Tyrone Mill, Sonoma Co., Calif. March 10, 1878

Tyrone Mill, Sonoma Co., Calif. March 10, 1878.
North Pacific Coast R.R.

An early telling of life in a lumber camp on the North Pacific Coast Rail Road.
(Tried to transcribe some of the high lights, not too hard to read the letter)

Hope you enjoy,
pat




Tyrone Mill ~1877-78 (At one time had a copy of this account, now can't find.)




Letter enclosed with envelope to Occidental on how the original got back.







Tyrone mill
Sudnay Eve
March 10th 1878

My Dear friends,
.......... Well we have spent most of this rainy winter in San Francisco.
..........coming home once a month to see that things were all right.

.........Oh if we had staid in this Canyon during the last 3 rainy months I don't know but we would both have been fit subject for the lunatic asylum

....It is very narrow just wide enough for a Saw Mill & a Rail Road track.


The mountains loom up so high the sun scarcely get in during the winter months...
.....With nothing here but a Mill Store and the house we live in. The mill not running....

But in the Summer not so bad when the mill is running & the cars passing by every half hour.

...I have full charge there under the title of Superintendent ...

The Mill is one of the largest on the coast cutting 45 to 50 thousand (board feet?)per day - 100 men & 40 oxen.
Have a steam engine and cars to haul the logs in from the foot of the mountain where they are delivered with cattle.
All of our lumber is shipped by rail to San Francisco.

Have a storekeep, one clerk one bookkeeper...

Also cut large amount of wood. This season had 12 thousand cords of wood.
It comes out of the mountain in a flume (water) it comes from 1to 2 miles & as high as 300 cords per day -


it is landed alongside the railroad track ready for (?) including wood chopping,Mill and logging. There is nearly 250 men at work.

We also board all men, having 5&6 cooks during the summer months

I came with this company one year ago as book keeper on trial at $100 & board.............they raised my wages to $150 & board for self and wife.........on the first of July they gave me full charge of all at $2400....

I am now looking for appointment of general manager for all the mills of the company.........




Keep a china cook & a good one for whom we pay $35 per month..
( general talk)




There is considerable excitement about Arizona - think there is plenty of chances to make money there..


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North...ast_Railroad

https://www.pacificng.com/template....pc/index.htm
(Tracing the route of the North Pacific Coast Railroad.)

.....From Occidental it is a short distance to the canyon of Dutch Bill Creek and the start of the real Redwood country. As you drive the canyon note the dirt track on the other side of Dutch Bill Creek from the road. This is the ROW (Right of Way). The site of Tyrone is long obscured by second growth and modern vacation homes, but if you follow the turn off at Tyrone Road you can see the flat area which must have been the site of the mill. The huge Redwood stumps speak silent volumes about what this scene must have been before 1900.....

Not sure why but this reminded me of John Williams' "Butcher's Crossing". Worth a read

Wow! Very nice cover manuscript post mark and content. Have to admit to being jealous of that cover! About a year ago I started collecting North Pacific Coast RR covers.
Should have started a lot earlier, as I attended grammar school in Valley Ford, from 3rd grade to first semester of 8th, finished the 8th in Occidental, 9th thru 12 at Tomales, met first wife in Monte Rio, and lastly bow hunted a small herd of feral goats in the hills above Tyrone. No goat was harmed.
Yep, spent a lot of time in the area.

Tyrone is 1 mile south of Monte Rio, 6 miles north of Occidental, and 5 miles north of Camp Meeker.

Now that I've wandered down memory lane, here are what few philatelic facts I have on Tyrone, Cal.
Tyrone did have a post office, a couple of times.

From; California Town Postmarks 1850-1935 by John H. Williams;

Tyrone: 18 Jul 1877 - 30 Jun 1881
28 Nov 1882 - 15 Oct 1883
NO POSTMARKS RECORDED

For grins, I looked up Tyrone in the Postal Bulletin. The entries are consistent with the dates recently posted. However, the final closing notice is highly unusual:

(from PB #1101, dated October 16, 1883.) A typical closing notice is like those above Tyrone, the mail being handled by a nearby post office. Tyrone is different. I have not seen one like this before. It certainly shouts of an unusual back-story. I don't have time to dig today, so hoping others may be intrigued enough to take up the challenge.

I wonder if the closing had anything to do with this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Route_scandal

All of these towns are on Bohemian Highway, which followed North Pacific Coast RR's roadbed.

Monte Rio opened first as Montrio on 26 May 1902, changed name to Monte Rio on 1 Aug 1926.
Camp Meeker opened 1 May 1900.
Occidental opened 7 Dec 1876

I'm going to guess the mail from all the workers was collected at the company store, then sent down on the RR.
From what the author said there was only the store and mill at that time. Any record as to who to who was named as postmaster?

Anyway, here are two as named by "LRP" for the area.




( two different strikes for MonteRio)

(Can still see similar views and activies when you drive by the river today)

Further investigation finds Tyrone mentioned in Alan H. Patera's compilation of California Postmaster Compensation. No postmaster names are listed here.
Tyrone (1878-81, 83)
1879 - $39.98
1881 - $34.94
1883 (140 days) $13.53
Nice cards Pat.
The NCP RR (a Narrow Gauge line, part of Northwesten Pacific) became the Cazadero & San Fran. RPO in 1889.
This card was the beginning of my NCP RPO's, a 1910 RPPC of the ferry at Monte Rio.

The 1883 data above (most likely) comes from "The Official Register of the United States, Vol II" from July 1, 1883. Page 386 cropped here shows the last part of California and the relevant footnote. The Postmaster was T.C. Russell, with a revenue of 12.33 and footnote 3:


The 1879 and 1881 Official Registers should have the postmaster names for July of those years as well (Issued only in odd-numbered years.)

I suspect best source for details of the October 1883 story will appear in the local newspapers for Sonoma County than in published postal records. Having a postmaster's name should help.

The Official Register was the source of the postmaster compensation in the previous post.

It also identifies the postmaster as of the date of publication.

In the editions of 1879 and 1881, the postmaster was identified as K. H. Plate.

In the 1883 edition, T. C. Russell was identified as the postmaster from Feb 10, 1883 until the publication date of July 1, 1883

Thanks for all the replies.

I should have researched the below sooner.
First request shows received May 24, 1877.

Second request (reopen?) shows Nov 13 1882.
Shows Russell as PM.





Map shows town locations of places we are talking about.
Most of the cards I've shown came from my great aunt, her sisters and friends. They came over from San Francisco to vacation .

(I'm not well organized, so keep finding these in different places. )

Not identified on the map, this area is also the location of the all male Bohemian Grove private club with a membership featuring business and political leaders.

It is shown on the last map Pat posted, just above Monte Rio. Here a screen grab from google map (Occidental to Monte Rio) that shows Bohemian Grove a little east of Monte Rio and Bohemian Retreat very near Tyrone, but on opposite side of Bohemian Hwy.

oops - you are correct. I was looking too far east and missed the marker

This information has been supplied by others, but I thought I would show the original entries (2) for Tyrone from the postmasters ledger.
pat