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Yesterday was a dream come true as Eric, Henner, and myself were invited up to tour the remains of the old Santa Cruz Lumber Company sawmill and ROW. I got an email sever months back from a gentleman who apparently stumbled across my web site. That gentleman was Doug Ley, whose grandfather George Ley had organized and built the Santa Cruz Lumber Company and its railroad. Doug and I have been in touch ever since, and yesterday he was kind enough to take the time to show us around.
The mill as it was in 1949...
The sawmill sits in the Santa Cruz Mountains about 7 miles north of the town of Boulder Creek and is reached via a private road. Here was our first glimpse of it...
The mill was torn down and completely rebuilt in 1955. The roof is the saw filers room built atop the new mill. The tall roof at left is the hoist used to raise and lower the blades to and from the main floor - it is directly over the bandsaw. A closer view of the slash burner, also part of the new mill...
At the bottom of the road is the Green Shed, also part of the new mill built in 1955. This is where fresh-cut lumber was loaded on trucks for its trip to the SCLCo Planing Mill, built in Felton about 14 miles south (right next to where Roaring Camp Railroad sits today)...
Approaching the mill, one again sees the slash burner and roof of the blade hoist structure...
This is the first part of the mill proper which we saw. It's an extension housing a log deck that allows logs to be yarded in from the Hot Deck to a holding area aside the log carriage...
Some close-ups of the slash burner...
And the company logo atop it...
This is the front of the mill, today covered over in brush. The log pond and log haul used to be here...
The log deck inside the mill extension, looking towards the carriage...
Looking down the mill towards the sorting area. The carriage would have been on the far side, and the bandsaw sits out of view at right...
The log carriage rode here. You can see the bumper at the end of its travel still in place...
To our astonishment, the bandsaw is still here and escaped the scrapper's torch...
The dead roll on the outfeed side of the bandsaw...
The saw throat...
and the outfeed side...
The floor of the saw filer's room still contains three blades...
This is the blade hoist, and it sits directly over the bandsaw. It's hard to see in this photo, but this could be raised and lowered with a blade draped over it...
Looking up at the hoist, the tall roof visible in the earlier photos...
Looking towards the carriage and log haul from the filer's room on the second story...
The filer's room and blade hoist...
Roof detail of the filer's room...
Roof of the main mill sorting and cutoff area from the filer's room...
And the sorting/cutoff area floor...
The inclined cutoff table is visible in this shot...
Note the wood gussets at each top joint of the main mill roof...
Wall detail of the filer's room...
The inclined cutoff table. A man sat in the small enclosure above the table while boards would ride up the incline on chain/dog conveyors. At the end were gang cutoff saws controlled by the guy in the enclosure. Boards would be cut to length...
Roof detail from below...
Looking back towards the bandsaw. This area would have contained a series of live rolls to carry the cut boards to the cutoff table...
The dual boilers on the lower level...
We were told that the mill had been flooded some years back and a bunch of silt deposited on the lower floor. We couldn't see the fireboxes and assumed they were buried under the silt.
The lower floor, and part of the dam wall that kept water out of the mill's lower floor...
Looking towards the area under the log carriage...
Another part of the dam wall...
Looking out towards the once-upon-a-time log pond...
One of the steam cylinders which formed part of the log kicker above...
A couple more shots of the boilers...
The business side of the bandsaw...
We then rode along the old railroad's right of way. This is some cribbing which forms an abutment for a former log bridge across Pescadaro Creek along which the railroad ran for most of its length...
I've included some detail shots for you sawmill modelers out there.
Hope you enjoyed the tour a tenth as much as we did!
For some historical info and photos of the Santa Cruz Lumber Company and its railroad, go to my web site and click on "The Real SCLCo" button.
The mill as it was in 1949...

The sawmill sits in the Santa Cruz Mountains about 7 miles north of the town of Boulder Creek and is reached via a private road. Here was our first glimpse of it...

The mill was torn down and completely rebuilt in 1955. The roof is the saw filers room built atop the new mill. The tall roof at left is the hoist used to raise and lower the blades to and from the main floor - it is directly over the bandsaw. A closer view of the slash burner, also part of the new mill...

At the bottom of the road is the Green Shed, also part of the new mill built in 1955. This is where fresh-cut lumber was loaded on trucks for its trip to the SCLCo Planing Mill, built in Felton about 14 miles south (right next to where Roaring Camp Railroad sits today)...


Approaching the mill, one again sees the slash burner and roof of the blade hoist structure...

This is the first part of the mill proper which we saw. It's an extension housing a log deck that allows logs to be yarded in from the Hot Deck to a holding area aside the log carriage...

Some close-ups of the slash burner...



And the company logo atop it...

This is the front of the mill, today covered over in brush. The log pond and log haul used to be here...

The log deck inside the mill extension, looking towards the carriage...


Looking down the mill towards the sorting area. The carriage would have been on the far side, and the bandsaw sits out of view at right...

The log carriage rode here. You can see the bumper at the end of its travel still in place...

To our astonishment, the bandsaw is still here and escaped the scrapper's torch...

The dead roll on the outfeed side of the bandsaw...

The saw throat...

and the outfeed side...

The floor of the saw filer's room still contains three blades...

This is the blade hoist, and it sits directly over the bandsaw. It's hard to see in this photo, but this could be raised and lowered with a blade draped over it...

Looking up at the hoist, the tall roof visible in the earlier photos...

Looking towards the carriage and log haul from the filer's room on the second story...

The filer's room and blade hoist...

Roof detail of the filer's room...

Roof of the main mill sorting and cutoff area from the filer's room...


And the sorting/cutoff area floor...

The inclined cutoff table is visible in this shot...

Note the wood gussets at each top joint of the main mill roof...

Wall detail of the filer's room...



The inclined cutoff table. A man sat in the small enclosure above the table while boards would ride up the incline on chain/dog conveyors. At the end were gang cutoff saws controlled by the guy in the enclosure. Boards would be cut to length...

Roof detail from below...

Looking back towards the bandsaw. This area would have contained a series of live rolls to carry the cut boards to the cutoff table...

The dual boilers on the lower level...

We were told that the mill had been flooded some years back and a bunch of silt deposited on the lower floor. We couldn't see the fireboxes and assumed they were buried under the silt.
The lower floor, and part of the dam wall that kept water out of the mill's lower floor...

Looking towards the area under the log carriage...

Another part of the dam wall...

Looking out towards the once-upon-a-time log pond...

One of the steam cylinders which formed part of the log kicker above...

A couple more shots of the boilers...


The business side of the bandsaw...

We then rode along the old railroad's right of way. This is some cribbing which forms an abutment for a former log bridge across Pescadaro Creek along which the railroad ran for most of its length...

I've included some detail shots for you sawmill modelers out there.
For some historical info and photos of the Santa Cruz Lumber Company and its railroad, go to my web site and click on "The Real SCLCo" button.