Editors note: Funny how things work out. I just recently found out that I’ve not been pronouncing the name of the mill correctly. Being a Californian, I gave it the Spanish pronunciation. Come to find out, it was pronounced Pie no Grand. .Who’d have known if Steve Polkinghorn hadn’t told him. Wikipedia says that the original name was Pinogrande
Photo of our piece of the cable on display
(click on image for larger and clearer image)
The Museum has a piece of cable that was donated to us that is very interesting and historic.The cable we have was used by the Michigan-California Lumber Company to move lumber across the American River from the Pino Grande Mill on the north side to the Camino mill on the south side of the river.Briefly, it was installed in 1901 and was in operation until 1949. The distance of the cable over the river was 2,650 feet (other sources say 2814 feet) and it was about 1,200 feet from the the cable to the river below. A narrow gauge railroad took the rough cut lumber from the mill to a tower on the north side where the carriage was loaded, moved across the gorge and unloaded in a tower on the opposite side onto the narrow gauge railroad which took it to the mill in Camino. There is a very comprehensive history of it in a book published in 1984 by Steve Polkinghorn called “Pino Grande: Logging railroads of the Michigan-California Lumber Co.” The mill that operated for about 50 years at Pino Grande started out as the world’s first all electric sawmill at Folsom, CA. Prisoners from Folsom Prison had built a dam and put in an electrical generation plant that operated the saw mill as well as the trolley system in Sacramento. The mill operation at Folsom was never a success, with a number of different problems, most of which had to do with what they were trying to do with moving and storing logs on the river. In 1901 the mill was taken to the top of the mountain at Pino Grande and a steam plant furnished the power for the saws and other operating gear. The mill at Pino Grande worked well, with the big problem being getting the rough cut lumber down the mountain to be finished and shipped out. A system of railroads and the cable system over the river ended up successfully getting cars loaded with lumber down the mountain and over the river to where they could be moved by locomotives to the mill at Camino.Wikipedia has a short piece of explanation about this very interesting railroad at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino,_Placerville_and_Lake_Tahoe_Railroad
An extensive web site with many, many photos including a discovery of the South Landing remains, can be found at: http://www.trainweb.org/foothill/micalmp.html It is amazing to this editor how many great photographs there are of the Pino Grande operation.
The Pino Grande mill no longer exists. However, the Camino mill is now owned and operated by Sierra Pacific Industries (closed at least temporarily in Summer 2009), and there is still a road called Cable Rd in Camino that dead ends at the American River where the south tower of the cable was located. The Sierra Nevada Logging Museum is fortunate to have a section of one of those cables, shown in the photo above. There are also some remnants of the mill and dam at Folsom.Thanks to the Eldorado County Historical Museum and the Polkinghorn book for this information. Pictures to be added as we get them.
And we have them, thanks to Wayne Hofer of Martinez whose father worked at Pino Grande in the 1940′s. Thanks so very much for the never-before-been-seen-on-the-web photos, Wayne.
The Machine Shop at Pino Grande
Notice the line shaft operation of the machines.
Obviously not a view of what they were cutting.
Lumberjack’s Cabin at Pino Grande
The Sawmill
The lumber was cut up here on top, went down the cable to a train that took it to Camino for further processing.
Sugar Pine was the preferred lumber and many mills, not Pino Grande, moved in order to find new stands.
Bucking a tree into manageable lengths
The logs were brought to the mill by rail, so there was an-up-on-top RR and a down-at-the-bottom RR
The Top of the Cable
How lumber, people, supplies got up and down from the river to the mountaintop.
Washing the sinkers that came out of the pond
One of the engines that supplied power to the mill
The carriage where the logs were moved back and forth through the saw.
The planing mill at Camino.
This is where the lumber was finished before being shipped out to market.
This gives us an idea of how big an operation Pino Grande was.
Mr. Nyberg was General Superintendent of the Michigan-California Lumber Co. Operation at Pino Grande and Camino
Note that the kids did not go to school during the winter. Your editor’s parents sent him to a school very near Camino that only operated in good weather. I think he figures that it was to get him out of their hair.
This page has the following sub pages.
I went accross the old cable in 1927 with my family on the way to camp 9, where my father was working. Some years later, perhaps 1934 I went accross the new cable (not as scary) on my way to camp 11. The tramways were some great engineering feats.
I recently drove down toward the South Fork north out of Pollock Pines, and at one spot, if you know where to look, you can see a scar where the North cable was located.
2-17-08
George Parker
Hi My name Dave, do you know how to get to pino grande,
where the mill use to be? I know its on a dirt road that ends.
I remember going up Spring st. from Placerville but from there
i dont remember Can you Help?
Hi Dave,
No, I don’t know the directions on how to get to Pino Grande. We’ve had both visits and e-mail from folks that have been up there, but I’ve never been. The Eldorado County Historical Society was helpful to me when I was putting the web section together and perhaps could at least put you in touch with someone who could give you good directions.
snlm
John
You can get to the old Pino Grande site from Wentworth Springs road or from Mosquito Road. There isn’t much there anymore. Use Google maps and do a search for Pino Grande and you’ll find the marker on the map near the intersection of Wentworth Springs and Mosquito road. If you decide to go up there, check out the old Bret Harte Hotel at Deer View or stop by the cable point on the north side while you at it. The cable house is long gone but the concrete tubes in the hill side are still there. I live in Pollock Pines and these are summer hiking/quad stops for us.
George,
Amazing that you talk about riding the old cable at Pino Grande. My mother had several family members who worked at the mill and talks about riding that cable as a youth too. Her uncle, Bill Gibbs, was a forest ranger and worked closely with the folks at the mill. Her uncle, Willard Farris, was a saw filer and her other uncle, Clarence Saylor was the paymaster at Pino.
All my life I’ve heard stories of her family working various lumber mills. Her grandfather, Edwin Starr (Ned) Foster, was the millwright at the Caspar mill.
Small world.
Small world, indeed. About two weeks ago, the beginning of August, 2008, a woman came into the museum. She had a lot of family involved in the Pino Grande operation. She remembered the cable ride as something that became routine for her family regardless of how scary the first ride must have been.
Having previousely published a book (now on sale at the Placerville News, the museum at the fairgrounds and the Chamber of Commerce called Roads to Mosquito) I am now writing a book called Saw Dust & Gold Dust about the lumber mills in El Dorado County. I wish to obtain personel accounts and photographs and will give full credit to each contributor. Please contact Jim Gunn at jagunn90@hotmail.com.
I’ve always been fascinated by our local history. I have several old pictures of the Pino Grande mill. I was looking at maps, and notice there is a “Pino Grande” and an “Old Pino” listed. It appears that Pino Grande on the map is nowhere near the American River, so is Old Pino the actual location of the old saw mill?
Joannie,
Just read your letter about the cable and Pino Grande. I spent most of my summers in the camps where my father was timekeeper (one man office). I so often heard him phone Clarence Saylor in Pino. He had to forward all the food orders that had to come from Camino.
I started working summers there when I became 16. Steel gang, section crew, bridge crew, loader, limber, choker setter, brakeman, fireman, etc. It was good to make 60 cents per hour.
I have written a few stories about that life on:
http://www.trainweb.org/foothill/micalmain.html
if you are interested
George Parker
I run the website that George’s stories are featured on. Thanks George!! It it called Foothill Rails and covers the Michigan-California Lumber Co and 6 other local roads.
Please come by to visit and I would love to feature any stories about the railroad or company that anyone would like to contribute.
http://www.trainweb.org/foothill
norcaltrain@internet49.com
Trying to find out anything about the death of William Warring (aka Billy Warring) said to have been crushed to death between two train cars of the Pino Grande. Thanks.
Don’t have a specific date or time.
Try asking the Eldorado County Museum for information about Billy Warring. They have been very helpful to us in regard to Pino Grande.
snlm
My wife and I live in the area described around Cable road and found this article so interesting, I had to visit our neighbor Mr. Polkinghorn to thank him for his contributions to this area……..
My parents took us kids camping to pino grande in the 60s,
i went back in 80s, You could still see the foundation of the mill, i found the railroad ties (no track) also a bridge across slab creek . mostly over grown.
is there really a community there or just somewhere close
called pino grande?
My father and I have visited N.cable point several times.We got there by A T V and by foot.Its part of P.ville history I’m facinated!
My dad, Arthur Braden, worked in Camp 15 and Pino Grand as a fireman on the railroad. We lived summers in the Camp or at Pino and the winters in Camino, My dad had Braden Road built in the 40′s. We went to grammer school in Camino and high school in Placerville. I was so excited when I came across this website. Thanks
Lota Mae Braden – I remember you from grammar school in Camino. My Step-dad was Bill Snyder and he & your dad, Art, were very good friends.
Sonny Wells
Lota,
This has been an amazing part of our web site. There are so many of you out there who had a connection to Pino Grande. And it seems, you all have vivid and mostly happy memories of the camp. The museum itself gets a few visitors a month who have a Pino Grande connection and when I am working on the days they visit, they tell me stories about their experiences there. Most of those stories are homey in nature and interesting to me, but probably not to most of our web site visitors. I love hearing them, and I love hearing from web visitors like you. Thanks.
snlm
John
With regard to William Warring, he is probably not the man I replaced at Camp 15 in summer of 1941, and I never found out how bad were his injuries.
I was an “extra” man this summer. and I was working with Bill Berry, the forester, where a donkey had just been unloaded at a new landing. The brakeman trying to couple the engine to the steel covered car was crushed between the car and engine. I then became a brakeman.
George,
Thanks for the reply; I haven’t read the string of comments on this site for awhile though still pursue the family genealogy that includes Billy
Waring. See Roy’s comment below. Based on the date in 1922 I don’t think he is the man you replaced at Camp 15.
Regards,
Bill Schreiber
My father used to hunt up in the area of Pino Grande. He took us camping there one year in the 60′s. He knew all the history of the lumber mill. My brothers were running around the area while we were camping. The area was pretty wooded where we were camping, but in a clearing they found half buried in the ground a “wooden” home plate. We had it in our garage for years. Then on an episode of California’s Gold, Huell Howser visited the Mill and the person giving him the tour told him that the workers of the mill had formed a baseball team. I was really excited. I’m sure the wooden home plate was from the games that they played there. Unfortunately, I have looked in my father’s garage but could not find it. I wanted to take the home plate and donate it to the museum up there. My father passed away a few years ago, so I did not get the opportunity to ask him if it still existed. Since it was “wooden”, it may have just deteriorated by now. I do plan on visiting the mill and museum next summer.
Thanks for the post and the story about the home plate, Vickie. We’ll be very glad to see you at the museum when you come over.
snlm
John
My father and grandfather (Harry Nick Collias and Nick Harry Collias) worked for the Michigan-Cal Lumber Company in Pino Grande. In fact, on the 1940 Census, their address is listed as Camp 14. I am tracing my family tree and it is so interesting to see these pictures and hear these stories.
Just a compliment for John Hofstetter on the excellent work he has done for SNLM.
It has been a ling time since Bill Schreiber asked about Billy Waring. William R. Waring was a Victim of “Link & Pin” Couplers.thirty year old billy was crushed while making up a lumber train at the South Cable. This was according to the 5 August 1922 Mt. Democrat
Roy,
Thanks so much for your reply about Billy Waring. I haven’t read the Pino Grande ‘string’ of comments for awhile, though I am still hard at my family genealogy, including this particular branch of the family. I will look up the 5 Aug 22 mention of Bill’s death in the Mt Democrat.
Regards,
Bill Schreiber