REDWOOD LUMBERING. 53 



was carried on only along the streams or rivers emptying into 

 Humboldt Bay, or along the Mendocino County coast. At that 

 time only the timber along these streams was of any particu- 

 lar value. This method had the advantage cf being cheap, and 

 is still in vogue in places where the water-way is particularly 

 advantageous, or where lumbering is done in a small way and 

 on small capital. But it is not equal to present demands, 

 and has, as a rule, given way to the new system of carriage by 

 rail. 



As an improvement upon the streams first came the 

 tramways ; but they were built as auxiliaries, rather than im- 

 provements upon the streams. They also made available 

 certain portions of timber which could not be reached by the 

 old time water process. The old methods have generally 

 been abandoned, and the steel rail and ponderous locomotive 

 are now at the fore among redwood lumbermen who operate 

 extensively. 



The California Redwood Company operate more largely 

 with railroads in the transporting of logs to mills, or tide- 

 water adjacent, than any other lumber company of the Pacific 

 coast; in fact, more than any other lumber company in the 

 United States. At their mills at Trinidad, Humboldt Coun- 

 ty, some fifteen miles of rail are in constant use. On Fresh- 

 water Creek the length of the main and branch tracks is 

 probably twenty-five miles. On Elk Rivera railroad is near- 

 ing completion (in which Dolbeer & Carson are also interest- 

 ed) ten miles long. The two last named roads supply mills 

 at Humboldt Bay. The railroad of John Vance, running 

 from Mad River to the same bay, is fifteen miles long, besides 

 branch tracks in the timber. 



