Call Number:

C1677

Repository:

Princeton University Library: Manuscripts Division

Extent:

• 0.4 linear feet
• 1 box

Language:

English

Date:

circa 1900

Creator:

Roberts Lumber Company

Abstract:

Consists of a group of 36 photographs documenting the Roberts Lumber Company, which was founded around 1900 outside the Sierra County town of Loyalton, California.

Roberts Lumber Company was founded around 1900 outside the town of Loyalton in Sierra County, California. Its founder, Captain John Roberts, was previously a steamboat owner in the Sacramento Valley. The company engaged in logging in the Sierra Nevada region and operated a sawmill in Loyalton.

Consists of a group of 36 photographs documenting the Roberts Lumber Company, which was founded around 1900 outside the Sierra County town of Loyalton, California. The photographer is identified only as "Thompson the Photographer" and may have produced the images for the company's own promotional purposes. The photographs depict loggers, "chute crews," other laborers engaged in felling massive old-growth trees, often white pines, and transporting lumber using horses, steam traction engines, and a complex system of chutes they constructed out of other trees. There are also images of the Roberts Mill in Loyalton; men standing in front of towering alleys made from processed timber; and trains on the McCloud River Railroad and the Boca and Loyalton Railroad, both of which transported the company's products across the west coast of the United States. While most of the subjects depicted are men, one photograph includes two women, one of whom is holding a baby. Most of the images are captioned.