Page 43 - Sonoma County Gazette February 2017

NEED AFTER-FLOOD/STORM HELP?
If you would like to help the many people who were displaced from their homes by the ood event and incurred unexpected expenses, you can make a monetary contribution to the Redwood Credit Union Flood Relief Fund at www.redwoodcu.org/ oodrelief. This fund was set up by Redwood Credit Union in partnership with the Press Democrat, myself, and Supervisor James Gore. As of this writing we still have 7 homes red- tagged due to a serious mudslide and insurance is not expected to cover the signi cant costs of tree removal and engineering that will allow these folks back into their homes. Many have had to stay in motels or hotels during this time as well.
If you know someone who su ered damages in the ood or was displaced, please have them contact my o ce at 565-2241. We’ll provide them with information about the fund distribution when the details have been worked out.
Should we experience another heavy storm this winter, stay safe! We had many swift water rescues from people driving into ooded roads.
Turn around, don’t drown!
Lynda Hopkins, Supervisor, Fifth District District Director: Susan Upchurch,
County of Sonoma, Board of Supervisors
Susan.Upchurch@sonoma-county.org
I’m writing this column in my bed, after having slept a restorative twelve hours, after having returned from Cuba. I spent the last ten days on a school trip in Cuba, touring tobacco plantations, caves, alternative schools programs, the local nightlife, national forests, and so much more. My ten
days in Cuba were amazing – I met some truly amazing people, and had
to ask them all to speak slower because Cubans speak really fast Spanish and sometimes don’t pronounce some of the letters in a word or phrase. For example, in Cuban Spanish, “¿cómo estas?” becomes “¿como eta?” and “La Habana” becomes “Labana.” Needless to say, it took me quite a while to become accustomed to this style of Spanish. It is almost a di erent language entirely.
That’s not the point, though. The point is that, at two in the morning, as my parents drove a very exhausted me home from SFO, we drove past a place between my two favorite potholes that I think is worth talking about: Sturgeon’s Mill.
Old mill (above); new mill (below).
Sturgeon’s Mill is that place where sometimes there are lots of cars on Green Hill Road, as you’re headed out of Occidental. Actually, it’s a lot more than just that, but for a long time, that’s all I knew about Sturgeon’s Mill. Sturgeon’s Mill Restoration Project is a nonpro t organization formed to restore and preserve the historic steam powered lumber mill – Sturgeon’s Mill – to it’s original condition. This means that they operate and run a lumber mill built in 1914 that runs on live steam, o er private school tours and publicly open tours, and are in the process of reuniting the original properties of Wade Sturgeon and restoring his “Woodland Gardens.” Sturgeon’s Mill functions as a Working Museum, and is sta ed entirely by volunteers. The project is run by Tom Schae er (President), Bob Sturgeon (Vice President), Essie Doty (Secretary/Treasurer), and board members Harvey Henningsen, Jay Meyer, Mark Sell,
Bonnie Sallee, and Wes Brubacher.
Sturgeon’s Mill is considered one of the last great mills of its kind – it
has been a lumber mill since 1914, but it was originally built in the 1880s on the Korbel property near the Russian River to be used for other purposes. Throughout the years, it was passed from Korbel to Michael Sugarman, and later to Mr. Meeker, for whom Camp Meeker is named. In 1913, the mill was purchased from Meeker by Wade Sturgeon, who promptly dismantled it and had it moved to Sturgeon’s Coleman Valley site. There, in 1914, Sturgeon began his lumber business. In 1924, the mill was moved again to its current site on Green Hill Road. Wade’s son Ralph Sturgeon and his friend James Henningsen bought the mill in 1934, ran the mill. Nearly twenty ve years ago, a group of seven people – two history enthusiast and ve former mill employees – began the process of restoring the mill to its glory with only $700. Since then, the original seven have grown to sixty volunteers who have brought the falling apart building into a new era, doing everything from tracking down a new steam engine to clearing paths, from leading tours to rebuilding the walls of the mill, to nding water sources and doing the always di cult task of asking for donations.
You can visit their website sturgeonsmill.com for more information about them, including the dates that they are open to the public for tours, and lots of other fun information.
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