The Bergazzi family came to Santa Cruz from Italy in 1884. Michael (1886-1970) found work in the local lumber mills at fifteen years old. He was primarily a sawyer, who cut the logs into boards, but he worked his way to this position by performing other logging duties. He worked at several mills in Santa Cruz county including the Loma Prieta Mill, now part of the Forest of Nisene Marks historical sites, and the Newell Creek Mill, roughly in the area that is now Loch Lomond. His story contains a wealth of information on the local lumber industry. He talks about life in the lumber camps.
© Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz. Audio detail from the Regional History Project Collection, Michael Bergazzi: Santa Cruz Lumbering. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/40j5k2bc.
Regional History Project Michael Bergazzi at his home May 4, 1964.
Audio Interview
Regional History Project
(1977/2004)
Regional History Project
About four miles north of Aptos, the Loma Prieta Mill was in operation from about 1883-1898. It was the site of the small community of Loma Prieta. It had many homes, a post office, a hotel, a Wells Fargo, and a large lumber yard. The mill closed and was dismantled, and the small town was abandoned. Another Loma Prieta Mill was built in its place in about 1909 and ran until 1921. Michael Bergazzi sawed the mill’s final log. The Loma Prieta site is memorialized in the Forest of Nisene Marks State Park. © Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz. Regional History Project Collection, Michael Bergazzi: Santa Cruz Lumbering. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/40j5k2bc.
© Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz. Audio detail from the Regional History Project Collection, Ekua Omosupe: Out in the Redwoods, Documenting Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender History at the University of California, Santa Cruz, 1965-2003. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/311893v2.
© Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz. Regional History Project Collection, Michael Bergazzi: Santa Cruz Lumbering. Retrieved from https://escholarship.org/uc/item/40j5k2bc.
Regional History Project
After asking for better pay from the Loma Prieta Mill and not receiving it, Michael made good on his demand and left to work in another mill for better pay. He was offered a job as a log dogger at the Newell Creek Mill south of Ben Lomond. Log doggers worked with machines with large hooks or “dogs” to secure a log for cutting. He would advance to become the carriage setter, the person responsible for managing the logs once they were “dogged” in a carriage for cutting, and then he became a sawyer. Sawyering was a coveted position because it paid the most at this mill. Michael Bergazzi (fourth from the left in the front row) stands at the Newell Creek Mill with other lumberers in 1906.
The University of California’s Regional History Project documents the stories of Santa Cruzans since 1963. They continue with that work today. These stories not only document unique lives, but also tell a larger story about the life of agricultural and lumber laborers, business women, students, LGBTQIIA, and communities of color in Santa Cruz County. Listen to Santa Cruzans share their experiences in their own words. If you navigate to the MAH Do You Know My Name? virtual exhibit, you can further explore links to their stories and listen to the full interviews through the Regional History Project.
© Regents of the University of California. Courtesy Special Collections, University Library, University of California Santa Cruz. Regional History Project Collection. Retrieved from https://library.ucsc.edu/regional-history-project.
