Abstract
Copyright
Biographical Information
Scope and Content of the Collection
Arrangement of the Collection
Container List
Related Collections

Collection Number

1999.13

Contact Information

The University Library, Special Collections
Cal Poly Humboldt
One Harpst Street
Arcata, California 95521
URL: https://specialcollections.humboldt.edu/louisiana-pacifichammond-lumber-company-collection

Processed By

Suzanne Guerra 2006, 2014; Joan Berman, Aron Crowell, Chris Haynes, Les Cook

Date Collection Processed

2006-2014

Language

English

Collection Creators

Vance Redwood Lumber Company; Hammond Lumber Company, Hammond & Little River Redwood Company, Hammond Redwood Lumber Company; Georgia-Pacific Corporation; Louisiana Pacific Corporation-Samoa Division

Dates Covered by Collection

1871-1992 (date span)
1893-1985 (bulk dates)

Size of Collection

14 map cabinets with approximately 3000 maps, plans and drawings; approximately 300 maps, plans and drawings on rolling tubes; 63 boxes of documents; one five-drawer file cabinet of vendor catalogues; one oversize flat file box of computer circuit diagrams.

Abstract

Company records for Vance Redwood Lumber Company; Hammond Lumber Company, Hammond & Little River Redwood Company, Hammond Redwood Lumber Company; Georgia- Pacific Corporation; and the Louisiana Pacific Corporation-Samoa Division. Contents include maps, blueprints, and detailed architectural drawings for buildings, structures, tools, and equipment; timber and railroad engineering surveys, notes and maps; Engineering Department files and records; public relations and publicity materials including photographic prints, slides, negatives, and pulp operation newsletter; legal files relating to business transactions, railroad property disputes, and worker health and safety issues from 1871 to 1992; letters of applications 1923-1924. This collection documents company operations throughout California and in Oregon; strengths include industrial drawings and architectural plans for mills, company towns and mobile field camps; an extensive collection of maps and plans documenting logging operations, property holdings and company railroads; and dealings with major property owners in the region. Sites include Samoa, Samoa Peninsula, Humboldt Bay, Big Lagoon, Crannell, Eureka, Fieldbrook, Trinidad, the Simpson Pulp Mill; other California operations, including Mendocino County, Santa Cruz County, the San Pedro lumber yard; Oregon, including Astoria, Hammond, Mill City; Eel River, Luffenholtz Creek, Little River, Mad River, Redwood Creek; the Eureka and Klamath River Railroad and Northwest Pacific Railroad, and a full transcript and legal files for the suit between the Eureka and Klamath River Railroad Co. et al VS California and Northern Railway Co, et al, in 1911.

Access

Open for research by appointment.

Copyright

Copyright has not been assigned to Cal Poly Humboldt. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Special Collections Librarian.

Acquisition Information

At the time that the bulk of this collection was acquired from the Louisiana Pacific Corporation in 1997, through the intervention of Sam Swanlund, lumber operations had ceased. Documents in this collection were originally on file at the company offices in the Samoa Block. Additional materials were contributed in 2006 and 2010 by former employees who had salvaged some of the discarded materials and by the current owners, the Samoa Pacific Group LLC. These include more than 100 maps, plans and drawings found in the Samoa Cookhouse and donated by Samoa-Pacific Corporation and the Danco Group; as well as legal files, photographs and public relations files, early survey handbooks and notes, property appraisals, and early maps and plans. Later acquisitions have all been incorporated into the Louisiana Pacific/Hammond Lumber Company Collection. See also the Thornburgh Timber Maps collection, last used at the Big Lagoon operations of this same company, circa 1900 through the 1970s.

Biographical Information

The Vance and Garwood Lumber Company was established in Eureka in 1856, by John Vance and Joseph S. Garwood of San Francisco. Garwood was primarily an investor and Vance assumed the role of manager until 1863, when Garwood drowned in a boat accident and he became sole owner. Vance expanded the operation along the Eureka waterfront until he passed away in 1892. Shortly afterward the mill burned down, which provided an opportunity for his heirs to construct a larger mill on the Samoa Peninsula, across the Bay. In 1900, the Vance Redwood Lumber Company was sold to multimillionaire industrialist A.B. Hammond. He began his lumber, railroad and mercantile career in Montana and had already acquired other operations in the Pacific Northwest, invested in lumber and railroads and developed the Columbia River Canneries. Hammond purchased mills and retail outlets in California and Oregon. He expanded his operations in Samoa with a modern new mill and expanded network of logging railroads. After seeing the lumber company towns in the Pacific Northwest, Hammond decided to construct a company owned worker community in Samoa. After WWII he created one of the largest lumber yards in the West in San Pedro, California, to serve the postwar building boom. Although the business headquarters of the company was in San Francisco, financial hub of Northern California, the operations headquarters remained in Samoa. The Hammond Lumber Company was sold to the Georgia Pacific Corporation in 1956, which moved the company headquarters to Portland, Oregon. As a result of a Federal Trade Commission order to Georgia Pacific to divest part of its plywood operations, the Louisiana Pacific Corporation was created in 1972 and received all of the local company holdings. The mill and town were sold in 1998 to a new company called Simpson-Samoa. In 2000, Simpson-Samoa reopened the pulp mill, which had closed in 1993, and sold the remainder of the site to the Samoa Pacific Group LLC. Most of the buildings on the mill site had been demolished. At that time, the town of Samoa was one of only two intact lumber company towns in northwestern California.

Scope and Content of the Collection

This collection incorporates the original acquisition in 1997, along with subsequent donations through 2010. These documents span the company operations under various owners from 1871-1992, with the bulk of the material dating from 1893 to 1985. Seven official company names were used over the years and these may appear in full or as abbreviations on company documents, as listed in the table below. Although the Georgia Pacific Corporation had a written agreement to retain company documents on site, under subsequent owners the documents, in boxes and file cabinets, were moved from the Samoa Block company office. Materials in the original acquisition in 1997 were retrieved from a windowless 8 X 12 ft. portable metal building located within a structure adjacent to the roundhouse in the rail yard. Four large filing cabinets and six map filing cabinet units lined the walls, with boxes stacked on top, and one light bulb hung from the ceiling. Subsequent donations include materials in temporary containers or bundled with other materials of the same type or age. This comprehensive set of maps, plans and drawings includes a wide range of materials on paper and canvas, Cyanotypes, Diazotypes or negatives, Van Dyke prints or negatives, as well as pen and ink on drafting cloth or tracing paper, pencil on paper, photocopies, laser print or graphic lettering on Mylar, and lithographs. A table describing the contents of the six original map cabinets was created by student Aron Crowell in 1999. A selection of documents from these files was digitized and 84 documents were posted on Calisphere in 2005. A list of the contents of the original map drawers was begun by student Chris Haynes in 2007 and a detailed list of PDs was created by volunteer Les Cook in 2014.

Arrangement of the Collection

The collection is organized into six series: Operations Index Files, Field Operations, Engineering Department Files, Maps and Plans, Public Information Office, and Administrative Files. Within these series the original order has been maintained wherever evident, while later donations have been incorporated into the appropriate series or a new series created as necessary. Due to their age and condition, some documents may have been separated from their original grouping in order to provide appropriate conservation storage. Original associations are referenced in the inventories and on any attached labels. Unboxed materials are shelved as a group at the end of the boxed materials. Oversized files are stored adjacent to rolled maps. A partial finding aid completed in 2006 has been incorporated into this comprehensive document.

Container List

• Series: Operations Index File System - The machinery & equipment inventory and data management system for the company. Date range 1900-1992.
• Sub series: Primary Index - an index file system for organizing the blueprints, plans, sketches, drawings, maps, surveys, related to all areas of operation - Box 1-4
• Sub series: Motors - an inventory of motors used in equipment throughout the company operations - Box 5-9
• Sub series: Patterns - an index to patterns for cast iron parts for all areas of operations; a few reference product manufacturing designs - Box 10-11
• Sub series: Equipment - an inventory of equipment in use, scrapped or sold, by reference number and location - Box 12
• Series: Field Operations - These files document the timber surveys, engineering and railroad line surveys conducted by the company.
• Sub series: Handbooks - This includes two groups of field notebooks. Handbooks 1895-1903 (Vance Redwood Lumber Co.) - Box 13, Handbooks 1919-1936 (Hammond Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond and Little River Lumber Co. ) - Box 14-16
• Sub series: Survey Notes - Field notes from company survey teams, 1905-1947 (Vance Redwood Lumber Co. Hammond Redwood Lumber Co, Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co.) - Box 17-25
• Sub series: Miscellaneous Field Survey Notes - One group of unbound field survey notes from 1910 to 1918, and one microfilm of 12 months of records created in 1949 (Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co; Hammond Lumber Co.) - Box 26
• Sub series: Survey Maps - Profiles and survey maps found in association with survey notes and handbooks, date range 1905-1940 (Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co, Hammond Lumber Co.) - Box 27-29
• Series: Engineering Department Files - Administrative files of the department along with the maps and plans which they produced.
• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Hammond Lumber Co. - Box 30-41
• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Georgia Pacific/Hammond Lumber Co. - Box 42-45
• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Louisiana-Pacific Corporation - Plywood Operation and Redwood Engineering Department - Box 46-47; Miscellaneous General File, Documents found in collections, date range 1913-1990 - Box 48; Log Scale, Computer printouts 1985 - Unboxed
• Series: Maps and Plans - Maps, plans, drawings and sketches, date range 1871-1992: BPs and PDs (Blueprints, Plans and Drawings) - Box 49-54; Sketches and Drawings (SK, A-1 and A series) - Box 55-57; Inventory LP Map Dwrs 1A to 6C_6-16-1999_Crowell - Map Drawers 1A to 6C; Inventory Vance Redwood Lumber/Hammond, Inventory: Georgia Pacific, Inventory Louisiana Pacific, Inventory General Maps and Licensed Surveys - Map Drawers 7 A-14 E; Inventory of Rolled Maps and Plans - Rolled Maps and Plans

• Series: Public Information Office: Public relations and publicity materials, including a pulp mill newsletter, advertisements, and an extensive set of photographs, negatives and slides. Date range 1920-1990, bulk dates 1953-1979. (Hammond Redwood Lumber Co, Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co.; Georgia Pacific Co., Louisiana Pacific Co., Simpson- Samoa Division) - Box 58-59

• Series: Management and Administration: These files relate to the first three decades of the Hammond Lumber Company.
• Sub Series: Legal Files, Vance Redwood Lumber Company and Hammond Lumber Company 1885-1911 - Box 60-62
• Sub Series: Personnel-Correspondence, Letters of Application 1923-24 - Unboxed

Series: Operations Index File System - The Index files were a system for organizing the physical details of the major operations of the company at all of the their major sites, with an inventory of the blueprints, plans, sketches, drawings, maps, and surveys; tracking machinery and equipment; location and disposition. Major categories include transportation and rail systems, mill operations and equipment, retail stores and yards, Samoa residences and physical plants. To some extent this system continued to be utilized through three different company owners. As a result, there are no clearly delineated divisions between entries from each company. Later records were merged into the original system, with the number assigned to the plan or drawing the most reliable method to determine the date or source of the entry. Records are written in either pencil or typed on 4X6 cards. While the condition of these records appears stable, because of the poor quality of the paper in the earliest records the individual cards may be fragile. Original tabbed index cards were typed while later index cards are handwritten cardstock with plastic tabs. For ease of reference, a few categories were supplemented during processing by tabbed index cards with additional information handwritten in pencil. These may indicate duplicate records, date ranges, or additional information on the contents. Cards have been maintained in their original order. Some categories may be empty, possibly removed prior to 1997.

• Sub series: Primary Index - Primary Index 1900-1990. This is the principal set of index records originally created by the Vance Redwood Lumber Company under the ownership of A.B. Hammond, with additions under later owners. The earliest group of records appear to be those in Box 3, which deal with the surveys, land use, maps and railroad lines in Humboldt and Del Norte Counties, along with early Vance Redwood Lumber Co. and Hammond Redwood Lumber Co. mills, and retail operations elsewhere.
• Box 1-3 - Operations - Non Alphabetical. Cards are filed in reverse chronological order, with the latest records at the beginning of each category. Categories are not in any clear alphabetical order but seem to be loosely grouped by type of operation. New categories were added by later company owners and new records may be integrated into existing categories.
• Box 1 - Primarily operations areas, including buildings at Samoa mill and town site, Eureka mill 1900-1976; maps and equipment to approximately 1980.
• Box 2 - Operations, including those outside of Humboldt County after 1975: General Ledger (clients) 1945-1956; Construction Accounts (in- house) 1920-1965. Records are incomplete and not consecutive. No records for 1925 through 1936.
• Box 3 - Logging and railroad operations; land survey notes; maps; government land surveys; early Hammond business operations in Oregon, Los Angeles, Watsonville. Date range 1893- 1967.
• Box 4 - This box is divided into three sections.

1. Plant 1 Numerical Index of Plans, Drawings, Sketches, Blueprints-Tracings (1901-1990): A typed or handwritten index of numbered drawings and plans. Descriptions and dates are not provided for all of them and the numbers are incomplete. Cards are filed in reverse chronological order and organized by operations area, not alphabetical. Date range circa 1901 through 1985.
2. Numerical Index of Plans and Drawings: Two guides handwritten in pencil, a few typed, circa 1910 through 1990. One is an index to duplicate drawings from PD 7328 through PD8776; the other is a list of plans and drawings from (PD)79 through PD8214. Some numbers are not listed, the earliest include a description of the project. Organized by area of operation and then listed in numeric order.
3. Suppliers/Catalogues: Directory of Suppliers/Vendors and their product line(s), cross referenced by product or materials. Organized alphabetically by key terms or products and then company name. A file cabinet containing unprocessed Supplier/Vendor Catalogues is also available.

• Box 5-8 - Individual Record Cards. Organized numerically and then by category, (Sub), (Active), Dead, Spares
• Box 9 - Location. Organized by Department or location, with a list of installations, function and motor number.

• Box 10-11 - Indexed in reverse chronological order with the latest dated 1977. Bulk dates 1916-1958.

• Box 12 - Indexed by reference number and then by category or type.

Series: Field Operations - Survey Records - Surveys were conducted for property transactions, new mills and roads, and to plan logging operations, field camps and the railroad network which linked them to the mill sites. Both contract surveyors and company survey crews were employed and are often identified in these documents only by their initials. The following table lists the known surveyors for the Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co. and the approximate dates when they were actively employed.

• Sub series: Handbooks 1910-1918 and 1919-1936 - The term "Handbook" was used by the Hammond Lumber Company to identify the series of field notebooks that were created by company surveyors and engineers to document grades and plan potential rail lines, spurs and landings; bridges and crossings; inclines and declines; extensions; switchbacks, flumes, property lines, and timber lines for logging operations in the field. Later handbooks also record the intersection of company lines with the North Western Pacific Railroad. Most handbooks in this series are in fair condition, the contents are clearly legible although the covers may be well worn. A few are in poor condition, with covers torn and loose or missing pages.
  
  The first group of Handbooks date from 1895-1903 and are from the Vance Redwood Lumber Company. During this period the company opened the new mill at Samoa and negotiated the sale of the entire operation to A.B Hammond. These eighteen handbooks are typically small, leather or canvas covered volumes. Notes are handwritten in pencil, and may include rough drawings or maps. Titles are verbatim while descriptions may include references found in the text, title page or a table of contents, if included. These were produced by various contracted surveyors as well as by company survey crews. The handbooks follow a general chronological sequence although they appear to be related by site surveyed or project. Descriptive terms are as noted in index, section or chapter headings.
  
  The second group of Handbooks dates from approximately 1919 through 1936, under A.B. Hammond and partners, when the company operations were still expanding and railroads were the major transportation system. The majority of the Handbooks in this group are numbered with some sets of two or more volumes. A few handbooks appear to have been acquired from the Little River Lumber Company which was purchased by Hammond during this period. Notes were copied and may be cross referenced in timber harvest inventories, survey maps and in smaller pamphlets called survey notes. The use of index, chapter or section headings or descriptions is inconsistent. When available, handbook titles are verbatim as written on the cover or spine and descriptive terms in italics as found in an index, section or chapter heading.
  
  These handbooks are typically small, leather or canvas covered volumes. Notes are handwritten in pencil, and may include rough drawings or maps. Only a couple of handbooks contain more detailed or finished maps. Loose or detached maps and survey profiles have been removed and are cross referenced to the handbook from which it was taken. Loose pages or notes that appear to have been created or used as part of the document, including rough sketch maps on the notebook paper, were retained. An original poster list of handbooks from 101 to 218 is stored separately. Handbooks that appear on that list but were not located within this collection are marked as "Unaccounted." Handbooks that are not numbered appear at the beginning of the list in order of date created, as indicated in the text. Titles are verbatim, while descriptions may include references found in the text, title page or table of contents. if included.
• Box 13 - Handbooks 1895-1903 Vance Redwood Lumber Co.
• Box 14-16 - Handbooks 1919-1936 Hammond Redwood Lumber Co. and Hammond and Little River Redwood Co.
• Sub series: Survey Notes - Survey Notes are selected sections of field notes which have been copied and converted into reference booklets. This spans the period from the establishment of the first major logging operations and extensive rail system to the era of declining old growth redwood lumber. Many were hand copied from a Handbook, although they may include additional notes added by users. Handbooks note the date copied and the initials of the person that made the copy, while the Survey Notes reference the number and page copied from the field notebook or Handbook. The earliest booklets appear to have been copied by hand in pencil, while later ones were often penciled carbon copies. Survey profiles or maps were not generally attached to survey notes but may be referenced in the text. The original maps or profiles developed from these notes are generally numbered in the series "S" for survey maps, or "K" for property maps.
  
  The booklets may contain only a few pages of notes, although they may also be referenced as part of a series. Some booklets were grouped by the original users, as noted in the description field, and bound with string or placed on a spindle. Cover descriptions often refer to a specific camp number, such as C-21 for Camp 21, a rail line or other location information such as a creek, station, or landing. A few booklets are quite extensive and include a title page and index. The title provides a general reference to the subject and site at the time it was created, while the text may include information on the same site(s) added by other users. User notes may also have been inserted between the pages. Many booklets have a paper cover, cut from an old folder or heavy paper board, and may be fastened with paper brads, rivets, waxed twine, cotton cord or paper clips. A few have no covers and the pages may be loosely fastened with a string, a single brad, or paper clip.
  
  Property notes include field survey notes as well as the informal handwritten notes and drawings found in association with them. In this list, the titles are verbatim as written on the cover or, if no cover, as written on the index, title page or section divider. A few have no title so a descriptive title was added in brackets as a reference. Descriptions include the initials or name of the lead surveyors, if recorded, and the camp numbers as noted in the title or text. Date range 1905-1947.
• Box 17-25 - Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co.
• Sub series: Miscellaneous Field Survey Notes - These are the unbound field survey notes of company surveyors and engineers which document grades and plan potential rail lines, spurs and landings; bridges and crossings; inclines and declines; extensions; switchbacks, flumes, property acquisitions or sales, and timber lines for logging operations in the field. Surveys may include rough drawings or maps. Notes were handwritten in pencil on lined paper for small notebooks. The unbound pages were found attached to a wooden clipboard with a cardboard cover labeled "Miscellaneous Notes" and cardboard dividers to denote section headings. Dividers were retained and noted in the inventory. Surveyors may have included their name or initials, though many remain unidentified. These materials are in fair condition, the print is legible although the paper may be worn and dirty. Bulk dates 1910-1918. Northern Humboldt County Field Operations 1949 on one reel of microfilm, list of records included.
• Box 26 - Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co.; Hammond Lumber Co.
• Sub series: Survey Maps - Survey maps range from simple pencil sketches on scraps of paper to detailed pen and ink drawings on transparency paper with notes for rail lines, profiles or elevations on engineering paper, timber surveys and licensed survey maps. Survey profiles may also have been attached to survey notes or transposed into formal plans for reports. Date Range 1905-1940.
• Box 27-29 - Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co.

Series: Engineering Department Files - The Engineering Department at Samoa was the hub of planning operations for the entire Hammond Lumber Company, and responsible for planning at other mills and facilities in California, including the major regional distribution center at the San Pedro terminal, and the development of the Mill City and the Astoria plants. Notes in the Primary Index indicate that plans for other operations were also maintained in the Company offices in the Samoa Block. Photos and blueprints indicate that at some point around 1920 the drafting department was expanded and another office was created in the Mill area at Samoa specifically for mill expansion operations. Engineers played key roles in the company and many worked their way up as surveyors or field managers before they arrived at headquarters. The following table lists the engineers identified in the department records and the approximate dates on which they were associated with the company in Samoa.

The earliest administrative records identified within this series are those created or utilized by Robert Bruce McIntosh. R.B. McIntosh served as Superintendent Engineer at Samoa for the Hammond Lumber Company until 1956, when he became Pacific Western Regional Supervising Engineer for the Georgia Pacific Company. McIntosh began his career with the company as a field surveyor and his records span a great period of growth and change within the company and in the redwood lumber industry. His files also provide an extensive photographic record of those changes. The remaining administrative files are not as comprehensive but they do provide examples of the activities at Samoa when the company was owned by the Georgia Pacific Corporation and then by the Louisiana Pacific Corporation. This includes construction, maintenance and repair files from 1964-1966 and a unique set of color and black and white photos of the operations at Samoa taken throughout 1966, including the new Simpson Pulp Mill. Date range 1916-1967.

At the time the collection was acquired in 1997 the metal filing cabinets had been moved several times, and consequently few labels remained. Other items had been placed into unlabeled boxes for storage with materials that were not originally in association with each other. Records are listed in the order in which they were found and generally referenced by the period and the company with which they were most likely to have been produced. File folders containing photographs are flagged in the containers with colored tags. File drawers appear to have been organized by topic and then arranged in roughly alphabetical order.

• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Hammond Lumber Co. - Box 30-41
• Box 30 - Hammond Lumber Company Engineering Department: General reference and project files, internal and company correspondence including memos, between Hammond Engineers, W.A. Hyman, J.A. Ranking, W.R. McMillan, head office staff and other company operations. Grouped by topic and in roughly alphabetical order. Date range 1916-1928.
• Box 31-33 - Hammond Lumber Co. Engineering Department, Supt. Engineer, R.B. McIntosh: Internal and business correspondence, Project Files, Notes, Plans; design, maintenance, operations, includes numerous photos of Hammond operations as well as vendor photos, blueprints and proposals. Photos are primarily black and white and may include informal snapshots as well as sets of 8 x 10 glossy professional prints. Organized by topic and in alphabetical order, with original section dividers. Date range 1924-1956.
• Box 31 - Subjects: A through G
• Box 32 - Subjects: H through T
• Box 33 - Subjects: U through Z, also Reference Files, Product Literature
• Box 34-41 - Hammond Lumber Co., Engineering Department: Project files, notes, plans, and related correspondence, created or utilized by staff, along with appraisals. Primarily dealing with design, maintenance, operations, includes photos of operations or vendor proposals, blueprints and products. Grouped by topic and in roughly alphabetical order. Date range, Hammond Company files, 1924-1956, transition period of Georgia-Pacific Corporation, 1956-1967.
• Box 34 - Subject Area Files: Correspondence, plans, grouped by area or association; 1920-1965
• Box 35 - Subject Area Files (continued): 1921-1956
• Box 36 - Project Files: Projects at company operations in Samoa and off-site, including Watsonville, Astoria, San Pedro; 1946-1928
• Box 37 - Appraisals & Major Projects 1920-1932: Property, timber and inventory appraisal reports 1920-1932; Major upgrade projects, Samoa, 1925
• Box 38 - Project Files (continued): 1946-1967
• Box 39 - General Files: Maintenance, operations, administration, includes Maintenance Supervisor and staff files; 1935-1957
• Box 40 - General Files: Power generation/P.G.& E., power plant operations, co-generation, maintenance, staff and facility improvement; 1943-1962
• Box 41 - General Files: Used equipment sales and purchases, equipment rentals, budgets, labor, safety; 1951-1957

• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Georgia Pacific/Hammond Lumber Co. - Box 42-45
• Box 42-45 - Georgia Pacific Corporation, Engineering Department: Project files, notes, plans, and related correspondence created or utilized by staff. Primarily dealing with design, maintenance, operations, may include plans and photos of operations, vendor proposals, blueprints and products. These files may include a few Hammond Lumber Company records from the transition period, 1956-1967. These are grouped by topic, and in roughly alphabetical order. Date Range 1938-1960.
• Box 42 - Project Files: Projects at company operations in Samoa and off site; 1955-1963
• Box 43 - Project Files (continued): Projects at company operations, development of new products and processes, equipment upgrades, research and development projects at Samoa operation; 1938-1960
• Box 44 - Documents-Administrative: Property acquisitions 1904-1961, copies; Company wage manual 1935
• Box 45 - Power Plant Reports: Monthly reports, spreadsheets, graphs; 1952-1956
• Sub Series: Administrative and Project Files Louisiana-Pacific Corporation - Box 46-48, etc.

• Box 46-48 - Louisiana Pacific, Redwood Engineering Department: Louisiana Pacific, Redwood Engineering Department: Administrative files relating to the operations under the supervision of the Engineering Department, including labor relations, budgets and financial statements, and major projects, log scaling reports. Integrates some files from earlier periods. Date range 1913-1990
• Box 46 - LP Administration-Plywood Operation; Human Resources: Financial and operating documents 1975-1976; Equipment Manuals; Injury summaries, safety committee meetings 1951-1964; Labor agreements 1972-1975, 1975-1977. Some documents and files from earlier periods were intermingled at that time.
• Box 47 - LP, Redwood Engineering Department: Blueprints for upgrade of LP Samoa Paper Division, and transmittal memos 1974-1976
• Box 48 - Misc. General File 1913-1990
• Unboxed - LP, Log Scaling Reports: Computer Printouts circa 1985

Series: Maps and Plans - Maps, plans, drawings and sketches - The maps, plans and drawings were created from 1871 to 1992 and include individual hand drawn maps, prints and negatives, proof or test prints, field use copies, and reference copies, as well as numerous sets of original pencil drawings or sketches and final drawings or blueprints. During the Vance and Hammond eras, plans and drawings were produced at the company office in Samoa for all operations in California and Oregon, including logging, manufacturing, shipping and retail outlets; office, camp, service and housing facilities, and the company town of Samoa; maritime shipping; rail transportation and railroad equipment; mill tools and equipment; property maps and surveys.

Plans and drawings were standardized by size in 1918, with smaller drawings to be stored in cabinets and larger ones on rolls. Originals were stored in the Vault, a locked storage area adjacent to the Engineering Department at the company offices in the Samoa Block. Copies of specific maps and plans would be sent to mill sites, field offices, and project managers.

Documents in map cabinets 1-6 have been retained in the same map cabinets in which they were found, and may contain a greater variety. BPs and PDs (Blueprints, Plans and Drawings) which had been stored in file cabinets were removed and placed into archive boxes, or folders, for preservation in their original order. Other documents were found rolled, boxed or bundled with little obvious association to each other and have been placed in folders and stored in map drawers, or rolled, as indicated. Two lists, general maps and licensed surveys, were compiled from the Primary Index records and are available as a reference to early records.

Images have generally remained legible although the documents may be in fragile condition. The earliest drawings are paper or pen and ink on heavy drawing paper, which can become brittle. Older drawing paper may be hand cut and irregular so rolled documents may be uneven and should be supported horizontally, never rested on end. Folders should be lifted out of drawers before attempting to open them. Avoid pulling documents out of folders to avoid damaging weakened edges or abrading image surfaces. Large documents may be composed of several irregular sections joined together by glue or adhesive tape, which may become tacky or brittle.

Labels and descriptions will note the name of the company and the specific project or site, when available. Rolls are labeled on the wrapper center and ends, and on the attached paper tag. Items generally related by subject or location may be grouped together for storage. Titles and descriptions in the Finding Aid are as provided, or as noted. Some documents produced by chemical processes have been segregated in order to minimize chemical interaction and prevent deterioration of any adjacent material.

For more information see  Identifying Documents in the Maps and Plans Series.

• Sub series: BPs and PDs (Blueprints, Plans and Drawings) - Box 49-54. BPs and PDs [Blueprints, Plans and Drawings]: Plans found in association with departmental files which may relate to past, active, or proposed projects. This may include sets of plans with different reference numbers that related to the same equipment or project; early and later versions of the same plan, project notes, correspondence, photos, product literature. These range in size from letter size, profiles, lists, maps or drawings of tools and equipment to three-fold 16"X 32" drawings. Few blueprints were found and the majority of the materials are pen and ink or pencil on paper. The BPs and PDs had originally been stored in a filing cabinet. In 2006, the BPs were inventoried and placed into boxes. In 2014, PDs 1341 through 5399 were inventoried, a title or description was added, and these were also placed into boxes. Materials considered fragile or unstable were then removed and placed into folders to be stored in the map drawers. Numbers are consecutive from the Vance Lumber Company by A.B. Hammond through the Georgia Pacific Corp., approximately 1910 through 1970.
• Box 49 - BPs 0-3999
• Box 50 - BPs 4000-7000; PDs Related to Specific Equipment
• Box 51 - PD 1351 through PD 3802
• Box 52 - PD 3803 through PD 4398
• Box 53 - PD 4410-PD 4949
• Box 54 - PD 4950 through PD 5399
• Sub series: Sketches and Drawings (SK, A-1 and A series) -  Boxes 55-57. Sketches and Drawings-[SK, A], Hammond Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond and Little River Lumber Co., Hammond Lumber Co., Georgia Pacific Co., Louisiana Pacific Corp. , Engineering Department: Plans, sketches and drawings relating to past, active, or proposed projects within the company. These documents are typically single letter or legal size sheets. During the Hammond period, the term "SK" referred to small drawings or preliminary sketches. This was replaced by "D" after February 7, 1930 for larger drawings although it continued to be used for small plans. The "A" Drawings generally refer to a construction account or active project within the company. A new series "A-1" was initiated by Georgia Pacific. Document numbers may be applied to proposed and revised versions of the same plan, or to reference copies of other plans used in that project. The practice of referring to the plans for internal projects as sketches and drawings appears to have continued through subsequent company ownership. These were generally filed or grouped in numerical order, although some items may have been removed or lost and other materials sometime in the past. Date range ca. 1909-1974.
• Box 55 - A-321-2399, SK 3 to 5460
• Box 56 - A-2400 to A-4151
• Box 57 - A-6627-A-7293, unnumbered G.P and L.P (1962-1974)
• Sub series: Maps and Plans - This includes a broad range of documents, individual materials and sets, including those stored in map cabinets in 1997 and others which were processed in 2014. This group includes a broad range of maps, some of the earliest in the collection, as well as original sketches, early blueprints, and architectural and engineering drawings. Date range 1871-1992.
• Map Drawers 1A to 6 C - Maps, plans and drawings in these drawers prior to 1997
• Inventory - LP Map Dwrs 1A to 6C_6-16-1999_Crowell
• Map Drawers 7 A –14 E - Maps, plans and drawings placed into folders and drawers in 2014
• Inventory - Vance Redwood Lumber/Hammond
• Inventory - Georgia Pacific
• Inventory - Louisiana Pacific
• Inventory - General Maps and Licensed Surveys
• Sub series: Rolled Maps and Plans - This includes documents processed in 2014 that were too large to be stored in flat files and those in unstable condition which could not be folded without damage. Rolls may contain more than one document. The descriptive term "Set" indicates that the items have a direct association with each other, generally as part of the same project. The term "Group" indicates that items may be generally related by type, subject, or location as indicated on the label. Rolled Storage includes large maps as well as larger architectural and engineering drawings.
• Inventory - Rolled Maps and Plans

Series: Public Information Office -  Boxes 58-59. Public relations and publicity materials, including newsletters, advertisements and an extensive collection of photographs, negatives and slides. Images document company operations, new equipment and major construction projects, including the Crown Simpson Pulp Mill. Date range 1920-1990, bulk dates 1953-1979.

• Box 58 - Photographs: Primarily black and white, 8 X 10, some snapshots, unmounted, one album. Swanlund Photo Lab, Eureka, Ca, 1964-1970.
• Box 59 - Public relations and Publicity: Files, photo prints, slides and negatives, company newsletters (1920-1979)

Series: Management and Administration -  Boxes 60-62. Vance Redwood Lumber Co. and Hammond Lumber Co. Each group contains both handwritten notes and official correspondence.

• Sub Series: Legal Files - Vance Redwood Lumber Co., Hammond Redwood Lumber Co, legal files relating to business transactions, railroad disputes, property acquisition and disposition, and worker health and safety issues. Date range 1885-1911.
• Box 60 - Legal Counsel Files: Correspondence, copies of depositions, administrative files relating to cases in which the company was involved from 1885 to 1911.
• Box 61 - Transcript of Testimony: Eureka and Klamath River Railroad Co. et al VS California and Northern Railway Co, et al, two volumes, 1911
• Box 62 - Legal Notices: Complaints, Judgments, Notices, Subpoenas, etc. relating to cases in which the company was involved 1899-1911
• Sub Series: Personnel: Job Applications - Correspondence and letters of application to the Hammond Lumber Company, and some replies.
• Unboxed - Primarily handwritten letters of application and job inquiries, carbon copies of replies, applicants with last names beginning with K, C, and L. September 10, 1923 through May 16, 1924

Bibliography

Related Collections

Ericson Photograph Collection
Eureka Waterfront Litigation Collection
Northwestern California Forest Communities
Redwood District Council of Lumber & Sawmill Workers Collection
Thornburgh Timber Maps
Warren Photograph Collection

Subject Headings

Forest management – California – Humboldt County
Hammond Lumber Company
Humboldt County (Calif.) – History
Little River Redwood Co.
Logging – California – Humboldt County
Louisiana-Pacific Corporation. Samoa Division
Lumber trade – California – Humboldt County
Lumbering – California – Humboldt County
Redwood
Samoa (Calif.) – History
Vance Redwood Lumber Co.