July 1872
“Loren Coburn and Orrin Brown are preparing to construct a boom at the mouth of Pescadero Creek. The object of this boom is to catch logs during high water, they previously having been cut and hauled into the stream above. The expense in lumbering is land freighting, a labor generally performed in this State by man and beast. Rafting and floating logs at high water is extensively and profitably resorted to in the Eastern States. The timber along the banks of Pescadero Creek and its tributaries is of vast extent, and almost unknown to the ravages of the woodman’s axe. It makes its manufacture into lumber profitable, reduced expense of transportation is demanded. This it is believed can be secured by the plan to be adopted by Messrs. Brown and Coburn…They propose to erect a large sawmill near the boom, and a railroad from the mill to Pigeon Point, five miles down the coast, the nearest point of shipment…..”
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