During the 1930s, Red River Lumber Company’s, Westwood Operation was going through tumultuous times. The one bright spot, and its biggest asset was the Burney Tract of eastern Shasta. It consisted of 83,000 acres with an estimated 2 billion board feet of timber. That’s a lot of wood.
The problem with Burney it was not accessible by rail. In 1936, a proposition was floated internally by Red River management to correct the situation. There were, of course, two obstacles the distance and the natural barrier of Hat Creek Rim. To bypass Hat Creek it was suggested to branch off the Western Pacific Railroad at Little Valley (in northwest Lassen County south of Bieber). Problem solved, or some thought. Then a family feud ensued that logs would be shipped all the way to Westwood to be milled. There were two train of thoughts, one to keep Westwood going and the other Westwood had run its course and time to shutter. Neither side prevailed. Sheer economics won, when it would cost to pay Western Pacific toll fee to haul the logs from Little Valley to Westwood was thirty cents per car mile—way too expensive. The project would be resurrected again, with a different, and closer departure point, which will be examined in a future post.
