A TOUR of STUGEON’S LUMBER MILL
While attending the 2022 Redwood Empire Division Convention PCR from April 21-24th, the attendees were able to have a private tour of the 107 year old lumber mill.
The convention was hosted by the Doubletree Hilton Hotel in Rohnert Park, California and sponsored over 40 clinics, 20+ layout tours and the excursion tour of the mill on April 23rd.
The mill has been in continuous operation since 1914 and today gives limited tours to the public. It is operated as an educational demonstration mill run by all volunteer help.
The technology of Sturgeon’s Mill dates to about 1865-70, only about 80 years after the start of the industrial revolution. In the early days, logs were pulled out of the woods with mules, oxen and horses, then hauled to mills such as this one. The development of the steam powered donkey engine in 1883 began replacing oxen and greatly increased the production of lumber.
The arrival of the North Coast Railroad in 1877 opened the Russian River basin to a logging boom. Mills such as this mostly served the local market. Previously, lumber was shipped from dog holes (small safe ports where lumber hauling ships could dock) along the coast via sailing schooners to build and rebuild San Francisco.
Sturgeon’s Mill started in Coleman Valley in 1914 by Wade Sturgeon and his partners, John Donati and J.W. Gonella. It used ox teams, horse teams, and machinery from the old Korbel (of champagne fame) mill in Guerneville. The Korbel mill dated back to the 1870’s.
The arrival of the North Coast Railroad in 1877 opened the Russian River basin to a logging boom. Mills such as this mostly served the local market. Previously, lumber was shipped from dog holes (small safe ports where lumber hauling ships could dock) along the coast via sailing schooners to build and rebuild San Francisco.
Sturgeon’s Mill started in Coleman Valley in 1914 by Wade Sturgeon and his partners, John Donati and J.W. Gonella. It used ox teams, horse teams, and machinery from the old Korbel (of champagne fame) mill in Guerneville. The Korbel mill dated back to the 1870’s.
THE STEAM DONKEY
In 1922 the logs ran out in Coleman Valley and the mill was moved to its present location.
Steam donkey engines replaced the oxen in the logging operations at that time; but logs continued to arrive at this sawmill’s present location via beasts of burden with Teamster Mr. Craig driving a team of four mismatched horses.
Steam donkey engines replaced the oxen in the logging operations at that time; but logs continued to arrive at this sawmill’s present location via beasts of burden with Teamster Mr. Craig driving a team of four mismatched horses.
The mill includes outbuildings; the recently restored mill office built over a live creek to conserve space; and a blacksmith shop equipped with old time tools from Montgomery Ward and Sears-Roebuck.
As told in a documentary film, available for purchase at the registration desk, in 1942 Ralph Sturgeon (Wade’s son) and Analy High School friend Jim Henningsen formed a partnership in the mill with nothing more than a handshake and pooling of resources. They purchased the mill and leased the property from Wade Sturgeon. The operation would continue under their ownership until 1964.
The partners eventually acquired a 2000 acre tract of timber known as Bodega Rancho west of Occidental which supplied the mill with logs based on a plan of “sustainable cutting” which preserved the forest for the purpose indefinitely.
The mill provided lumber to the local market and great quantities were used in agriculture. The mill would sell retail in any quantity. There are endless chicken houses, barns, fences, and homes made with the Sturgeon lumber.
This mill ran with a crew of 10 and could cut 15,000 feet of lumber per day. Eventually the mill’s technology could not compete. The big circle saws cut a 1/3 inch kerf which lost a lot of lumber to sawdust. The newer technology of band sawing (as early as 1914) was faster and cut a much thinner kerf. The mill closed down in 1964 and Jim Henningsen passed his interest in the mill to his son Harvey. Ralph Sturgeon passed his interest to his son Bob Sturgeon and daughter Essie Doty.
In 1992 a group of seven former mill workers and historians formed the core of the Sturgeon’s Mill Restoration Project each throwing in a $100 bill and a pledge to save this steam powered sawmill. The group found traction and more volunteers joined the restoration effort.
In order to obtain a 501(c)(3) non-profit status; Bob, Essie ,and Harvey turned over their interest in the sawmill to the Sturgeon’s Mill Restoration Project corporation. This non-profit corporation is dedicated to the restoration of the mill as a working museum.
Bob, Essie and Harvey grew up around this mill and know the mechanics and work-flow. They have dedicated themselves to restoring Sturgeon's Mill so that others might experience a true slice of early 20th century technology, commerce and work ethic. The restoration crew feels honored to preserve this historic mill as an anchor to our industrial past and we invite you to step back in time with us.
Today our working museum’s volunteer crew has grown from the original 7 to over 60 dedicated historians, craftsmen and women who not only operate the equipment and explain the histories of the mill and its machines, but work at restoring the equipment and the mill itself on the first Saturday of every month.
In order to obtain a 501(c)(3) non-profit status; Bob, Essie ,and Harvey turned over their interest in the sawmill to the Sturgeon’s Mill Restoration Project corporation. This non-profit corporation is dedicated to the restoration of the mill as a working museum.
Bob, Essie and Harvey grew up around this mill and know the mechanics and work-flow. They have dedicated themselves to restoring Sturgeon's Mill so that others might experience a true slice of early 20th century technology, commerce and work ethic. The restoration crew feels honored to preserve this historic mill as an anchor to our industrial past and we invite you to step back in time with us.
Today our working museum’s volunteer crew has grown from the original 7 to over 60 dedicated historians, craftsmen and women who not only operate the equipment and explain the histories of the mill and its machines, but work at restoring the equipment and the mill itself on the first Saturday of every month.
OPERATION OF THE MILL
When our sawmill was running at full-steam, and full production there were typically 12 men staffing the sawmill. The total number of crew members including yard-men and office staff was 25 employees. I will start describing how a sawmill works at the beginning, where the logs arrive at the mill.
Unloading the logging trucks
Logs came to our sawmill on logging trucks. When I was 10-12 years old I would hitch rides with the logging truck drivers out to the logging sites (also called logging-shows) and back to the mill while my Dad was working in the office. The drivers would drive their old WWII surplus logging trucks out to the Cazadero, Willow Creek and Joy Rd. logging shows to take on their loads of logs. When the loaded logging trucks arrived at the mill they parked their trucks in front of our mill’s landing, in exactly the same spot as the picture of Jim Henningsen unloading logs. From this location the logs were pulled off the truck one at a time with the sawmill’s mighty bull-wheel, a giant winch. When the logs rolled off the trucks and hit the ground the earth would shake.
The Landing
Once the logs were delivered to the sawmill by the logging trucks, they had to be rolled into the mill. One crew member, the landing-man was assigned to work on the mill’s landing. His job was to help unload the logs that came in during the day. Once the logs were unloaded and on the ground his job was to look the logs over to see if there was any mud or rocks embedded in them. If there was, he washed them off with the high pressure firehose powered by the steam-powered water pump. If the fire hose got away from the landing-man it would whip all over the place like a mad snake until the steam water pump was turned off. The landing-man also pulled the hook (called a Becket) attached to a heavy chain and cable out to the logs so that the mill’s bull-wheel could pull the logs up to the head rig for milling. The bull-wheel was operated inside the mill by another crew member. Working on the landing was a hard thankless job that made crew men sweat.
The Head-rig
This seems to be the most interesting viewing area for our visitors. It is a late 1800’s Joshua Hendy head-rig that is isolated from the rest of the mill with unique angular framing built by my Pop, James Henningsen. This part of the mill contains the main saws of the mill. There is a 60” bottom, or main saw and a 44” top saw. These two giant overlapping sawblades are capable of milling lumber 54” wide. Three crew members work in this area.
The sawyer stands behind the saws and controls the levers that move the log carriage back and forth and the giant winch called the bull-wheel that pulls the logs into the sawmill and turns them on the log-carriage. The sawyer controls all of the milling decisions on the first two turns of the log.
The sawyer stands behind the saws and controls the levers that move the log carriage back and forth and the giant winch called the bull-wheel that pulls the logs into the sawmill and turns them on the log-carriage. The sawyer controls all of the milling decisions on the first two turns of the log.
The Block-setter
The second person that works around the head-rig is called the block-setter. This crew member rides on the carriage that carries the log into the main saws. After squaring up the first two edges of the log, the block-setter takes over and controls the decisions for the rest of the milling cuts of that log.
The block-setter’s job is probably the most difficult to learn because you have to memorize different calculations for 1, 2, 3 and 4 inch thicknesses of lumber. The block-setter must look at the log as it’s being loaded onto the carriage and think like a chess player, 3 turns ahead, so that the wind-check cracks in the logs are aligned in the perfect vertical position on the final cut resulting in a minimum waste of material.
The goal of milling logs into lumber from the beginning of the process to the end product is to constantly up-grade the quality of the lumber by cutting out or around imperfections such as knots, bark, rotted wood, cracks and other flaws. This can be accomplished by deciding how wide and how long each piece of lumber will be.
The block-setter’s job is probably the most difficult to learn because you have to memorize different calculations for 1, 2, 3 and 4 inch thicknesses of lumber. The block-setter must look at the log as it’s being loaded onto the carriage and think like a chess player, 3 turns ahead, so that the wind-check cracks in the logs are aligned in the perfect vertical position on the final cut resulting in a minimum waste of material.
The goal of milling logs into lumber from the beginning of the process to the end product is to constantly up-grade the quality of the lumber by cutting out or around imperfections such as knots, bark, rotted wood, cracks and other flaws. This can be accomplished by deciding how wide and how long each piece of lumber will be.
The Off-bearer
The third person that works around the head-rig is the off-bearer. As the carriage passes back and forth in front of the head-rig's main 60 and 44 inch saw blades the slabs of wood that are cut away from the log on the carriage are handled by the off-bearer. He decides whether to move the slab as a finished piece of lumber down the line and out the end of the mill or to transfer the slab to the edger and the edger-man.
The Edger and the Edger-man
The freshly cut piece of lumber at the edger is examined by the edger-man and a decision is made on what dimensions to set the edger’s four sawblades. These four saws are capable of sliding laterally on the edger’s main shaft. The edger man can change the dimensions between these blades while the machine is running. The sawblades are moved by long mechanical control arms. The edger-man looks at the rough slab of lumber and decides what multiple widths he can make out of it and sets the distance between the four saw blades accordingly.
The edger-off-bearer grabs the freshly milled multiple width pieces of lumber as it exits the edger and transfers them back to the main rolls of the mill to be trimmed to length by the trim-saw-man.
The edger-off-bearer grabs the freshly milled multiple width pieces of lumber as it exits the edger and transfers them back to the main rolls of the mill to be trimmed to length by the trim-saw-man.
The Trim-saw-man
The trim-saw-man and 1-2 other crew members work around this saw. The assistants throw scrap wood into the conveyor or down to the fireman or push the trimmed-to-length lumber out the end of the mill. All of the milled lumber that goes out of the mill goes by the trim-saw man. He and his assistants look at the freshly sawn lumber coming to them on the mill’s main rollers and decide what length to cut the lumber based by knots & other defects in the lumber. The lumber up-grading process is achieved here by cutting out the lumber’s defects lengthwise, making lumber at least 8 feet long plus multiple lengths of 2 feet after that. An example of this would be a 16 foot long piece of lumber coming down the rollers, that piece of lumber can remain at full length if it has no imperfections or be trimmed to 14, 12, 10 or 8 foot lengths depending upon where the flaws in the lumber are. Scraps of lumber that could not make the grade of being salable were either cut into 2 or 4 foot lengths. The 4 footers were for the fireman down below the mill who was also the steam engineer. The 4 foot lengths were fed into the fire-boxes below the boiler along with sawdust both providing fuel to create the heat, to create the steam, to power our six active late 1800’s steam engines. The finished rough-sawn lumber went out the north end of the mill to the yard-men who worked out in the lumber yard sorting, stacking and selling lumber to the early 1900’s farmers, ranchers, and to general construction through the 1960’s.
The Fireman/Engineer
Under this sawmill are four 1800’s-1900’s steam engines that drive the machinery on the floor above. For every piece of equipment you see on the top floor there is a steam engine below that is powering it. Mr. Rutledge was the fireman/engineer in the 1950’s. He was responsible for keeping the steam up, starting and stopping the steam engines and continuously oiling the machines. Every move he made was done with the intent of keeping the sawmill’s steam pressure up and the steam engines running at capacity. He had a heart condition and his skin color was gray as a piece of drift-wood, but he kept up steam pressure for the mill. After several heart attacks he had to leave the mill. Even though Mr. Rutledge moved slowly, every move he made counted towards creating 150 lbs. of steam for all of the mill’s steam engines.
Boiler
The original boiler for Sturgeon’s Mill at its present location was purchased from the Kilpatrick’s bakery in San Francisco. It was fueled with the scrap wood and sawdust produced by the sawmill. The fireman/engineer operated the steam engines when given audio signals by the mill’s smaller signal-whistle. The number of toots on the signal whistle communicated whether the engineer should start, stop or run slow. The fireman shoveled a mixture of freshly cut sawdust and tossed 4 foot lengths of scrap wood from the mill into the fireboxes. The boiler is the heart of the mill as it heats water to make steam. The steam is fed to the various steam engines in the mill by big black iron steam pipes wrapped with insulation. The insulation keeps crew and visitors safe from the hot pipes and the wrapping keeps the steam hotter and more powerful for the steam engines. We are presently looking for another diesel fired 150 horsepower boiler that will produce 150 lbs. of steam. If you know of one please contact us.
Our present active boiler is an Atlas Steam Generator. This boiler powers 5 steam engines under and around the sawmill. Our present boiler is fired automatically with diesel rather than scrap wood and sawdust to comply with air quality regulations. As a result we no longer have a fireman, only engineers.
Our present active boiler is an Atlas Steam Generator. This boiler powers 5 steam engines under and around the sawmill. Our present boiler is fired automatically with diesel rather than scrap wood and sawdust to comply with air quality regulations. As a result we no longer have a fireman, only engineers.
Steam Engines
Atlas 1896 30 horsepower steam engine is the main steam engine of the mill, it powers the head-rig main saws, the log carriage, the hydraulic log turner, , the conveyor belts and the mill’s giant winch called the bull-wheel. The Atlas steam engine runs at 200 revolutions per minute.
The mill is located at:
