Mendocino Superior Redwood 

Reclaiming "Sinker" Logs
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, logging was prevalent on the Mendocino Coast. Trees were cut in the forest, then moved to rivers and floated down to mills where they could be cut into lumber; however, some of the logs sank and were left there. These "sinker" logs remained submerged for a hundred years or more. You might think that they'd rot, but most of them didn't, in fact, the waters preserved the tight-grain, first growth redwood to perfection. In some cases, the wood absorbs minerals and silt from the river, taking on burgundy, purple, blue, black and yellow hues. When local salvage operators realized that a treasure trove of perfectly preserved redwood lay under the murky waters of the river, they set about "reclaiming" it.  Using barges, like the one shown below, salvagers popped the sinker logs from the murky river bottom...


...and towed the barge, logs and all, with a small outboard boat. Here, the small boat is pushing the hefty barge upriver:
David Smith, owner of Mendocino Superior Redwood, spent hundreds of hours in a wetsuit, diving for "sinker" logs in Mendocino County rivers.

Capturing "Floater" Logs

 Some of the cut logs that didn't sink were abandoned along the riverbanks.  During our winter storms, the rivers rise high enough to free these "floater" logs. Salvage operators captured these logs on their way out to sea, and anchored them at the riverbanks. When the waters abated, the logs could be retreived. 


Here's David now, "riding" a floater log down Navarro River to the landing: 


The logs are loaded onto giant trucks:



And after David is done celebrating (shown below), they'll be taken to his mill:


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