2-21-2020
By Michael Raffety
I received the following request from retired attorney Phil Berry:
“I request that the mountain Democrat publish a correction to erroneous information in Michael Raffety’s column in the Feb. 3 edition.
“Mr. Raffety stated “There are 678 paper mills in California.” This is an erroneous and misleading number. That would be approximately 10 “paper mills” in California for every single county. I have no idea where that number came from. Perhaps it is the number of companies in California, such as El Dorado Disposal, which accept paper from consumers.
”I remember that a recent insert In the Mountain Democrat from El Dorado Disposal stated there were only two paper mills in California. (Not the most recent insert, but one before that.) It seems that the paper mills in California are overwhelmed with recycled paper.
“I think it is important that people be correctly informed that recycling in California is experiencing significant problems.”
I looked more closely at the 678 figure and discovered it probably includes a number of companies that may make fancy paper for invitations and other similar operations.
There are, however, five International Paper mills in California, all of which have hiring notices. They are located at Sanger, Exeter, Modesto, Salinas and Visalia.
I appreciate the letter from Phil. He is more than an attorney; he is also well versed in forest practices and the logging business. His grandfather was Swift Berry, who studied engineering at the University of Nebraska and then was among the early students of the Biltmore Forestry School, starting there in 1906.
Swift Berry went on to be an administrator and logging engineer for Regional U.S. Forest Service office in San Francisco. He later became a captain in the Engineer Corps, U.S. Army Forestry Engineers in France during WWI.
In 1929 Swift Berry became an assistant to a VP at Michigan-California Lumber Company, later becoming general manager.
In 1953 he was elected state senator representing El Dorado and Amador counties.
Phil Berry’s father, Bill, was also a forester for Michigan-Cal. When he was 1 month old he was living with his mother and father at logging camp 15, according to Phil’s “Recollections of a Yong Boy Living in Michigan-California Lumber Co. Camp “
Besides milled dimension lumber the Camino mill also had a box factory, Phil wrote. The unassembled boxes were shipped all over the country to be assembled where they were needed. Some folks know about Cable Road. In Phil’s youth there was a narrow-gauge railroad that took dry logs to the box factory. Other boards were used for lumber. All these were transferred to the Camino, Placerville and Lake Tahoe Railroad. The line ended at Camino and carried lumber on to the Southern Pacific tracks, sending lumber and box wood around the country.
From the box factory the narrow gage railroad continued on to a cable where cars from the north side of the canyon were ferried over.
“The cable extended 2,650 feet across the canyon. At this distance there was considerable sag in the actual wire cables. The amazing scale of the cable can be realized when you consider that from the bottom of the sag, the river was 1,200 feet below,” Phil wrote.
Seven miles from the cable on the north side a narrow-gage railroad connected with Michigan-Cal’s Pino Grand sawmill.
“Pino had electricity. I can remember going to the sawmill with my dad. One of the things that particularly impressed me was the large steam operated generator in the basement of the mill. The steam piston drove a large flywheel that was 8 or 10 feet high. The flywheel turned the generator. It consisted of two levers with steel balls on the ends. When they spun around they controlled the amount of steam going to the generator. It was fascinating to watch it spin” Phil wrote.
Where was Camp 15? It was 16 miles east of Pino Grand and was served by the Pino Grand railroad. About 140 people lived at Camp 15. The location is now under Union Valley Reservoir.
The CT&P Railroad also served a lumber mill at Smith Flat. When I first came to the county I interviewed Bob West about his lumber business there. There was a railroad crossing at Highway 50 that stopped traffic while a train went by. The controller boxes are still there. One can see them from the trail near the pedestrian bridge over the highway.
The old locomotive was parked next to what is now the Jack Russel Brewery and restaurant. An old codger talked the city into giving it to the Railroad Museum in exchange for a caboose with no bathroom facilities. The locomotive is at the Railroad Museum workshop with the cover removed and a busted, worthless boiler sitting there in pink oblivion.
michaelraffety 