When Lumber Clippers Plied rhe Redwood Cocrsf Under the Flog of rhe John Goge Compony

From Verlon D. McKinney, who lives in San Jose and is a salesman for the Gordon-MacBeath Hardwood Co., Oakland, comes an interesting story about his grandfather, Captain John William Gage, that will start Northern California lumber old-timers reminiscing about the bygone days rvhen veritable fleets of lumber schooners plied the Pacific Northwest waters with lumber cargoes bound for San Francisco harbor.

Captain John Gage ll'as one of these rugged pioneers who pounded his ships through the choppy Pacific coast waters, bringing lumber to San Francisco from the north and returning with sawmill equipment and supplies. During the latter part of the 19th century, The John Gage Co. operated three lumber schooners-the "Portland," the "SS Beda" and the "California."

This is a story of lumber and shipping, of San Francisco and Coos Bay, of The Gage Co. and its first quarter century of achievement. This, too, is a brief review of some of the old "Clippers" that plied the Redrvood coast under

Millert Elected NHIA Presidcnf

M. N{illett, Louisville, Ky., was elected president of the National Hardu.ood Lumber Association at the annual convention in Houston, Texas, October 5-7. Franklin T. Griffin, Chicago, rvas elected first vice-president; H. A. Hanlon, Odessa, N. Y., seconcl vice-president, and Bernald Bock, third vice-president. Joseph L. I\{u11.'r continues as secretary-manager of the association.

the Gage Line flag and of the first steam schooner, the "SS Beda," built in 1884 by the late Captain John William Gage.

John Gage was born on the shores of Penobscot Bay at Sandy Point, Waldo county, Maine, August 30, 1834. He was the son of a "Yankee Clipper" master, and it was while sailing with his father that John Gage acquired the good training that enabled him to receive his captain's papers at the early age of.26.

Leaving Sandy Point in the latter part of 1861, John Gage worked his way down the Atlantic coast, around the tip of South America and up to San Francisco. Arriving in San Francisco in the late spring ol l%2, Captain Gage went to work with a shipping line which was moving lumber from the Puget Sound area to San Francisco. On August 18, 1863, Captain Gage and Annie E. Clinkenbiard were married at San Francisco and moved to Berkeley soon after.

On July 2, 1878, Captain Gage organized The John Gage Co., and later that same year the company purchased the "Portland" and placed her in service betrveen Coos Bay and San Francisco. .This route \\'as plied for many years by The John Gage Co. vessels, generally for the account of Captain A. M. Simpson, who usually owned a one-third interest in the Gage ships.

In 1884, The John Gage Co. fitted the steam schooner "SS Beda," possibly the first steam schooner built and put into service on the West Coast (some say the "Surprise" and the "Newport" were the first sailers converted to (Please turn to Page 28)