The Reign of the Lumber Barons

In the forests along Aptos, Valencia, Corralitos, and Soquel Creeks in Santa Cruz County, California, miles of wilderness sat untouched by humans, a relic of Mexican land grants long neglected. But entrepreneurial and ambitious men saw in the endless tracts of coast redwood something valuable and ripe for exploitation. From the 1860s, they sent legions of fallers, peelers, sawyers, and lumberjacks into the hills above Aptos. Skid roads gave way to railroads as labyrinthine paths were carved through near-impassable terrain to reach the heart of the Santa Cruz Mountains. This was the domain of the lumber barons, self-made aristocrats such as John Brown, Charles Ford, the Doughertys, the Grovers, and Frederick A. Hihn. Their activities in the late nineteenth century led to reckless deforestation, but they also sparked life. Rugged mountain towns arose in Loma Prieta and Valencia, communities with their own schools, businesses, and cultures. This is a chronicle of their lives and the golden age of the lumber industry in Rancho Soquel Augmentation.