Pino Grande Lumber Company Cable Crossing and the Deans

Milt Mulligan, ROOTS AND GOLD DUST Genealogical Society - August 2011

PLACERVILLE, California (InEDC) Dec 29, 2022 — A man named George Dean worked for the Pino Grande Lumber Co. in the early 1900’s. I met him in the ’70s and he spoke of logging on the other side of Slab Creek Canyon. The men took a cable car across the canyon, out of Pollack Pines, to Cable Rock (1/2 way to the other side), switched cars and continued to the opposite wall of the canyon. Cable Rock had been drilled through in two spots as anchors; one cable came from Pollock Pines and the other from the opposite side. Both cable strands were anchored at Cable Rock. Today, one can still see the anchor holes for the cables. Forebay Road, across from the Pollock Pines Safeway store, is the only access for viewing that I know of. I am sure OSHA would have fits if the cable car currently existed because of the tremendous drop to the floor of Slab Creek Canyon.

George was an El Dorado County native and although now dead (he was in his 80’s when he passed) he has a number of children (Harry Dean, Fred Dean, a daughter married a Larsen, etc.)  still living locally.  [The “daughter that married a Larsen” is Betty Linville]  The Dean Family has been in the County many years and perhaps Harry, Fred or one of the others can flesh out another story.

You might also like

Grizzly Flat: A Glimpse into its Judicial and Civic History

December 17, 2023

The Devastating El Dorado Fire of September 19, 1923

December 11, 2023

Celian Adams describes riding with his mother in the cable car that transported lumber across the South Fork of the American River between Pino Grande and Camino, California back in the late 1930’s.