Ox Team at The Point, 1873 – 1878. View toward the northeast of two yoked oxen at the Mendocino Shipping Point. The animals were used to move lumber along a narrow railway that ran from the Incline at the top of the bluffs above the Mendocino Lumber Company’s sawmill, out to the lumber yard at The Point for shipment. Lumber is stacked nearby. A man in a suit and a bowler hat stands near them with his hands on his hips.
The buildings in the background are located on the far western end of Main Street. On the left is John E. Carlson’s three-story City Hotel, built in 1873, with a tall flagpole in front. Big River House is the the two-story building to its right, with a west and a south-facing gable. It burned down in 1878. (Gift of Homer Barton)
Walking Tours of Historic Mendocino – Join our expert docents for a stroll and lively commentary. You’ll pass by early pioneer homes, historic meeting places, and buildings that make up the the Mendocino Historic District.