I'm going to go back to talk about the top I'm putting on this guitar. Now that guitar has been voiced and is about ready for finish my expectations for the performance for this Redwood had greatly risen.
I said already that it was from a train tunnel that was built in 1835. I'd like to talk about some of the things I've learned. This was from the Shasta Route owned by Southern Pacific Railroad. This was a route between San Francisco and Portland Oregon. They advertised the scenic ride as "The Road of a Thousand Wonders" Here is a ad posted to The Woman's Home Journal" in 1899:
The train worked it's way through the Shasta and Siskiyou mountains and it was in these rugged Oregon Siskiyou mountains that tunnels 13,14, and 15 are located as the railway weaves it's way up the mountains. The railway sold scenic photo guides to the passengers enroute. I was able to locate one so I could post up some of these old photos:
I’m imagining the photos were shot in black and white and then hand colored. This first shot is from the beginning of the route starting in San Francisco. I have to show this one because I think it is just so remarkable. To get across the bay they used a giant steam powered train ferry:
This ferry was 433ft long and had a capacity of 36 train cars and two engines.
Here's a couple more to give the flavor of the route:
And here is a photo that includes both tunnels 14 (top) and 15:
The beams used to support these tunnels were old growth Redwood and were removed recently and replaced with cement. The original wood was provided by Dolbeer and Carson:
Because this rebuilding of the tunnels was a government contract the contractors were not able to actively salvage the wood or profit from it's sale so for the most part the beams were just cast into the ravines and forrest.
There were a few intrepid locals who have salvaged the best of these wonderful aged woods:
So that's the story of where these tops are coming from. I think the bigger story will be where they go from here!