Amazing steam-powered Sturgeon's Mill

What a fantastic place to visit. It's a time machine going back over one hundred years. Definitely go check it out if you love the history of the Bay Area. History: The technology of Sturgeon’s Mill dates to about 1865-70, only about 80 years after the start of the industrial revolution. In the early days, logs were pulled out of the woods with mules, oxen, and horses, then hauled to mills such as this one. The development of the steam-powered donkey engine in 1883 began replacing oxen and greatly increased the production of lumber. The arrival of the North Coast Railroad in 1877 opened the Russian River basin to a logging boom. Mills such as this mostly served the local market. Previously, lumber was shipped from dog holes (small safe ports where lumber hauling ships could dock) along the coast via sailing schooners to build and rebuild San Francisco. Sturgeon’s Mill was started in Coleman Valley in 1914 by Wade Sturgeon and his partners, John Donati and J.W. Gonella. It used ox teams, horse teams, and machinery from the old Korbel (of champagne fame) mill in Guerneville. The Korbel mill dated back to the 1870s. In 1922 the logs ran out in Coleman Valley and the mill was moved to its present location. Steam donkey engines replaced the oxen in the logging operations at that time, but logs continued to arrive at this sawmill’s present location via beasts of burden with Teamster Mr. Craig driving a team of four mismatched horses. Esther and Wade Sturgeon lived in a rustic log cabin across from the mill. They created a garden and pond and filled the area with exotic plants. Wade hybridized lilies and horticultural enthusiasts came from all over to admire their work. They were both friends of Luther Burbank.