 | This article includes historical images which have been upscaled by an AI process. (March 2024) |
 Sanger Lumber Company's No. 1, the Sequoia, on a trestle near Converse Basin | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Locale | Sequoia National Forest |
| Dates of operation | 1888–1924 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | 3 ft (914 mm), refitted to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge in 1914 |
| Length | 7 mi (11 km) |
The Hume-Bennett Lumber Company was a logging operation in the Sequoia National Forest in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The company and its predecessors were known for building the world's longest log flume and the first multiple-arch hydroelectric dam.[1] However, the company also engaged in destructive clearcutting logging practices, cutting down 8,000 giant sequoias in Converse Basin in a decade-long event that has been described as "the greatest orgy of destructive lumbering in the history of the world."[2]
Public opposition of the company's actions helped mobilize support for the early conservation movement, leading to the creation of Yosemite, Sequoia, and General Grant National Parks in the early 1880s. By the 1950s, almost all surviving sequoia groves were under public protection.[3]: 44
Despite its efforts, the company never turned a profit and closed in 1924. In 1935, the land was purchased by the federal government and became part of the Sequoia National Forest.[4] It was the last logging company to log giant sequoia.[1]
- ^ a b "Battle against Rough fire intensifies as blaze bears down on Hume Lake". fresnobee. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
- ^ Zimmerman, Robert (Fall 1998). "Log Flume". American Heritage's Invention and Technology. American Heritage. Retrieved December 23, 2022.
- ^ Farmer, Jared (2017). Trees in Paradise: A California History. Berkeley, California: Heyday Books. ISBN 9780393078022.
- ^ Appelton, Rory (July 17, 2021). "Battle against Rough fire intensifies as blaze bears down on Hume Lake". The Fresno Bee.