The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-07-27
FROM THE GOLDEN STATE.
A California Lumber Port as Described |
bya Former EmPOrian.
EUREKA, Cal, July 10, 1882.

a California Lumber Port as Described
bya Former EmPorian.
EUREKA. Cal, July 10, 1882.
DEAR NEws: Here we are, in a
misty little seaside city of TIE Pacific.
The town is scarcely accessible except
by sea. The Pacific fulfilled his name
during the thirty-one hours of the vOy-
age from the Golden Gate to Humboldt
Bay, but the long, lazy swell was as hard
upon me as cyclone. 1t was, as usual,
time of absolute f4sting and horrible,
seasick misery.
Humboldt Bay is a land-locked har-
Dor some twelve miles long, separated
from the sea by narrow sand-bar, COW
cred with dwarf pines, against which
the waves beat with an endless swell
and roar. The entrance is shallow and
the larger coasters must wait for high
tide, but once inside there is an impos-
ing expanse of salt water, portion IF
which is deap enough for ships. 1
found three large vessels ON the stocks,
one of WHICH will be launched TO NOR
row; quite u squadron of large and
small steamers, and many great sailing
vessels loading with lumber for Aus
tralia, South America, Mexico and San
Francisco.
wish l could paint the picture to
your Kansas eyes. The mountains upon
the sea, covered with growth of gigan.
tic sequOids indescribsbly vast and
crowded, numbers of the trees being 200
I" 800 feet high, and 10, 90, even 80 feet
in diameter, above the swell of the
spreading roots, 90 feet above the ground.
This is my fifth day here, in the dry
season, but have not yet fairly seen the
sun. All day the breakers boom upon
bar, the fresh salt wind blows in from
the ocean and the fog-banks drift up TO
mountain slopes. These hills are for
ever bathed in soft mist ana rain. II
seems quite wonderful, in August, to
ride through these forests. The enor-
nous columns dark en- the air 10 AN ever.
lasting twilight. There is q dense
growth of huge ferns, huckleberry, high
cranberry, dewberTy and other wild
fruits. OF these the salmonberry is the
most remarkable, beings great yellow
raspberry, not especially fine favored,
but relished by many. Around the bay
where the forest opens little, the air is
now all ablaZe with the magnificent
bloom of the rhododendron, azaiea and
ceanOtkus.
At the north end of the bay. the lower
levels once covered by the sea, are now
many feet above it. having been filed
up by alluvium from the
mountain streams; and here are
many beautiful farms and homes Hay
is the most important product; these
rich meadows freely sell at $3.50 per
acre, and yield good interest upon the
investment. Hay is worth from $15 to
$50 per ton just now.
Several short railroads bring the logs
down TO the tide lands, and from here
they are RATED down the channels and
across the bay TO the mills. The largest
of these stands upon low island near
the town, and spent some pleasant
hours there. The perfection of the ma
chinery is wonderful. An iron car roll
ed down an inclined plane into the wa
ter, and a huge log was towed 10 its
place just above. The engine frightened
the chain, and the car emerged from the
water, bearing the giant upon its back
1t rose TO the upper story, another re
YolvIpg drum frightened another cable
and the log rolled upon the saw-carriage
The brawny lumberman who stood be
| side it was a foot shorter than the
diameter of the log. In ten minutes
more 1t had been reduced to slabs
planks and sawdust. Endless chains
bore the refuse-enough to keep Kan
sss City of the third class warm all win,
ter-to huge fires that never went out
Thousands Of tons OF iuel IS thus use
lessly turned every year into ashes FOL
the sea winds to blow away. This de
structiOn has been going on for twenty
five years. The method of telling In,
trees is most wasleful. The mangled
split and shattered trunks cumberinl
the ground everywhere, burning in III,
enormous forest fires of August, would
sicken the hearts of The people Of tn
prairies- Last year over 10000, OO'
feet OF lumber were shipped from thi
county, but the supply still seems yer,
great
The redwood forests front the SCI
fog slope averaging twenty miles from
east to west, Single acres of land, eveI
by the wastefnl methods now practiced
yield million feet of lumber Never
theless, these miraculous forests will b
slaughtered, wasted and burned to dealt
at last. The government should re pun
J chase portion Of these lands and Great
! a national park here, 80 as to preserv