Is this the Sierra Nevada’s Oldest Living Logger?

This is Pete Voinich who worked for Doc Linebaugh for 20 years and will be 100 years old on January 3rd, 2010. Are there any loggers still alive who are older than that?  (Click to enlarge)

The Logging Museum hosted a get-together at the museum for Pete and his family. It was a very nice event.

When Pete talks about the good old days, he can mean the good really od days. It was a delight for us to have this gentleman as our guest for the afternoon.

For the Calaveras Enterprise story about Pete, click here

For the Enterprise video shot of the gathering, click here

Native Daughters from the Highway 4 area

Click to enlarge

Eleven members of Ruby Parlor #46 Native Daughters of the Golden West of Murphys visited the Logging Museum and were fed lunch by Pat Bradley. Pat had been trying to get the ladies here ever since they donated a generous amount 11 years ago.

Welcome to the On-Line Sierra Nevada Logging Museum

Displays, dioramas, and artifacts are what we see in museums, but there are other items, like information, that are harder to get at. In the physical world of the museum, showing stuff is easy, while presenting information can be hard. To present information better, the Logging Museum is moving its historical files to a place that’s easy to get to — the website. By digitizing information hidden in files and memories, it becomes accessible, complementing the artifacts that fill the museum building.

Suddenly, a Logging Museum visitor can see not just a working model of a lumber mill, but the historical and biographical materials that explain why a particular living person at a particular lumber company built a particular type of mill at a particular geographic location at a particular time. Physical and digital combine to give a bigger picture than either can provide alone. Think of these web pages as our digital museum.

Please enjoy the new website — it’ll be here anytime you look. To enjoy the Logging Museum in person, visit us Thursday through Sunday, 12:00 to 4:00, April through late Fall. We’re in Calaveras County, just off California Highway 4 in the town of White Pines (near Arnold), 4000 feet up in the Sierra’s beautiful tall timber.

Fishing Frog on White Pines Lake bordering the Logging Museum
Photo by Dick James

djames@mlode.com

What’s New

See Great Video About Our Museum and Jamboree

Ken Jones, movie maker extraordinaire produced a video about our museum and Jamboree that showed numerous times on Public Access Channel 7. It can be seen on his web site CalaverasGold.tv and can be accessed by clicking this link:

It will load slowly because of its large format images, so be patient. It’s well worth waiting for.

1945 International Logging Truck

Arrives at Museum

A post WWII  era truck that was used in the Yosemite and Pinecrest area has been donated to the museum. It was transported to the museum by Sam Berri Towing and is in place now in its new home.

Click for larger image. In fact you can click again on any particular part of the truck and get an enlarged image of that part.

This is the truck in 1952 hauling logs out of the Yosemite area. Note the interesting trailer that carried logs slung from the upper structure.

Many more photos of this company and their equipment in the “Outdoor Exhibits” section of our web site.

New Photos and Information About P.G.&E’s Tiger Creek Lumber Mill

We’ve added a number of new photos to the Amador County Mills section of our web site. In particular, we’ve added a lot of new photos of the P.G.&E’s mill at Tiger Creek. They used canals (ditches) to transport much of their lumber.

There is also a photo of the Mace Mill in 1889

Look in the index under Amador County, or click here.

Tiger Creek Lumber Mill

Photos and accompanying text about Linebaugh Logging

We have an entirely new page called Some photos and some history of Linebaugh Logging. Click on the name here, or find it on the index at the right.

There is a great new-to-the-web photo on the Blagen Mill site of a giant log being split by a couple of loggers with a two-man chain saw.

There are a couple of new photos on the Raggio Mill site showing, among other things, their camp just off the Utica Grade Road, 3 miles about Murphys on San Domingo Road.

New! Many photos and a little text about Ed Adams, Blagen Mill Superintendent

Shay Prints for Sale!

Great News! Patrick’s Prints now on Special Sale Reduced by 1/3 rd. !!!!!

In cooperation with Patrick, the logging museum is selling collector-quality prints of two of his paintings that are in the OSH calendar. All proceeds from these sales go to support the restoration of Yosemite Lumber Co. Shay No.4. The Company Store has all the details.

Coming Events!

Museum Activities

Winter Schedule — We’re Open, Just Call Ahead, Please

During the winter, the Logging Museum is open by appointment from December through March. We do this for two reasons — safety on snowy roads for our visitors and docents, and to minimize the cost of heating the museum when visitors are few. We look forward to showing you the museum (winter is beautiful at 4000 feet), but please call ahead (209-795-1226) so we can turn up the thermostat.

Other Activities

Cookbooks Still Available

Finally, we have more of our outstanding cookbooks for sale. These cookbooks contain a lot of recipes from old families in Calaveras County, plus a lot of recipes from other great cooks. To find out more or to buy one, click here.