Swayne Lumber Company
California / Logging / Swayne Lumber Company
By John F. Hall.
History
In 1909, W. H. Swayne and C. L. Tilden formed the Feather River Lumber Company.[1] A month later it was renamed the Swayne Lumber Company due to being confused with another company.[2] The Swayne Lumber Company constructed its first mill on a bluff 1,800 feet above the Western Pacific Railway tracks just northwest of Stanwood. A 4,200 foot long incline was built to move cut lumber from the Swayne mill down to the Western Pacific tracks.[3] The mill included a box factory and a drying kiln. The SLCo. built a short 36 inch narrow gauge railroad between the top of the incline and the sawmill.[4] The railroad was extended north into Swayne timber lands where the timber was logged and brought to the mill by a Class B shay built in June 1911. Expansions of the track and mill occurred periodically until disaster struck on October 24, 1916 when the mill burned to the ground.[5]
Initially the newspapers reported the mill was to be rebuilt. Instead, the controlling interest in the idle ex-Truckee/Westside mill in Oroville was purchased by the Swayne Lumber Company along with the Butte and Plumas Railroad and the extensive Truckee Lumber Co. timber lands.[6] See the Butte and Plumas Railway for the rest of the story.
References
Reference Material Available Online
Equipment Rosters
| SLCo. 1910 - 1916 No. | Whyte | Builder | C/N | Order Date | In Service Date | Class | Cyl. | Drv. | Wt. | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
1 | Unknown locomotive | |||||||||
|
2 | 2T | Lima | 2458 | June 1911 | 1911 | B 24-2 | 3-8x8 | 27.5" | 48,600 | Purchased by Swayne Lumber Co. in 1911 before it bought the Truckee Lumber co. Became No. 4 in 1917, Scrapped 1940 |
Photographs
Maps
Further Reading
Beckstrom, Paul & Braun David W. The Swayne Lumber Company Pacific Fast Mail Edmonds WA 1992.