When lumber was king in Cloverdale
In the decades following WWII, logging trucks, such as this one pictured on West Street in 1960, were a common sight in and around Cloverdale as they headed to mills with redwood and other conifers. Equally common were the lumber trucks passing through town at all hours of the day and night, transporting the finished product out of the local mills.
Cloverdale was once a thriving lumber town.
Today, there are still a few mills – Barnes Lumber, Redwood Empire and Reuser, Inc. – but it is becoming less of a “blue collar” community and more of a family and tourist-oriented community for music, theater and the arts.
The Cloverdale Historical Society is hosting a panel discussion on the early days of the lumber industry next Tuesday, February 21, at 7 p.m. in the Pat Hare Room of the Cloverdale Public Library, 401 N. Cloverdale Blvd.
It was 1946 on the island of Guam that three local men happened to meet. These three, and a few others, were in the forefront of establishing Cloverdale’s once-thriving lumber industry
The discussion, featuring panelists Allen Gummer, Jim Laier, Bruce Reuser and Bob Sciaini, will focus on the lumber industry’s growth in the years following World War II
A $5 donation is requested. Light refreshments will be served.
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So proud of my dad (Bob Sciaini) for being on this panel. The lumber stories are something I have grown up with and I am so happy he can share them with others.
Denarie
Great Picture…I remember all the lumber trucks driving through town way back when, that’s when the logs were HUGE. Now IF you see a lumber truck the logs are so small….and then all the trains hauling the finished wood …I was just telling someone that EVERY Lumber Mill in Cloveradale is right on the railroad tracks, and the trains hauled alot of the finished wood. Gosh times have changed.
Gorgeous chunks of wood…really impressive piece! Better they end up in a table than as sawdust or paper pulp.