Category Archives: Shingle Mills

Noyo Shingle Mill located above Redwood Lodge

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Another day, another snippet of local history …….. There I am assembling and “fixing” pics for a blog on ox teams- ox teams were the motive power in the woods before steam came along in the form of steam donkeys and locos – when I come across the pic below:

Noyo Shingle Mill

Noyo Shingle Mill

Click on it so’s you can see it full size and be able to read the text at the bottom pf the pic.

A) I didn’t know there was a shingle mill on Noyo River and B) I haven’t a notion where Redwood Lodge was located. But, sure as eggs is eggs there was a shingle mill and a Redwood Lodge.

So, if there is anyone out there who can add some meat to this very bare bone I’d be most grateful.

Redwood Rain Gutters and Water Pipes

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Sometimes I can’t see for looking. Kitty corner to where we are constructing our layout in the Skunk yard is a squarish wooden building. I must have looked at it hundreds of times. It wasn’t until Club member Chuck Whitlock innocently said to me that “it was brought in from the woods” that I looked at it carefully and saw that the rain gutters were made of redwood. Yes, redwood  – see pics below. That makes the building close to 100 years old because I believe wooden gutters went out of vogue in the 1920’s.

Redwood gutter in use on a building that was once used in the woods

Redwood gutter in use on a building that was once used in the woods

Redwood Gutter - note growth on shingles and gutter

Redwood Gutter – note growth on shingles and gutter

The day that webmaster Roger Thornburn took the above pictures he and I were in the Fort Bragg Guest House museum. On the floor at the top of the stairs were samples of redwood water pipes – see pic below. The larger I knew about – see our website page – but the smaller variety was new to me. Roger and I surmise that the smaller were in use when Fort Bragg installed its municipal water system in the 1920’s and used them to go from the mains to the houses. Note how the smaller pipes are not augered out but consist of  six smaller pieces of wood bound together with wire.

Redwood pipes at the top of the stairs in the Fort Bragg Guest House Museum

Redwood pipes at the top of the stairs in the Fort Bragg Guest House Museum

Russian Gulch Shingle Mill – Gone and Forgotten

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A couple of weeks ago there was an article in the local paper – the Fort Bragg Advocate – that the Russian Gulch State Park was on the State Governments closure list. This I thought was very sad. Then something in the article caught my eye that I did not know. There was a shingle mill at Russian Gulch.

If you travel from Fort Bragg to Mendocino you pass a bridge over Russian Gulch and there is a spectacular view of the little bay from the bridge. Until you go down into the park you have no idea of the beauty of the bridge itself. This booklet, Bridges, Huckleberries and Robin Stew details the effect of the Depression in Mendocino County and the bridge was built as part of the New Deal.

Booklet describing the effect of the Depression and New Deal on Mendocino County

Booklet describing the effect of the Depression and New Deal on Mendocino County

The bridge was designed by Henry E. Kuphal. It is similar in design to the more famous Bixby Creek Bridge several hundred miles south on the same highway at Big Sur. This picture shows the bridge under construction. Prior to the bridge’s opening, traffic across the gulch was carried on a wooden trestle bridge built in 1911, that was designed to support the weight of a 6 horse team!!

Russian Gulch Bridge being buil - note the old wooden trestle in the background

Russian Gulch Bridge being built – note the old wooden trestle in the background

The smaller, western portion of the park consists largely of headlands with a blowhole (great in a storm!) and picnic areas (great for wedddings), while the larger eastern portion of the park includes a campground, the park headquarters, and several trails for bicycles, hikers, and horses. A 2.5 mile hike from the trailhead at the east end of the campground to a 36-foot waterfall largely follows the old logging road along the creek.

Russian Gulch bridge from the bay

Russian Gulch bridge from the bay

Russian Gulch State Park was acquired in 1933 through gifts of land and money by A. Johnston (of the CWR) and the County of Mendocino to match State Park funds. Russians who established Fort Ross in 1811 were probably the first white men to explore and chart this area. Later, when cartographers were sent out by U.S. Government to chart this spot, it was called Russian Gulch for want of a better name. According to a more specific local tradition, a deserter from Fort Ross lived at Russian Gulch and he was the source of the name.

Waterfall in Russina Gulch State Park

Waterfall in Russian Gulch State Park

The lumber industry on the Mendocino Coast was to be found in all the little inlets, or “dog holes” as they were called, along the Mendocino Coast. Since the sea was the only means of travel in those days, these dog holes such as Russian Gulch were regular stops for the little schooners traveling along the coast. Some of the old iron rings used to hold the high lines that loaded lumber on the ships can be seen today anchored in the rocks along the headlands of the Russian Gulch Bay.

One of the first redwood shingle mills in this part of the country was built on the site where the recreation hall now stands. In 1867 L.E. Ballister & Co. had a mill here. From 1878 to 1888 Prince Grey had a shingle mill here which was taken over by Eugene Brown in 1888. From 1918 to some time in the 1920’s Gray and Johnson Lumber & Shingle Mill operated at Russian Gulch.

There are no signs of any of the mills now. They are gone and very, very nearly forgotten. Very sad.