Surfing's Origins - Wood

Scotia and the north woods. Part 1

About a year ago, I got a comment that said, “This movie should be free, like surfing.” So, I give you all the gift of this movie. It’s given me so much, and I hope it brings you the same joy that it has brought me. Addicted to Joy….the film and all the interviews are now FREE.

Wood Water and Soul this time….it’s all about wood and the source. It looks like this will be a 2 part posting.

The first time I got north of Golden Gate Bridge I could feel magic in the air. Driving through Marin and Sonoma counites my excitement grew. Ahead were big trees, really big trees, and Highway 101 was my magic carpet to see them. What I knew of surfing at that time was watching from the shore as I did my morning jog down Santa Monica Beach. I had no idea of the history that makes surfing so rich and unique to me. If you look at the image below, surfing started with wood.

Now, as I drove further north, winding amongst the trees the town of Scotia came into view. It appeared small, neatly arranged with basic services.

I also found a bowling alley and a pretty nice grocery store. Nestled into the giant redwoods, it looked like a logging town and it fascinated me. Little did I know how this place would come back into my life in a powerful way in 2014. So, I would like to ask you to please get into the Wayback machine to 1863 and go on a journey with me.

In 1863 the Pacific Lumber Company (PALCO) founded the town of Forestville along the Eel River to house its workers that were harvesting the redwood forest it was in the middle of. They logged with horse and bull teams.

You can see how it was really a slaughter of the forest, drop what you could reach and haul them out. In 1888 the town was renamed Scotia because there was another town called Forestville down the road and when the first Post Office came to town in 1888 it was easy to see why you couldn’t have two towns of the same name.

The trees came down and found their way to Mill A on the Eel River in Scotia without regard for the future and what they were really doing.

The center beam in Mill A was 200’ long and was composed of one single tree.

And the Eel River Railroad took those precious trees to the Port of Humboldt.

When the San Francisco earthquake and fire happened in 1906, much of the timber from this area helped rebuild The City.

On December 23, 1964 the Eel River crested at a height of 72 feet and over 18 million board feet of redwood logs and 23 million board feet of lumber were washed out of the sawmill into the river and came to rest scattered for miles downstream, a horrible loss of precious resources.

The ensuing history of the town gets murky and I’ll do my best to tell the story next time. Aloha from the woods. I’d like to thank Frank Shaw Bacik, the President of Scotia for the use of the images.

I’d like to thank you all for reading Wood Water Soul. We’d like to announce we have moved Addicted to Joy to a new streaming service, we have some very cool things planned for the future, (check out the shirts, and coffee cups, tote bags and water bottles )and we’re excited to share them with you. We will donate $1.00 of the sale of each shirt to SHACC Surfing Heritage and Culture Center.Please share this Blog with a fellow surfer, from or with a friend that needs so Joy in their lives. I invite you to watch, Aloha.