History of PL by Alder Ball as a presentation to the HCHS. Congress passed the Morrill Act on July 2, 1862. This act arranged for the donation of public lands by the fed gov. to the state and territories. The money derived from the sale was to be used to provide colleges for the benefit of the agricultural and mechanical arts. The total amount of land to be donated depended on the number of senators and representatives, with 30,000 acres for each one. Temporary title was assigned to the Univ. of Calif. Henry Wetherbee and A.W. McPherson, Men company lumberman, bought 6,000 acres of this type of land for $1.25/ac. On Feb. 27, 1869, PL was incorp. as a timber investment company. Ownership by that time had increased to 10,000 acres. That 10,000 acres was all excellent Redwood forest. It did not include the Henry Neighbor property at Scotia. In 1878 control of the property passed to the "Nevada Big Four" namely Alan A. Curtis, John A. Paxton , W.S. Gage, John Clay Humpton. This group added a "local" Mr. A. Bording. He was one of the founders of Centerville & a leader in the dev. of Eel delta. He, along with Alan Curtis, was one of the founders of the Bank of Eureka. Hydesville become their headquarters. In 1885 the PL company built a 7 mile railroad from Alton to Forestville. Then they started construction of the Sawmill in April 1886 & the mill began operating in March 1887. The docks at Fields Landing were also built at that same time. The town name was changed to Scotia in may 1888 because the name Forestville conflicted with the town of Forestville in Sonoma County. In Sept 1905 the Murphy interests bought all the assets of PL from the Santa Fe people & formed a new company called The PL Company of Maine. At this date 9/24/1959, PL holds 13 miles of RR trucks in Scotia and about 15 miles of track in the Yager Creek basin. It currently has 156,000 acres.