Oregon & California – 1991

Instead of taking one of our standard routes into and down the valley, we elected to take a ferry across the Willamette at Wheatland.

The ferry is still in operation and has been upgraded to carry more cars since the time of our visit. Shortly before I put this online (5/2019), the ferry service had temporarily shut down due to rock deposits left behind by high river flows. The county has scheduled dredging to clear the deposits and reopen the ferry.

Rather than taking the fast way down I-5 after our holiday, we drove to Crescent City on the California Coast.

At the time of our visit, Pacific Lumber was still a going concern. For a history and information on its status as of 2017, check our Oregon coast travelogue of that time.

This equipment was on display as part of the company's history.

The donkey engine that Jim is admiring was used to winch trees to a place where they could be loaded for transport.

We toured the lumber mill, which has since been demolished.

As they are received at the mill, the gigantic logs are first debarked.

The company had been operated sustainably for many years, but not too long before our visit it had been bought out and old-growth and otherwise irreplaceable trees were being processed.

The debarked logs are staged for going into the mill.

Don't remember the proper sequence of these pictures. These logs appear to be routed to a holding area. Can't remember why that was necessary.

Of the logs that can be seen, a few are small diameter. These may be Douglas fir. Most are huge old-growth coast redwood.

The finished product.

It is tempting and easy to blame the lumber companies and mills for destroying so much of our old-growth forests, but they were meeting a demand. Had Americans not been clamoring for redwood decks, there would have been no market.

Our deck is built of recycled plastic bags. It may not be as pretty, but it is functional. I'm sure that there are hidden costs there as well.