Defunct logging company in Madera and Fresno County, California, US
Not to be confused with Madera Sugar Pine Company.
Sugar Pine Lumber Company
Hauling logs over Bass Lake Dam in 1926.
Overview
Locale
Sierra National Forest
Dates of operation
1923–1933
Technical
Track gauge
4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Length
Minarets and Western Railway, 43.45 mi (69.93 km)
Sugar Pine Lumber Company Railroad, 10.82 mi (17.41 km)[1]
The Sugar Pine Lumber Company was an early 20th century logging operation and railroad in the Sierra Nevada. Unable to secure water rights to build a log flume, the company operated the “crookedest railroad ever built."[2] They later developed the Minarets-type locomotive, the largest and most powerful saddle tank locomotive ever made.[3]: 39 The company was also a pioneer in the electrification of logging where newly plentiful hydroelectric power replaced the widespread use of steam engines.
The company founded two towns. They built Central Camp, a permanent logging camp with lavish amenities, and Pinedale, site of the company lumber mill. They operated two railroads: the Sugar Pine Railroad, which connected Central Camp to the switching yard in Bass Lake, and the Minarets and Western Railway, a client carrier that transported whole logs from the Sierra Nevada to the company lumber mill.
Today, the Sugar Pine Lumber Company is remembered as one of the most spectacular boom-and-bust stories of the early logging industry. After an initial investment of $8 million in 1923 the company was setting new records for the state's annual lumber cut.[1][3]: 56 But it quickly exhausted its timber holdings and went bankrupt in 1933. Burdened by debt and excessive capital and operating expenses, it never turned a profit.[2]
^ ab"Sugar Pine to Start Operations June 10". Madera Mercury. May 13, 1923. Retrieved September 27, 2022.
^ ab"Lumber Company Built a Railroad Instead of a Flume". Madera Tribune. Madera, California. June 11, 1968. Retrieved September 29, 2022.
^ abJohnston, Hank (2011). Rails to the Minarets: The Story of the Sugar Pine Lumber Company (Fourth Edition (Revised) ed.). Fish Camp, California: Stauffer Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9846848-0-9.
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