Finished my project that included the history of the Terry Lumber Company and the narrow-gauge railroad at Hatchet Mountain. The Terry Mill was located east of the "town" of Round Mountain on the slopes of Hatchet Mountain. The narrow-gauge railroad ran into the timberlands above the mill, connecting with several logging camps. Between the railroad bed and the mill was a 2 1/2 mile incline plane that ran straight down the hill to the mill. The railroad was used both by the Terry company and the Red River Lumber Company that bought out the Terry holdings in 1919.
Terry purchased the company in 1897 and extended the logging railroad after that. His holdings included the narrow-gauge railroad, the mill at Hatchet Mountain, a 32-mile long lumber flume, a planing mill and box factory at Bella Vista, and the Anderson-Bella Vista Railroad. His business acumen not being too great, he seemed to continually be in financial troubles and in 1911 the Bank of Shasta County closed its doors due to loans taken out by him and several other large businesses in the area. Terry regrouped and reorganized in 1913 and continued operations under a new name, the Shasta Land and Timber Company. About the same time he was in negotiations to sell the Anderson-Bella Vista Railroad to a mining interest in Ingot, located east of Bella Vista. The plan was to extend the A-B Railroad to Ingot. Whether or not the railroad was ever sold is still a mystery. The extension was never completed and the mine and smelter at Ingot were closed down. The Red River Lumber Company apparently bought the A-B Railroad along with the other properties but never disclosed from whom they bought it.
In 1914 business was doing well but by October, 1915, all operations were ceased. With great fanfare Terry again reopened the mill and planing mill with another infusion of cash in the summer of 1916. The box factory had been replaced by a larger one in Anderson. A fire took out the Bella Vista mill in December, 1917 and the end came when he could no longer pay his debts. A scrapper was set to take the mill and rails out in 1919 but the Red River Lumber Company stepped in and purchased the operation, running it until 1922.
The narrow-gauge railroad continued to bring logs from the timerlands until the flume was damaged beyond repair in 1921. The locomotives were later taken out as scrap although one was still in the mountains until the 1950s when it, too, was removed. Nothing remains of the mill today except a very large field. A massive fire (64,000 acres) consumed much of the timber and buildings in the area.
