The machine shops of the three lumber companies Fruit Growers Supply, Lassen Lumber & Box and Red River Lumber were amazing operations. When these mills were established it was in a time of transition where within fifteen years logging operations would go from horses to traction engines. The sawmills themselves were caught in this phase as well.
Whether it was a mill foreman or a logger when a person had an idea, they went to the machinist who in their innovate ways came up with a new tool or machinery component. In the 1950s, Fruit Growers Westwood Operation developed a snag pusher to knock down dead trees deemed a hazard for use on the Lassen Operation (Susanville).
