OLD MILL SPRINGS BACK TO LIFESTURGEON'S SAWMILL VOLUNTEERS PUT ON DEMONSTRATION OF HISTORIC LOGGING METHODS AT OCCIDENTAL SITE

An ancient steam sawmill near Occidental, silent for nearly 40 years,

roared back to life Thursday for visitors from a statewide historic

preservation group.

It was a trip to the past that dazzled the 16 representatives of the

California Preservation Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Oakland.

They watched as Stuart Schroeder and his team of dapple-gray Percheron work

horses dragged a log to the mill, and gathered close as Bob Sturgeon and Boone

Morrison maneuvered the whirling saw blades and trimmed the bark from a

donated redwood log.

The three men are among some 20 volunteers seeking to restore the old

Sturgeon's Sawmill and turn it into a living museum for school and historic

tours.

''This is fantastic,'' said Millie Mario, a member of the preservation

foundation's board of directors. ''This is the last existing sawmill of this

era.''

The foundation, the only statewide nonprofit organization dedicated to the

preservation and enhancement of historic resources, is holding its 27th annual

conference in Santa Rosa this week.

Sturgeon's Sawmill, an ancient steam-driven mill, was built in 1912 on the

Korbel property near the Russian River, using equipment dating from the late

1800s.

As the trees ran out near the Russian River, the mill was moved to Coleman

Valley, and later to the foothills of Occidental.

In its prime, the sawmill cut 10,000 to 15,000 board feet a day, and had a

crew of 32, including loggers. It shut down in 1963 when the old-growth

redwood had been logged out.

In an environmentally minded age, it may be hard to think of the

destruction of the redwoods. But the mill reenactment was a reminder of a time

when people believed the forests would last forever and a man's word was as

good as a written contract.

''The mill represents a simpler time, when there were true values and a

payoff for hard work. All the things that people long for,'' said Harvey

Henningsen, a Sebastopol photographer and the son of James Henningsen, one of

the mill's former owners.

Henningsen said he hoped the preservation foundation would help restore the

mill, through funding or its network of experts.

The volunteers need about $150,000 for a new propane boiler for the mill,

and additional money to repair the blacksmith shop and other appurtenances.

Mario said the foundation would do whatever it could, including looking for

grants, but had no funds of its own to offer.

''It would be a shame to lose the mill. We'll do what we can to help them

along,'' she said.

You can reach Staff Writer Carol Benfell at 521-5259 or

cbenfell@pressdemocrat.com.