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Lumbering in Hispanic California

Point Cypress
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In collaboration with the University of California Press and the California Historical Society, Lost LA is proud to present selected articles from California History that shed light on themes discussed in the show's second season. This article originally appeared in the Sept. 1962 edition (vol. 41, no. 3) of the journal.

To the south of San Francisco lie the scattered remains of a vast red­wood empire. Although this "Southern Redwood Empire," unlike its northern counterpart, has received little attention from historians, it played a vital role in early California.

The forests of redwood and pine that stretched from present San Mateo County to the Monterey Peninsula formed a backdrop for the Spanish and Mexican periods in northern California. While history spotlights the presidios, missions, and ranchos, the cold, gray coastal fogs obscure crude cabins tucked in fem-covered glades surrounded by the tall, straight palo colorado.

History, likewise, romanticizes the hide and tallow trade and the colorful life on the ranchos. But the bearded, hard-drinking whip­ sawyer, while not as dashing a figure as the vaquero, played an equally important part in the economy of Hispanic California.

Although the Monterey pines were probably first observed by Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542, and certainly by Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602,1 the discovery of the redwoods had to wait until Gaspar de Portola first observed the palo colorado north of the Pajaro on Tuesday, October 10, 1769.2 During the next seven years a number of expedi­tions to the Bay area explored the Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, San Mateo, and East Bay redwoods.3

The forests were logged mainly for local construction during the first few years of the Spanish era. Most of the labor was performed by mission Indians who were trained in logging by the padres.4 The fathers of Santa Clara seem to have specialized in lumbering and teaching the neophytes the trade. As early as January, 1777, the missionaries were in the Santa Clara hills cutting planks. Soon afterwards they built one of the first bridges in California near the mission to expedite the hauling of their lumber. Santa Clara Indians also first exploited the Santa Cruz redwoods in 1791 while building Mission Santa Cruz. Thus they logged the area six years before the first white colonists of the Villa de Branciforte.5

Word of the forest soon spread to less wooded sections of California and a rather considerable domestic, and at times foreign, commerce in timber developed. On May 21, 1776, the San Antonio (also known as El Príncipe), under Don Diego Choquet, arrived in Monterey with an order for pine beams for the reconstruction of Mission San Diego. On June 30 the vessel sailed with the first timber to be exported from the Monterey area.6

Commerce with Santa Barbara began in 1782 with shipments of pine roof rafters for the new presidio.7 This trade continued intermittently. In October, 1786, the Princesa, under Don Esteban Jose Martinez, brought fifty-eight morillos (roof rafters) and twelve vigas (beams) to Santa Barbara; and in November, 1788, it landed another load of beams.8

A great flurry of logging operations was set off by Governor Jose Joaquin Arrillaga's orders of 1793 to strengthen the presidios against possible foreign aggression.9 Consequently, the San Francisco garrison trained young bulls and built oversized ox-carts to snake logs from the rugged San Mateo Range to the castillo on the Golden Gate. In addition, timbers had to be shipped up the coast from Monterey.10

Monterey supplied most of the lumber for the new defense effort. The Princesa, now under Don Salvador Fidalgo, and the Aranzuzu, under Josef Tobar, were pressed into regular service as lumber carriers. For the next few years these little vessels commuted between Monterey and San Diego carrying lumber for fortifications, buildings, carts, and launches. Occasional shipments were also made to Santa Barbara and possibly to Loreto.11

The orders for lumber were quite large and kept Indians as well as parties of soldiers busy cutting pines in the Monterey hills and in the redwoods just north of the Pajaro. For example, one order for a new battery at San Diego required 1410 tablones (planks) 7 varas long, 300 morillos, 60 vigas, and nearly 300 pieces of other cuts. Probably not until the late 1830's was there again as much lumber on the beach at Monterey.12

During the Spanish period California redwood reached foreign countries only as botanical samples (Vancouver brought back redwood branches and cones) or as repair material on ships that had touched at California ports. The Providence ship Hazard which was repaired with redwood in San Francisco in 1804 doubtlessly brought the first redwood to the United States.13

Lima ships, which traded in hides and tallow with Monterey by 1813, probably took redwood back to lumber-starved Peru. In early 1818 the Two Catherines, a Providence vessel, was commissioned by the Peru­vian viceroy to carry construction lumber from the Californias to the naval station at Callao in order to strengthen that port against rebel attacks. The ship reached San Blas in July where it had difficulties with Mexican authorities, and it is not known if it accomplished its mission. But the voyage indicates that Monterey lumber was known in Peru.14

During the late Spanish period foreign ship-jumpers at San Francisco and Monterey began to find that the nearby redwood groves made excellent hideouts until their ships sailed. Thus a rather motley assort­ment of deserters and mutineers became the core of California's first foreign colony.

The Pulgas redwoods of San Mateo attracted the first immigrants. In 1816 an American, William Smith, or "Bill the Sawyer," built a shack near Woodside. He was joined two years later by an English mutineer, James Peace, and in 1821 by John Copinger, a demoted English naval officer.15

By the 183o's the Pulgas woods were swarming with loggers. Some, such as James Weeks, another English deserter, left their names on Cali­fornia history. Others included Charles Brown, George Chappel, Wil­liam Hanst, William Swinburn, and such assorted characters as French Joe, Black George, and Jim the Cook.16 Whipsawing flourished in this area until the advent of the sawmill era.

The Santa Cruz woods sheltered dozens of Monterey ship-jumpers. The influx of foreign loggers increased the population of the Villa de Branciforte until it bulged with some three hundred souls in 1840.17 William Buckle, an Englishman, founded the Santa Cruz foreign colony in 1822 after jumping ship at Monterey. He was soon joined by his brother, Samuel, and they changed their names to Thompson. Another English deserter, William Trevethan, joined them in 1828, and the trio logged the woods until the American period.18

The first Santa Cruz logging was carried on near the mission and villa, but soon the whipsawyers spread south into the Soquel and Aptos areas. An Irishman, Michael Lodge, married into the Castro family and obtained a large grant on Soquel Creek. He hauled his lumber to Capitola Beach, then known as Lodge's Beach.19

By 1835 the population of the woods was big and thirsty enough to support a distillery. So Job Dye and Ambrose Tomlinson built a still near present day Felton which soon did a rushing business. Later the partners sold out to Joseph Majors.20

The 1820’s and early 1830’s also found many whipsawyers and shingle splitters in the pine woods of the Monterey Peninsula.21 These early independent whipsawyers peddled their lumber to ranchos, mis­ sions, presidios, and passing ships. But it was a small, disorganized busi­ness until the arrival in Monterey of a real organizer – Thomas O. Lar­kin. In addition to his better known activities, Larkin was to dominate the California lumber industry for nearly fifteen years.

Soon after arriving in Monterey in April, 1832, Larkin contacted the Thompsons, Trevethan, and other Santa Cruz loggers;22 and in early 1833 he was sending shipments of lumber, including boards, doors, and door and window frames to Stearns, Temple, and Rice in Los Angeles and to a "Don Antonio" in Santa Barbara.23 These first orders were shipped on the Don Quixote, a bark that was to be in the lumber trade until the end of the Mexican period.24 Larkin also sold lumber locally around Monterey; Nathan Spear, later San Francisco pioneer, was one of his best accounts.25

This early lumber trade was not as smooth or ethical as it later became. Larkin complained that the Angelenos were somewhat slow in paying, while Stearns countered that Larkin's prices were outrageous. Larkin moaned that at $55.00 a thousand he was making nothing; that demand was three times the supply; and that he must have cash, not hides, as the loggers demanded cash on the line.26 His books belie this. Larkin was not swamped with lumber orders in 1833, and he invariably paid the loggers in merchandise, not cash.

But during 1833-34 a price pattern was established that remained almost unchanged until mid-1847. Larkin paid $40.00 per thousand board feet for one-inch redwood boards and sold them for $50.00 or, occasionally, $55.00. Joists, pillars, and beams cost $30.00 or $35.00 and sold at $40.00. Two-inch redwood planks cost $55.00 or $60.00 and sold for $80.00 to $100.00. One-inch pine boards ran a little higher, costing Larkin $50.00 and selling for $60.00.27

Soon the $40.00 buying and the $50.00 selling price of a one-inch redwood board became as fixed as the two-dollar valuation of a hide. Considering that hauling by boat or cart from Santa Cruz to Monterey cost $10.00 per thousand,28 we might assume that Larkin didn't get rich from the lumber trade. But he paid his loggers and haulers by credits upon his books against which the loggers drew food, liquor, clothing, tools, and other necessities at Larkin's store. His mark-up was fifty to one hundred and fifty per cent over cost; therefore he came out quite well.29 Thus lumber, like hides, became practically a currency between 1833 and 1847.

In early 1834 Larkin hoped to make even greater profits by going directly into the production of lumber as well as its distribution. To fill an order for 9,000 feet, he sent a group of novices whom he paid $10.00 per thousand to the "Auctosh," either the Soquel or Aptos areas. By the end of the summer the crew had sawed only 3,000 feet while expenses stood at $375, and he had to call in two veteran lumbermen, Trevethan and Mark West. They took advantage of Larkin's plight and charged him $45.00 per thousand but got the lumber out in a hurry.

Thomas O. Larkin
Courtesy of John A. Hawgood

Spurred by this example, Larkin's amateurs swung into high gear and by the end of October had cut 41,000 feet at a profit of $800 to Larkin.30 As the Auctosh was too muddy in the winter, Larkin moved his enter­prise south to Amnesti's rancho, probably the Corralitos area, where he had to buy his trees for $4.00 each.31 He also branched out into the pine forests near Monterey, and sent special shingle cutting crews to the redwoods. These men were paid about $3.50 per thousand shingles.32

By 1835, despite earlier successes, the venture was clearly losing money, and Larkin was having a very disagreeable time with his shingle foreman, Elias Hays.33 His labor turnover was extremely high, probably because his wages were so low. Why saw lumber for Mr. Larkin for $10.00 when you could join the free-lancers and get $40.00? Even in view of the times, Larkin's labor policy was hardly enlightened, and all his enterprises had a similar turnover. Wages varied from $3.00 to $15.00 per month, with the average Anglo-Saxon getting about $10.00. Most of his employees worked only a few weeks, some only days. One pay­ roll entry reads: "Worked two days then off to drink and gamble." One may wonder what money the man used to dissipate with, since Larkin only paid for a full week's work.34

In an attempt to save his faltering lumbering enterprise, Larkin cut his retail price to $40.00 and forced the independents to sell to him at

$30.00 or $35.00. When this tactic failed, he pulled his hired crews. Larkin's price then went back up to $50.00 or $55.00,85 and the individ­ual whipsawyer continued to dominate the forests until he was driven into submission by the sawmills of the 185o's. During Larkin's early years in the lumber business-the 1830's and 1840's-scores of whipsawyers roamed the redwoods. The records indi­cate the names of over 160 pre-Gold Rush pioneers who were engaged in lumbering. Many of the names appear regularly throughout the entire period-the Thompson brothers, Trevethan, James Rogers, William Branders, William Chard, Mark West, and William Garner, to name but a few. Others apparently arrived "broke" at Monterey and cut a few shingles which they traded with Larkin for necessities and then set out for other parts of California. If one considers the unrecorded Indian and Mexican helpers in the woods, it becomes obvious that logging was one of the major enterprises in the Mexican period.

Most of the loggers worked in pairs with a helper or two. But some like William Garner, who logged Amnesti's rancho between 1835 and 1840, employed many Indian and Mexican helpers. Like most of the loggers, Garner sent a good deal of his output to Larkin for retailing.36

As might be expected, these loggers were a rugged bunch. A few, such as Garner, were literate to a limited degree,37 and some, including Lodge and Copinger, married into prominent Spanish families and received land grants in the redwoods; but most were illiterate. The usual social life of the redwood clique consisted of playing the Jew's-harp, drinking, and brawling. For diversion they would go to town (San Jose was the favorite) and drink and brawl. They drank wine, aguardiente, and beer; but rum was their favorite. Larkin's store, Dye's distillery on the Zyante, and Isaac Graham's still on the Pajaro kept the loggers stimulated.38

The woodsmen were always ready to take a violent part in the politi­cal upheavals of the Mexican era. Chief trouble maker was Isaac Graham who in the Alvarado Revolt of 1836 raised a company of rifleros Ameri­canos from among the loggers who drank at his still. Although Graham was captain and Garner first lieutenant, they left the fighting to former British naval officer John Copinger, who fired the single cannon shot which hit the governor's house and won Monterey for Juan Bautista Alvarado.39 When Alvarado split with Graham in 1840, nearly everyone tempo­rarily exiled to San Blas was from the redwoods. But the fact that Garner and some of the other loggers (mostly those who did good busi­ness with Larkin) were not arrested caused a rift in the redwood set that never healed.40 Later, when the repatriated Graham offered support of the lumbermen to Manuel Micheltorena in 1843, many loggers signed a petition repudiating Graham.41

The early 1840’s, notwithstanding the above-mentioned political up­heavals, saw a big boom in the lumber business, and consequently an upturn in Larkin's lumber enterprise. Monterey itself contributed to the boom, as it was growing and demanding lumber. The renovated customhouse, the bridge near the graveyard, and the first wharf were only a few of the projects for which Larkin supplied lumber. An increasing number of ship arrivals stimulated the demand for masts, spars, timbers, and firewood-most of which Larkin supplied from the pine forest.42

Coastal and foreign trade flourished. Steams was still selling Larkin's lumber in Los Angeles; Dr. Den was helping to build Santa Barbara with Santa Cruz redwood; the growing community of Yerba Buena was supplied by Larkin as well as from the East Bay and San Mateo woods. Larkin's lumber even reached New Helvetia. The cost of shipping to these points was a uniform $10.00 per thousand.48 Redwood, which does not readily rot, had a good demand in the humid islands of the Pacific. Paty's Don Quixote frequently shuttled to Honolulu with Larkin's lumber and returned with tools and consumer goods for his store.44 Other lumber ships traded with Maui, while still others carried California timber to the Marquesas, Tahiti, and, possibly, Valparaiso.45

Some California redwood seems to have also reached the United States. In June, 1846, the Salem bark Angola, under Captain Varney, arrived at Monterey with a cargo of New England hardware and house­ hold goods. Larkin paid with a note on his Boston agent and 100,000 feet of lumber and 100,000 shingles which Varney picked up at Santa Cruz.46

Further evidence of trade with the United States is contained in Lar­kin's report to the Secretary of State that one million feet of lumber was exported in 1846, and that in return for United States products Cali­fornians paid in "hides, tallow, dried beef, fat, lumber, soap, etc.”47

A new era opened in the Santa Cruz woods in 1845, an era which would not fully bloom until after the Gold Rush. The sawmill invaded the forest. In 1841 Peter Lassen had built a small mill on the Zyante which he soon sold to Graham,48 but the mill had little effect on the industry. But in 1845 three large scale mills were erected: Rousillion and Sainsavain's on the San Lorenzo; John Hames' on the Soquel; and William Blackburn's on the Brancifone.49

At first Larkin took most of the output of these mills in exchange for logging supplies. But soon the operators began to sell directly to William H. Davis and William Leidesdorff in the rapidly expanding town of Yerba Buena.50

As more Americans poured into the Bay area in 1846 and 1847 the demand for lumber rose. Whipsawyers and a growing number of mills worked feverishly not only in the Santa Cruz and Pulgas woods, but also in the Marin, Sonoma, and East Bay hills. By 1847 the forces of supply and demand began to upset the traditional $40.00-$50.00 price pattern, and wholesale prices began to fluctuate wildly between $30.00 and $50.00.51

By mid-1847 Larkin's interest had shifted away from the Monterey store, and he was no longer a principal in the lumber business. He con­ tinued to make large scale purchases of lumber, but only for real estate speculation in Yerba Buena and Benicia.52

After a brief interruption due to the Gold Rush, logging operations resumed on a larger scale than ever, but it was no longer the idyllic redwood forest of pre-American days. The sawmill expanded into all redwood areas, desolating the Southern Redwood Empire. Lumbering became big business,53 and there was no place for two men and a whip­ saw in the mechanized woods of the 1850’s.

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