el Corte Madera Creek OSP

The Spanish phrase “el corte de madera” roughly translates to “cutting wood,” referring to the clear-cut logging that took place here, starting in the 1860s. As San Francisco flourished following the discovery of gold in California, logging the coastal redwood forests supplied building materials for the growth. The remote nature of this preserve, coupled with its steep terrain, kept loggers away until the 1860s. Resourceful entrepreneurs spent the next 50 years building and operating eight different mills adjacent to the creeks of the preserve. Around the turn of the century, the mills were closed or nearing the end of their economic viability. Modern selective logging continued periodically until 1988, shortly after the preserve was created. - openspace.org

~ CK