The boiler you see here was part of a steam donkey. In the late 1880s, logging around the Castle Crags area was booming. Steam donkeys were used to haul heavy logs from the cutting site to the milling area.

Steam donkeys consisted of a boiler and steam hoisting engine mounted on a wooden sled. The engine turned metal drums, around which cble was wrapped, to haul heavy loads through the woods. Donkeys could haul logs, themselves, and other heavy equipment from place to place. Ideal for steep hillsides, steam donkeys were quickly adopted by the logging industry in California. Highly-skilled "donkey punchers" were seldom out of work.

This boiler was discovered unexpectedly by park staff in 1994. It was once owned by M.A. Burns Lumber Company, which went out of business in 1916.

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Show me all markers in:  Castella, CA  |  Shasta County  |  96017  |  California  |  United States of America

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