LOGGING IN THE REDWOODS. 



Niles B. Eckbo. 



Humboldt County is situated on the Northwest coast of Cali- 

 fornia. It is 108 miles in extent along the ocean with an average 

 width of approximately 35 miles, making a total area of about 

 two and a quarter million acres. 



It is calculated that originally there were about 540,000 acres 

 of redwood forest in the county of which some 70,000 acres have 

 been cut. The known amount of lumber taken from this cut over 

 land justifies the average estimate of 100,000 feet board measure 

 per acre, which makes a total of 7,000,000,000 feet. Many claims 

 of 160 acres will yield 40,000,000 feet, and certain acres have 

 yielded as much as 1,300,000 feet. One tree cut by the Vance 

 Redwood Lumber Company in 1902 yielded over 165,000 feet of 

 lumber tallied from the saw. The annual cut of lumber (exclu- 

 sive of shingles, shakes, etc.) in Humboldt County is now almost 

 three hundred million feet, which is the output of the 11 large 

 sawmills operating. The income from this has reached as high as 

 $6,000,000 yearly. 



The redwood belt of California reaches its maximum of per- 

 fection in Humboldt County, and it is not strange that lumber in 

 its various forms should be the dominating business interest. 



The redwood occurs mostly in pure stands ; but is mixed some- 

 times to a small extent with Douglas and White Fir, (which are 

 both generally known as pine) oaks, madrona, and various 

 other trees. 



An excellent stand of almost pure redwoods can be found on 

 Bull Creek, which is specially wonderful on account of its uni- 

 formity in sizes and the flatness of the ground. It is considered 

 the best redwood timber in the country. Trees from 10 to 16 feet 

 in diameter are not rare, and the timber appeared to be straight, 

 not badly defective ; but with quite a few windfalls, that no doubt 

 yet can be utilized to a great extent. There are also fine stands 

 of redwood on Eel River, South Fork and Mad River and others. 



One of the largest redwoods left in this section of the country 

 grows on Simpson Creek, which is a tributary to Mad River. It 



