Cold deck operations.
John Cummings photo dated 1949
The Real Santa Cruz Lumber Co. - con'd
The original sawmill was torn down at the end of the lumbering season in 1955, and completely rebuilt from the ground up to keep pace with improvements in the logging operations made in the earlier part of that decade. At that time, virtually all of the steam-powered equipment was replaced with electric gear. Only the carriage shot gun feed and log turner were still powered by steam at the end of the rebuild.
Cold
deck operations.
John Cummings photo dated 1949
Logging operations continued until 1972, when the mill was shut down. In 1986, the Santa Cruz Lumber Company was reformed into Redtree Properties Ltd., a private landholding company formed for the purpose of owning and administering the remaining 7,079 acre Pescadero Creek Tree Farm, as it was then called. Finally, in 1989, the remaining wholesale and retail outlets were sold to the San Lorenzo Valley Lumber Co., and the Santa Cruz Lumber Company was no more.
Hauling empties back to the woods in
the last months of operations.
Richard C. Brown photo January 7, 1950