Re: Another day on the Madera Sugar Pine Grades

I recently ran across a collection of online logging photos in the UC Berkeley Metcalf Collection. There are hundreds of photos showing logging around California and over 100 photos of Madera Sugar Pine logging. Most are focused on logging techniques and railroad construction as well as general views of trees. There are several photos taken in 1925 at Madera Sugar Pine's Camp 1 used in 1923. By 1925, the railroad had pulled out of the Big Creek drainage so the camp is abandoned but many structures were left behind.
This view was taken by Woodbridge Metcalf in May, 1925 from above the camp looking east:

There is a lot of detail in the original picture and several railroad spurs and skid roads are visible.
Here's what the same vantage point looked like yesterday:

The second growth makes it difficult to see the grades, but my white truck (near the lower center) is parked at the base of the spur line that in in the lower right hand corner of the Then photo. My wife (not visible) was out identifying wildflowers while I tromped around the hillside locating the original photographer's vantage point. The fire removed enough vegetation that you can see some of the hillsides in the background and determine that I was in approximately the right place.