Logging Railroads of California

Logging Railroads.

A. M. Leach Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Constructed by Andrew Martin Leach to bring timber from the woods to his mill in Challenge. Finished lumber from the mill was then sent by flume down to Honcutt on the Southern Pacific. The railroad was later extended to a new mill at Beantown. In 1892 Leach moved his railroad to the end of the flume at Owl Gulch. Challenge Mills to Beanville, Yuba County. 1884 - 1894

American River Land & Lumber Company.
36in Gauge.

Pino, El Dorado County. 1892 - 1899

Birce & Smart Lumber Company.
36in Gauge.

Smart Station, Nevada County.

Brookings Box & Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. The Brookings Box & Lumber Co. owned 6000 acres of timberlands in the San Bernadino Mountains near Fredalba. Between 1901 and 1911 the company was generating 10,000,000 board feet of lumber per year. The company ceased operations on in June 1914.

Fredalba, San Bernadino County. 1900 - 1914

Butte and Plumas Railway.
36in Gauge. Originally owned by the Truckee Land and Lumber Company this railroad spent most of its life moving logs from the forests of Butte County to the sawmill at Oroville for the Swayne Lumber Company.

Butte County. 1910 - 1938

Diamond and Caldor Railway.
36in Gauge. Constructed as a subsidiary of the California Door Company in 1904 to connect their mill in Caldor with the standard gauge Southern Pacific at Diamond Springs. In 1923 a fire destroyed the mill at Caldor which was replaced with a new sawmill in Diamond Springs. When the line failed to comply with ICC common carrier regulations, operations ceased on April 10, 1953.

Diamond Springs to Caldor, El Dorado County. 1900 - 1953

Donner & Tahoe Railroad.
36in Gauge. Built by the Pacific Wood & Lumber Company on contract to operate a railroad over land owned by the Truckee Lumber Company. The railroad hauled logs from Truckee Lumber Co. and Pacific Wood & Lumber Co. timberlands down to the Truckee Lumber Co. mill on the western side of Truckee. The Pacific Wood & Lumber Co. was purchased by the Truckee Lumber Co. in 1901 and the railroad was dismantled.

Truckee Area, Nevada County. 1893 - 1901

D. H. McEwen Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Operated a six-mile long railroad from the mill near Cazadero, up the South Fork of the Gualala River on what is now the Bohan-Dillon Road. Lumber from the mill was hauled by wagon team down to Fort Ross - Cazadero Road, where it was transferred to the Northwestern Pacific Railroad.

South Fork of the Gualala River, Medocino County. 1906 - 1917

El Dorado Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Acquired the American River Land & Lumber Company railroad from Pino Grande to the log chute on the American river. The El Dorado Lumber Co. invested in the operation and constructed a cable tramway across the river allowing loaded cars to be shipped to a new mill in Camino Camino to Pino Grande, El Dorado County. 1900 - 1911

Empire City Railway.
30in Gauge. Constructed by Sierra Railway interests using the equipment and workforce from the failed Yosemite Short Line project. The operation was purchased by the Standard Lumber Company in 1907. Operations ended in 1913 after the mill and lumber were destroyed by fire. Empire City, Tuolumne County. 1906 - 1913

Greenhorn Railroad.
36in Gauge. Built by Charles W. Kitts to connect his mill on the Greenhorn river with the Nevada County Narrow Gauge. Cars of the NCNG would travel to mill by way of horse teams and later a small locomotive, there they were loaded and returned to Greenhorn Junction for shipment to Grass Valley, Nevada City or Colfax. Greenhorn Creek Area, Nevada County. 1891 - 1912

Greenwood Railroad.
36in Gauge. Elk, Mendocino County

Hume-Bennett Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Thomas Hume and Ira Bennett gained control of the Sanger Lumber Company in 1905. Operations were expanded and a large mill was constructed at Hume. After the Hume-Bennett partnership dissolved in 1912, Operations retained the name until it was renamed back to the Sanger Lumber Company between 1917 and 1927. Tulare County. 1905 - 1917

Johnson - Pollock Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Incorporated in 1912 to harvest timber from the northern slope of Mt. Hebron. The company operated several miles of track from Jerome up the mountain and utilized a Shay locomotive. In 1919 the mill at Jerome burned down and the railroad equipment sold to the nearby Mt. Hebron Lumber Company. Jerome, Siskiyou County. 1912 - 1920

Kings River Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Constructed by the Moore & Smith Lumber, San Francisco, oprtsyion began in the vicinity of Sequoia Lake and Converse Basin. The operation utilized two sawmills, a rough cut mill above the snow line and a larger mill with drying yard below the snow line. Both operated independent rail systems. The upper mill utilized a horse tramway, while the lower mill operated a 2 mile railroad called the “Sequoia Railroad”. Tulare County. 1888 - 1894

Louis Voss' Railroad.
36in Gauge. Little York Township Area, Nevada County. 1883 - 1891

Marsh Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. The Marsh Lumber company acquired the Horton Brothers Lumber Co. assets in 1907. During 1910 seven miles of narrow gauge were built out of Horton Landing on the Boca & Loyalton. Financial trouble in October 1917 saw the operation sold to the Clover Valley Lumber Co. and the grade subsequently standard gauged in 1920. Sierra County. 1906 - 1917

Michigan - California Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Formed from the merger of the R. E. Danaher Lumber Co. and Michigan lumberman John Blodgett's timber holdings on the Georgetown ridge. The company operated a unique cable tramway over the American river gorge and an expansive mills in Pino Grande and Camino. A fire destroyed the southern tower of the tramway and the operation switched to trucks in 1949. Camino to Pino Grande, El Dorado County. 1918 - 1949

Molino Timber Company.
30in Gauge. The Molino Timber Company was incorporated in 1911 as a subcontracting company of the Loma Prieta Lumber Company. Operating an incline with an elevation of 657 ft and a maximum grade of 67 percent the line operated a few years before its equipment was sold to the Loma Prieta Lumber Company. Molino Station to Camp #3, Santa Cruz County. 1911 - 1920

Pacific Lumber & Wood Compoany.
36in Gauge.



Clinton, Nevada County.

Sanger Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. In 1895 the creditors of the failed Kings River Lumber Co., reorganized the company as the Sanger Lumber Company. Operations were moved 5 miles east of the former mill site at Millwood, to the Converse Basin. The company operated in the red over the next 10 years and was ultimately sold in 1905 to Thomas Hume and Ira Bennett, becoming the Hume-Bennett Lumber Company. Converse Basin. Tulare County. 1895 - 1905

Sierra Lumber Company.
39.5in Gauge. Formed through the consolidation of 3 different logging interests, the Sierra Lumber Company constructed and operated several horsedrawn tramways. In 1880 a tramway near Lyonsville was converted to a strap iron railroad and by 1900 the operation was profitable enough to build a second line along Chico Creek. In 1907 the company became part of the Diamond Match Company. Operations Near Lyonsville and Chico Creek. Butte, Tehama and Plumas Counties. 1881 - 1907

Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Company: Hobart Mills.
36in Gauge and Standard Gauge. After exhausting their timber holdings at Incline on Lake Tahoe, the Sierra Nevada Wood & Lumber Co. constructed a new railroad along Upper Prosser Creek at Overton, later called Hobart Mills. The company operated narrow gauge logging lines through 5000 square miles of forest. The company was dissolved, becoming part of the Hobart Estate Company in 1917. Hobart Mills to Sierraville Summit, Nevada and Sierra Counties. 1896 - 1917

Sloat Lumber Company.
30in Gauge. Constructed from Sloat to the Poplar Valley and Peoria Creek area utilizing second hand equipment from the Empire City Railway. In 1918 the Sloat Lumber Co. and Quincy Lumber Co. were purchased by the F. S. Murphy Lumber Company of Utah. From 1926 to 1936 it was operated as part of the Quincy Lumber Co. Sloat, Plumas County. 1917 - 1936

Spanish Peak Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Incorporated by O.C. Hassett and Duane L Bliss Jr. in 1917, the company initially used trucks to haul logs to Quincy for shipment to the company mill at Gray's Flat (later called Twain) on the Feather River. A 36" gauge railroad was constructed in 1925 to move logs down to a mill near Spanish Ranch. From there a 5 mile long aerial cable tramway carried logs north to the mill at Gray's Flat. Spanish Ranch (Mill) to Camp 4, Plumas County. 1925 - 1935

Swayne Lumber Company
36in Gauge, The original sawmill was constructed on a bluff above the Feather River with an incline down to the Western Pacific Railroad. A railroad moved material between the mill and the incline and logs from the forest. After its mill burned in 1916 the Swayne Lumber Company relocated its operations to the Truckee Lumber Company mill in Oroville and took control of the Butte and Plumas Railway.
Butte County. 1909-1938

Towle Brothers Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Constructed during the 1880s the Towle Brothers operated a vast narrow gauge system out of Towle station along the Central Pacific. By the late 1890s the lumber supply began to dwindle and the Towle Bros relocated their operation to Fulda. In 1902 shortly after George Towle's death the family sold the operation to the Reed Lumber Co. of Canada. Towle to a point near Omega, Nevada County. 1885 - 1902

Truckee Lumber Company.
42in Gauge.

Truckee, Nevada County.

West Side Lumber Company.
36in Gauge. Reorganized by Michigan businessmen from the Hetch Hetchy & Yosemite Valleys Railroad. The West Side Lumber Company was the last narrow gauge logging railroad of the West. At it's peak the company operated 250 miles of track including 72 miles of mainline. Trucks replaced the railroad in 1961 and operations ceased in 1962. Tuolumne to Camp 44 (Near Cherry Creek), Tuolumne County. 1903 - 1962

W. W. Prather Company.
36in Gauge.

Clear Lake Area, Lake County. 1936 - 1942