Local historian Katy Tahja will talk about her latest book, “Logging Railroads of Humboldt and Mendocino Counties” Friday February 15th at 6:30 p.m. at Gallery Bookshop.
A century ago, Humboldt and Mendocino Counties had more than 40 railroads bringing logs out of the forest to mills at the water's edge. Only one single railroad ever connected to the outside world, and it too is gone. Only the Skunk Train survived.
Tahja searched universities, historical societies, museums, and private collections for photographs conveying the determination and ingenuity railroaders had in constructing railways in unlikely places to haul huge logs. She also wrote “Rails Across the Noyo” for the Skunk Train. With her husband, she has traveled more than 20,000 miles across the United States and Canada by rail.
