Logging no easy task Mark Landis, Correspondent Article Launched: 04/07/2008 05:58:02 PM PDT In 1901, the tranquility of the forests blanketing the San Bernardino Mountains was pierced by the unfamiliar sound of a steam whistle and the churning of a steam locomotive. The first and only logging railroad in the San Bernardinos was being constructed by the Brookings Lumber Company to haul logs from the surrounding timberlands to their newly renovated sawmill southwest of present-day Running Springs. In 1899, the Brookings Lumber Company purchased the assets of the struggling Highland Lumber Company and immediately began making major improvements. Brookings was a family- owned company based in Michigan with ample financial backing and lumber experience. In the purchase, Brookings obtained the City Creek Toll Road, the Molino Box Factory in Highland, the Long Point Sawmill (later called the Brookings Sawmill) and 5,000 acres of timberland. That eventually increased to 8,000 acres, making the Brookings operation the largest in the San Bernardinos but tiny in comparison to the vast operations in Northern California and Oregon. The company immediately set about upgrading the facilities and, by 1900, a narrow- gauge logging railroad was being spiked down. The railroad was designed to replace horse-drawn logging wagons and dramatically increase production from the mill. Brookings built the railroad with second-hand equipment and materials. The locomotives had to be disassembled at the bottom of the toll road and painstakingly hauled up the mountain on wagons. Temporary laborers were hired from the Santa Fe Railroad to help with the construction. However, much of the grading and track laying was done by lumbermen who had little or no experience with railroad construction. The railroad weaved tightly through the mountain canyons with the mainline running from the mill at Fredalba, (the present-day Smiley Park) to Hunsaker Flats (Running Springs). With grades of up to 25 percent, the City Creek Toll Road from the mill down to the Molino factory was far too steep to consider for a railroad. This confined the railroad to operations in the timberlands and all of the cut lumber had to be hauled down the mountain by wagon. The slow and often dangerous process of bringing the heavily loaded lumber wagons down was a grueling task for both man and beast. It took an experienced teamster about three hours to bring a load down with a four- or six-horse team. The teamsters were paid $2.50 per 1,000 feet of cut lumber they hauled down the steep dirt road. When the logging railroad became operational, Brookings began using "donkey" steam engines to help drag logs and load them onto the railcars. The donkey engines were basically skid-mounted winch assemblies that were transported around the logging areas and set up where they were needed. Three gear-driven Shay locomotives provided the power to haul the logging flatcars from the timberlands to the mill. The Shay locomotives had tremendous pulling force, but were limited to a top speed of only about 4 mph. In spite of the slow speeds, the crudely built railroad had a number of derailments and accidents. Wet or icy rails, steep grades, tracks bent from dropped logs, and poor construction methods caused many accidents. As the forests were cleared, the railroad was extended into the next suitable logging area. About six miles of track were laid throughout the Brookings timberlands. The railroad brought the logs back to the mill where they were dumped into a millpond for soaking. A worker then guided the floating logs onto a conveyer that fed the mill's giant band saw. During the heyday of the operation, the mountains were bustling with the sounds of steam engines, lumberjacks felling trees, and dynamite blasting away at the hillsides. A small community developed around Fredalba, complete with a post office, commissary, school house, and social hall. Due to the remote location of some logging areas, Brookings established camps along the railroad so the employees could stay nearby during the work week. The logging camps were numbered 1-7, but some had lively names like Lightning Dale, and Washerwoman Flats. "Some of the employees brought their families to the camps where they were provided with tent houses," said author and local historian Stan Bellamy. "The company had Chinese cooks there, and the employees ate very well." Fire was a constant threat for the all of the mountain logging operations. Five major fires struck the Brookings operation from 1900 to 1909. Over the years, the fires destroyed the mill, millions of feet of cut lumber and large sections of timberland. In her book "Saga of The San Bernardinos," local historian Pauliena LeFuze wrote: "On the 17th of November (1900) a spark from Brookings furnace fired the ricks of lumber in their yard. Four million board-feet were burned. The hundred employees, and water barrels-on-the- roof saved the mill." Many of the fires were caused by unsafe practices, a fact that angered the forest service and the growing ranks of conservationists. The final fire in 1909 destroyed the Molino Box Factory, but it was immediately rebuilt. The efficiency of the Brookings operation quickly stripped away the surrounding forests and by 1906, it was evident that the limited supply of timber was running out. Towards the end of its operation, the Brookings Lumber Company ran at full capacity, cutting 10 acres of timber per month and producing 60,000 board-feet per day from the mill. Local opposition to clear cutting was growing as the mountain watershed was stripped away. Conservationists and the U.S. Forest Service began demanding increased regulations in the forest, and Congress obliged. Large-scale lumbering in the San Bernardino Mountains soon became a part of local history. Brookings' logging operations ceased in 1912, and the rugged little logging railroad was pulled up in 1913. Parts of the railroad right-of-ways were taken by San Bernardino County and converted into roads. The Brookings Lumber Company moved their operation to a large stand of timber along the Oregon coast, just north of the California border and built the company town of Brookings, Ore. The occasional artifact still can be found along the right-of-ways, reminding us of a time when steam locomotives and logging trains rumbled through the San Bernardino Mountains.
