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Pacific Lumber Co. book
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Author:  bobyar2001 [ Wed Dec 29, 2004 10:56 am ]
Post subject:  Pacific Lumber Co. book
I haven't read this book, and it may not have anything to do with railroads, but it is the story of the Pacific Lumber Co., based in Scotia, California, subject of much controversy in the last 20 years. PALCO, as it was sometimes called, was an old family owned redwood logging business, with a history of selective cutting and decent employee welfare. During the Reagan era, the company was taken over by corporate raiders, who were more interested in profits than the ancient forest, which brought many environmental activists to the area, sparking controversy which continues today.

PALCO operated an extensive logging railroad, primarily with steam locomotives, well into the 1960s, and continued with center-cab GEs into the 1980s. Most all of the steam locomotives survived, and some ran elsewhere after their PALCO retirement. One, No. 37, a 2-8-2T is scheduled to come back to the area from far-off Delaware, where it had operated last on the Wilmington & Western. Anyway, here is a link to the book:

http://www.sierraclub.org/books/catalog/0871569442.asp

And here's the official PALCO website, which makes statements about sustainable forestry, etc.. Looks like they may have a tour.

http://www.palco.com/
Author:  Randy Gustafson [ Wed Dec 29, 2004 1:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pacific Lumber Co. book
I was out there when the 'old growth' mill was still running and thing were really jumping (Jan 2000) - since then, the old growth mill is closed and pretty much emptied. That was where the REAL mill tour was, by the way - with one of the worlds largest bandsaws. The PALCO website doesn't explicitly state there is a tour of the newer, second-growth sawmill that is still running today.

Scotia is a fascinating milltown and it doesn't take much to mentally put the steam trains back on the scene. But you can pretty much tell the book by the cover, so to speak, on the perspective of the writer and the seller.

There did, however, seem to be a real corporate shift from long-term sustainable yield of old-growth to clean it out and get the cash. Many residents were as upset at PCL as the Sierra - neither had supporters in the moderate camp.
Author:  Brian Norden [ Wed Dec 29, 2004 11:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pacific Lumber Co. book
One other thing about the sell-off and take-over of The Pacific Lumber Company. The new owners also raided the company pension fund. Instead of running the fund themselves, they bought annunities from a San Francisco insurance company to replace it. The balance of the pension fund money went to help pay for the purchase of the company. The sad part of this story is that the insurance company failed a couple of years later, leaving no pension coverage for the retirees. This resulted in some of the pension plan regulations that came into force a couple of decades ago.

The family that owned The Pacific Lumber Company was into the third and fourth generations and not interested in running the company any more. The family was the decendants of Simon Murphy originally of Michigan.

An interesting thing is that one component of the water company in Southern California that I work for was developed by Simon Murphy to supply water to a land subdivision on the east side of Whittier, California, during the early 1890s.
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