Skid Roads Greased the Way for the California Lumber Boom

Ox Team on a Skid Road

Skid roads were the main method to get lumber to a mill on the 19th century Redwood Coast, but one that required enormous effort and cost $5000 per mile. Many of the first loggers to arrive on the coast in the early 1850s had been involved in timber businesses back east. But they had never encountered anything the size our Sequoia sempervirens before. Their crosscut saws were too small to span the redwood’s enormous girth, their method of felling it were inadequate, and, once they wrestled the giant to the ground, they were hard pressed how to transport it. Continue Reading →

Waking Up in Berkeley

DJ, West Berkeley Graffiti

It’s a typical weekday morning and at 5:30, the clock radio kicks in. Disoriented, foggy with sleep, I have yet to realize what I’m hearing. Will I be tazed by a screeching Sun Ra freestyle romp that will jangle me out of bed? Repeatedly nudged by Native American chants that go on just a little too long? Irritated and then charmed by a beatified bebop bongo ballad? Continue Reading →