but the roof seen in the back left now houses CRL!
Here at the Crossroads Recycled Lumber yard we’ve salvaged millions of board feet of reclaimed lumber and timbers over the years. Every plank and beam was once part of a majestic tree, felled with a chainsaw, or by hand with a crosscut saw depending on the era, and shaped by millhands, in forests and mills across North America.
The Crossroads Recycled Lumber yard sits on the site of the old North Fork Mill, so we are reminded every day of the legacy that our wood leads. Over the years as the timber industry has declined, we have collected beams and trusses from sawmills deconstructed up and down the West Coast.
Logging remains one of the top two most dangerous jobs in America, and our lumber from these mills pays homage to the hard work of loggers, mill hands, and millwrights and the role they played in American History. It is a special honor for us to be able to help preserve the timbers from these mills through reuse.
Photo from Timber Creations, Santa Rosa, CA
North Fork Mill
The North Fork Mill operated from 1943-1994, and along with other local mills, was the economic center of life in the Central Sierra Nevada. During its peak, the North Fork Mill produced enough wood in a year to build 12,000 single family homes. Inventory from the North Fork Mill includes: Ponderosa Pine and White Fir 2×12, 4×12, 6×10, 10×10, 10×12 all 16’ and under.
PALCO in Scotia
The Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO) mill in Scotia, California was the largest redwood mill ever built. PALCO was founded as a logging camp in 1863 when the town was called Forestville, and within 30 years was the largest company in Humboldt County. Crossroads has a limited stock of Old Growth Redwood from the deconstruction of some of PALCO’s 1910 buildings. Inventory from the PALCO mill includes: 4x12x20’, 8×8, 8×10, 10×10, 10×12, 12×12 from 6’ to 21.’
GP in Fort Bragg
The Georgia Pacific Mill in Fort Bragg, California was in its 117th year when the 400-acre mill site was closed. 1885 saw the establishment of the Fort Bragg Redwood Company, as well as the foundation of their Fort Bragg Railroad, built to bring logged coast redwood from surrounding areas to the sawmill. The mill closed in 2002, but the “Skunk Train,” from Fort Bragg to Willits is still a popular tourist attraction in Mendocino County. We have some limited 2X12 Redwood and Douglas Fir material remaining from the Georgia Pacific Mill.
from Roseburg Forest Products Mill in Weed, CA
Diamond in Red Bluff
Diamond Mill in Red Bluff, CA was built in 1975 by the Diamond Gardner Corporation (formerly Diamond Matchstick Company), and was the largest sawmill in a region where timber had been a tremendous industry since 1876. Inventory from the Diamond Mill includes: 6x6x8’ to 24’, 6x8x8’ to 24’,6x12x 16’ to 20’
Honoring the Past
As Marc, the owner of Crossroads and Pacific Northwest Timbers, explained to Wood-Mizer Way Magazine in 2005, “Forests fell and, sometimes, men died, in producing that lumber. Workers invested their lives and skills manufacturing it. It seems wrong to waste the labor and energy of the past when we can, today, reuse the wood to provide continued benefit to our community.” You can honor these forests and the spirit of these workers by using reclaimed lumber in your next construction or renovation project.
