The Eel River Valley Lumber Company

What is Done at Newburg (page 2)

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The Eel River Valley Lumber company carries on an extensive manufacturing business. Their products consist principally of rough and dressed redwood lumber and redwood shingles, shakes, posts and ties, the output being one of the largest in Humboldt county. The mills are kept running steadily, and employment is given to a large number of men, both in the woods and mills. The logging operations are in charge of Richard McKay, who has under him from 75 to 90 men. Next to Mr. D. S. Newell of this place, McKay is accorded the credit by those who know best of being a good handler of men and the most cautious (in behalf of his fellow man) and judicious woodsmen in the county. He is possessed of determination of character and with it a disposition to deal fairly and leniently with all who deserve it.

This company has recently added to its woods-working paraphernalia an improved steam logger which is one of the largest in use here or elsewhere. The mills are under the foremanship of Mr. A. C. Nelson, formerly with the Excelsior Mill company of Eureka. The company owns and operates six miles of railroad, which is used for the transportation of logs and lumber. The company's railroad connects at Fortuna with the Eel River & Eureka company's valley line, over which the output of its mills are shipped on its own cars to Field's Landing, where lumber, etc, are loaded on vessels to any desired destination. It also conducts, in conjunction with the general manufacturing and shipping business, a retail lumber yard at the junction of its own and the Eel River Valley road, some two miles from the mills and close to the town of Fortuna. This retail department is under the management of Mr. A. A. Camitz, who is a thoroughly efficient man in the position which he occupies.

This yard is the lumber-distributing point in Eel River Valley. At the Newburg mill of the company is also a well equipped genera] merchandise store, which supplies its employes and the community adjacent with all the necessaries of life.

The capacity of the mills is 50,000 feet of lumber and 75,000 shingles per day, most of which output is sold or shipped without delay to points on the California coast and inland and to various foreign ports. The company has excellent facilities for furnishing and shipping cargoes on short notice, owning and controlling as it does its own railroad, cars and vessels. A large portion of the lumber and other manufactured material is sold and shipped to southern California points and a considerable amount also finds its way to foreign countries, prominent among which are Central and South American ports, Sandwich Islands, England and Australia. Shipments have also been made to Japan.

The company owns an extensive tract of Land, heavily timbered with redwood. It is estimated that there is a sufficient amount of timber now standing to keep the mills in operations for 20 years, cutting on an average 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 feet per year. It has at the present time over three miles of railroad used exclusively for hauling logs from the camps to the mill. The corporation owns a 35-ton Baldwin locomotive which, with the logging train, is kept continually busy during the working season — from about April 1st to November 30th — in hauling logs and storing same in the mill pond, from whence the supply for the mill is drawn throughout the year. The company owns another locomotive and some 40 cars which are used in the transportation of the manufactured product to tidewater at Fields Landing on Humboldt Bay. The force of men employed in and around the mill and yards numbers 60 to 70. The company also operates two boarding houses, one in the logging woods and one at the mill, in which houses all the employes are boarded. Cabins are also provided for the accommodation of employes, and such cabins and board are considered in the workmen's remuneration. The company has also provided a number of small, well finished cottages, which are designed for employes with families.

The mill office is connected with all prominent points in the county by a telephone system. Telegraphic communication with the outside world is also convenient. Messrs. Pollard & Dodge, 22 California street, San Francisco, are managers of this extensive business, and all sales outside of local transactions are conducted through their office. They are prepared at all times to furnish figures and specifications on cargoes from this plant. Communications addressed to this company at Newburg, via Fortuna, will be punctually responded to.