remember that sawmill too. I saw it in the mid 50’s when I was around 7 maybe. There was I think, a private campground up there too that had cabins and tent cabins. My parents and 2 other couples used to rent them for a week and what a great week it was. One year the dads decided to take all of the kids through the mill for a tour. It was beyond loud and a bit scary to this kid.
We used to take a walk in the woods after dinner and logging roads that were mostly no more than ruts in the dirt snaked around with so little straight lines it made for great walking. What was around the next curve?
On the road leading in to Dinky Creek there was a bridge that crossed over a creek that was part of a very sharp turn. It was closed to trucks becasue of the radius. One year a logger tried to go around anyway and his trailer went over the side. Had the road closed for most of a week. Fortunatly there was another way in but a long detour.