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Graeagle,CA - Plumas County - c1917 - Davies' Mill, Mohawk Valley RPC :

Currency:USD Category:Collectibles / Postcards Start Price:50.00 USD Estimated At:100.00 - 200.00 USD
Graeagle,CA - Plumas County - c1917 - Davies' Mill, Mohawk Valley RPC :
The photo shows a lumber mill in full swing, smoke coming from the smokestack, a large pile of lumber to the left and general industry, set among the pine trees. The post card was mailed and subsequently glued to black album paper, some of which remains on the reverse. The story of this mill is as follows: “Graeagle began as a mill town, being part of a 12,000 acre timber tract acquisition by Arthur Davies from the Sierra Iron Company back in 1916. This vast parcel stretched from Blairsden to Calpine in present day Sierra County. Davies also owned a sawmill operation in Sardine Valley (located off of Hwy. 89 near Dog Valley and Stampede Reservoir) as well as a sawmill in Delleker, just outside of present day Portola. Arthur Davies built a new sawmill in June of 1916 behind the current Graeagle grocery store (The Graeagle Store). Initially the new plant was cutting about 50,000 board feet of mostly pine lumber per day, but in 1917 a fire destroyed the mill. It was quickly rebuilt and about 13-14 million feet of timber was cut that year.” In order to house the workers at the new mill, Davies transported company houses from the Sardine Valley to Graeagle, via the Boca-Loyalton Railroad. “The homes were sawn in half so that they would fit on the B&L flatcars, then moved by rail to Beckwourth, where they were transferred to NCO trains and carried to Clio. From this point, a combination of horses, wagons and vehicles moved the assorted buildings to Graeagle. To this day, one can still see visible signs of the joining on the red houses that adorn the main street. Other dwellings also came from the Clairville and Delleker areas by placing giant logs under each to act as a skid and then they were methodically moved by either horse teams or Mack trucks to Graeagle. With the assorted buildings and other improvements, including a large dairy and a company store, the community started to take form, centering around the mill. By 1918 a post office was established. It was at this point that the California Fruit Exchange of Sacramento came into the picture and offered Davies $1 million for his holdings, which by the time the deal closed had risen to $1.25 million for the Davies mill complex [Ref: www.graeaglemerchants.com/history.htm].