 | This article includes historical images which have been upscaled by an AI process. (March 2024) |
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| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Yosemite National Park |
| Dates of operation | 1912–1942 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge |
| Length | 100 mi (160 km) |
The Yosemite Lumber Company was an early 20th century Sugar Pine and White Pine logging operation in the Sierra Nevada.[1] The company built the steepest logging incline ever, a 3,100 feet (940 m) route that tied the high-country timber tracts in Yosemite National Park to the low-lying Yosemite Valley Railroad running alongside the Merced River. From there, the logs went by rail to the company’s sawmill at Merced Falls, about fifty-four miles west of El Portal.[2]
Two special acts of Congress allowed the company to harvest timber in Yosemite National Park under the guidance that only "dead and decaying" timber be cut. An immense production allowance of two hundred million board feet suggested this was a loosely interpreted restriction. The company averaged a yearly cut of fifty-five million board feet during its thirty years in business. During that time, Yosemite Sugar Pine ran five shay locomotives across a hundred miles of track.[2]: 48
1n 1937, the federal government forced the sale of 7,200 acres of the company’s finest sugar pine tracts, annexing them for protection inside the boundaries of Yosemite National Park.[3][2]: 48 With its remaining timber holdings insufficient the company folded in 1942.[2]: 18
- ^ "Lumber Mills to Start Middle of April: Merced Falls Plant to Try to Exceed Records of Previous Seasons in Point of Footage of Timber Cut". Merced County Sun. Merced, California. April 4, 1919. Retrieved October 8, 2022.
- ^ a b c d Johnston, Hank (1997). The Whistles Blow No More. Stauffer Publishing. ISBN 0-87046-067-6.
- ^ "Purchase of Sugar Pines for Yosemite Park Will Proceed". Madera Tribune. Madera, California. August 28, 1937. Retrieved October 24, 2022.