We have a pretty good page on the Union Lumber Company’s (ULC) Pier at Fort Bragg. However every snippet of history is important. The text and pictures below are, I think, taken from a 75th anniversary publication of the ULC in 1960. There are a few new “bits” therein including, so far as I know, the only pic of the pier being built..
Captain Jack Bostrom was for many years captain of National Steamship Co. steam schooners,
C.R Johnson, the owner of the ULC, towed the first pilings for the pier, two at a time, down the Noyo River (Fort Bragg) and up the coast with a row-boat.
The National City was owned by the National Steamship Co. 310 gross tons when she was built in 1888. She was ultimately sold to Peru in 1918. In 1907 she was said to be the fastest boat on the Mendocino Coast.
Towing a log raft from Fort Bragg in 1886, Several ofthese rafts were built but they proved to be unsuccessful as
they broke up at sea.
The Noyo was the first three steam schooners of the name, “Noyo” owned and operated by the ULC and the National Steamship Co. She was 316 gross tons when built in 1888. She hit a rock off of Albion on February 26th 1918 and sunk in tow off of Point Arena.
The barkentine S.C. Allen (690 tons when built) tied up at the Fort Bragg pier. She is loading for a trip to Honolulu on November 2, 1909. Her cargo consisted of 591,000 board feet of redwood, 28,000 board feet of split posts and 34,000 board feet of redwood shingles.
The S.S. Brunswick (512 tons) was owned by the National Steamship Co, She was built in 1898 and sold in 1931. She carried 40 passengers in addition to her cargo of lumber. She was said to have carried the first load of Dole pineapples rom Hawaii to the U.S. mainland.