Mills of Humboldt County, 1910-1945 - Paperback

by Alexandra Service (Author), Susan J. P. O'Hara (Author)

Sequoia sempervirens, California coastal redwood, was Humboldt County's economic mainstay from the 1850s onwards. By the early 20th century, harvesting red gold was the major industry along California's North Coast, with Humboldt at the forefront of the industry. The first half of the 20th century saw technological changes in logging and milling. New uses for redwood included cigar boxes, presto-logs, and core logs for plywood. The industry began reforestation practices, growing their own seedlings as early as 1907. World War I and the Great Depression impacted the industry, as did activism to preserve the redwoods. In the 1930s, the largest stand of old-growth redwoods was preserved, and the turmoil of the 1935 strike resulted in several strikers being killed in Eureka. This book explores Humboldt's early-20th-century lumber industry and day-to-day realities of life in the mills and woods in an era underrepresented in published logging history.

Author Biography

Authors Susan J.P. O'Hara and Alex Service have selected images from the collections of the Fortuna Depot Museum, Humboldt County Historical Society, Clarke Historical Museum, University of California at Berkeley, Humboldt State University, and private collectors to illustrate Humboldt's lumber industry from 1910 to 1945. O'Hara is a historian and educator, and Service is curator of the Fortuna Depot Museum.