Founded in 1889 by Hiram T. Smith and Austin D. Moore as the Kings River Lumber Company, with holdings of over 30,000 acres  in Fresno County (the Millwood area), and an additional 320 acres in adjoining Tulare County

The KRLCo. found that the terrain was unsuitable for the construction of a railroad from the mill to the yards, so from 1889 to mid 1890 a flume (the Kings River Flume) was built in order to carry lumber from the Converse Basin mill to the lumber yard, planing mill and railroad at Sanger, 54 miles away.

During the depression of 1892 the KRLCo. went bankrupt. It was reopened in 1894 as the Sanger Lumber Co. In 1895 the SLCo. was forced into foreclosure by it's creditors, the lower mill was sold off, and all operations were moved to the Converse Basin.

Logging in the Converse Basin was particularly destructive the size and weight of the redwood tree's often caused then to shatter when felled, and the equipment was not able to properly handle those that didn't. The method of using black-powder to split the trees once felled also proved problematic, as many of them would splinter, thus rendering them useless. It is estimated that the redwood cut during this period totaled 191 million board feet, but only 1/5 of the total trees felled ever made it into the mill.

In 1905, amidst financial difficulties, the operation was sold to a group of Michigan investors led by Thomas Hume and Ira Bennett, and renamed the Hume-Bennett Lumber Co. The HBLCo. operation, proved to be an important factor in the economy of the area.

In 1908, The HBLCo. contracted with John Eastman (builder of the Big Creek Hydro-power System) to have a dam built on Ten Mile Creek (a Kings River tributary). The ensuing lake created by the 61 foot high dam, served as a mill pond and water supply for the flume; which had been extended by 17 miles in order to reach the lake (known as Hume Lake).

In 1917 the HBLCO. went into bankruptcy, Bennett sold his interest , and the company was once again named Sanger Lumber Co.

Thomas Hume poured large sums of money into the operation in order to maintain solvency. George  A Hume managed the company through most of it's existence, and operations continued through 1917, when the death of Thomas Hume, a fire at the mill in Hume, a forest fire which destroyed 7 miles of flume, and a wartime shortage of labor, halted work at the operation.

The HBLCo./SLCo. operated 3 geared engines on approximately 40 miles of track.

Prescott Brick &@ Lumber Co., of Fresno, E. M. Prescott, manager, owners of the old Hume interests at Sanger, will start the sawmill there, which has a capacity of about 50,000 feet. It is estimated there are between four and five million feet of redwood and sugar pine sinker logs in the pond. The lumber will be sold locally and  trucked to Fresno, distant some  60 miles.

FRESNO, Cal., May 15.-Disposition of the logging and sawmill machinery formerly employed by the Hume-Bennett Lumber Co. at Hume, by E. M. Prescott, of Fresno, closes the last chapter in this pioneer San Joaquin Valley lumber operation. Mr. Prescott bought the property and sawed the last sinker log in the pond at Hume last October. Chatting with a representative of The Timberman, Mr. Prescott made the following interesting observations in connection with the old Hume-Bennett Lumber Co.

"The 75-mile flume connected the sawmill located at Hume with the yard and planing mill at Sanger. It was built in 1890 by Moore & Smith. Hiram Smith, now living in San Francisco, was one of the original members of the firm of Moore & Smith, which operated the plant for a number of years. The Sanger Lumber Co. was its successor, a Swiss bank being interested in the company. Hume-Bennett Lumber Co. succeeded the Sanger Lumber Co. The principals were Thomas Hume, of Muskegon, Mich., and Ira M. Bennett, of San Francisco, both having passed away.

"A reorganization of the Hume- Bennett company took place, the Hume family taking over the interests of Mr. Bennett and resumed the old name of Sanger Lumber Co., which was maintained until the property was sold to E. M. Prescott, who dismantled the flume, selling the lumber to ranchers, with the exception of the last 13 miles, which was burned, occupying a right-of-way in the national forest.

"The flume originally cost $675,000. The trestles in some sectors attained a height of 140 feet. The flume was of the "V" type of construction and transported about 750 million feet of lumber. It was operated continually for 25 years, from 1890 to 1915.

Frank W. Goodrich, of Sanger, Cal., pioneer lumberman, died June 18 while at the wheel of his automobile en-route to Santa Cruz, from Sanger. Goodrich had been a resident of Sanger for 22 years, having been manager of the operations of Sanger Lumber Co., pioneer manufacturing firm   He was aged 70.

Sanger Lumber Co., Sanger, Calif.., flumes lumber from mill. [t_06/00]