Stone Masons & Woodcutters

Italians have worked in the Lumbering industry throughout the forested hills of the Mother Lode since the Gold Rush. They were heavily involved in logging and harvested timber off their ranches which delivered to the mines by horse team. Many of the Italian immigrants were woodcutters and the landscape was covered by the cabins of Italians woodcutters who split wood to make the charcoal used in the mining forges.

The Italian immigrants brought their skill in working with stone from Liguria, a rugged and mountainous land with an estimated 25,000 miles of terraced hillsides.

Crews of Italians skilled in rock work helped build the mountain roads carved out of the canyon walls of the western Sierra's from Nevada City to Yosemite. The old stone terraces on todays Gold Country ranches and  along its roadsides are a reminder of this cultural tradition. The picture to the right is a Old Stone Mill, Liguria, Italy.