North Fork Lumber Company

Brothers Anton, Francis and Joseph Korbel, of Sonoma County, buy land in the area then known as "North Fork."

The Humboldt Lumber Mill Co. (the Korbels and E.L. Cutten) files articles of incorporation. Sawmill construction begins.

The mill starts production. The Korbels buy the Arcata and Mad River Railroad and extend it 6 miles to the mill.

The mill becomes the first in Humboldt to use a kiln to dry lumber.

The Korbel Post Office is established and the town of North Fork is renamed Korbel.

The Korbel family sells the mill, railroad and other Humboldt holdings to Riverside Lumber Co. and Charles Nelson Steamship Co., who consolidate as the Northern Redwood Lumber Co.

The Hotel Korbel is built.

The Korbel Mill shuts down in the Great Depression.

The mill reopens after upgrades and refinancing.

The mill gets new equipment, converts from steam to electric, increases lumber production and reduces workforce.

Simpson Redwood Co. forms.

Simpson buys Northern Redwood Lumber Co. and begins tearing down the town to enlarge the Korbel Mill; State Route 299 is built, bypassing Korbel.

The Hotel Korbel is torn down.

Most of the remaining company homes are dismantled.

The large headrig used to saw large, old-growth logs is removed. The log quad, for sawing multiple, smaller young-growth logs, is installed.

Simpson's spinoff, Green Diamond Resource Co., begins managing its timberlands. Green Diamond subsidiary California Redwood Co. takes over its lumber mills.

There are layoffs and shift reductions at Korbel Mill and Brainard remanufacturing site as recession hits and new-home construction slows.

California Redwood Co. closes its Orick mill and lays off more employees at Korbel and Brainard.

California Redwood Co. gives 155 employees a 60-day layoff notice but denies rumors the mill is for sale. Citing a huge drop in redwood sales, the company reduces its Korbel operation to one shift and lays off 45 workers.

In May, the Korbel Mill stops milling redwood and focuses mainly on Douglas fir. The company sells its redwood manufacturing site (where high-grade lumber is finished) in Ukiah in May, the one in Woodland in August, and shuts down the Brainard one in November. In October, California Redwood Co. announces that the Korbel Mill is for sale. In December, the company announces it will close the Korbel Mill in February.

On February 5, the Korbel Mill closes.

After its closure, the Korbel mill was sold to the Trinity River Lumber Company and was updated to process Douglas and white fir logs into construction grade lumber.

Today, the North Fork Lumber Company operates a two-shift sawmill, employing over 100 people and supporting jobs in the North Coast forest industry.