It has been called “the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world.” Their efforts toppled an estimated 8,000 Giant Sequoias and forever changed the landscape of Converse Basin. Today on KVPR’s Central Valley Roots, the story of the the technology and the men responsible for this ecological devastation.
San Francisco lumber titans Hiram Smith and Austin Moore started the Kings River Lumber Company in the 1880s. They intended to build a railroad from their operation in the Sierra near Millwood down to Sanger, but that proved too costly. Instead they built what would eventually become the longest log flume in the world, running for 70 miles. For two years, they operated mostly logging stands of conventional old growth timber.
But by 1892, they hit financial problems. Smith and Moore reorganized as the Sanger Lumber Company, and shifted their operation to Converse Basin and the Giant Sequoias. But while their operation was incredibly successful in destroying Giant Sequoias it wasn’t profitable. Part of the problem was that Sequoias didn’t make for good lumber. Only a fraction of the wood that was cut ever made it to Sanger. Many of the trees shattered after loggers used dynamite against the ancient behemoths. The wood that was recovered was often used for grapevine stakes and fence posts.
The company went bankrupt in 1897. Eventually it was purchased by Thomas Hume and Ira Bennett who moved the operation to the Hume Lake area, focusing on conventional old growth timber. The operation shut down for good in 1924.
