Union Lumber Compqny R.qised Buried Treqsure

Like an old soldier, redwood "never dies," but a further comparison rvith the famous quote must end there, for recl'rvood doesn't "fade away"-it just lasts-and lasts-and lasts. Proof of the latter statement is being given daily at the Big River operation of Fred Ball and his crer'v of Parker Ball, John Fraser, Gail Hayter, Delbert Wade and John English. These men are now busily carrying out an unique program started by the Union Lumber Company in the early spring of this year-namely, the recovery of several million board feet of redwood logs from the silt and mud at the bottom of Big River from the old boom upstream to the Lagoona, a distance of about 4l mllesThese 16 to 2O-foot butt logs averaging about 3l feet in diameter (several have been six feet and over) are the remains of the rough and tumble Big River log drives that took place every season from the late 1850's to 1937. The trees lvere felled. the brush was burned and then the crosscutters moved in and bucked the down timber. Nfany of the logs are sniped on end showing that they \vere brought to the river on one of the old skid roads pulled by ox teams, later the bull donkeys and lastly the Cats and their Paul Bunyan size wheels. The logs were then cold decked in the stream bed. From the first heavy rains in the fall until the rainy season ended in the spring, the dams rvere opened from 10 to 12 times and the rushing, slr'irling rvaters raced down the stream sweeping up the logs in their part and carried them dor,vn river to the boom. The