Logger Days

Name: Logger Days
Location: South Fork, Colorado

South Fork, Rio Grande County, Colorado. Schedule.

Details

Map. South Fork, Rio Grande County, Colorado. Larger map

Where: 254 CO-149, South Fork, CO 81154. Directions
When: Friday, July 17 Saturday, July 18 Sunday, July 19.
Getting there: All events are located at/around the South Fork Community Building.
Fees: Free.
Walk-in or reserve: Open to the Public.
Phone: 719-873-5512
Website: southfork.org
Managed by: South Fork Visitor Center.

South Fork celebrates the area's culture and history during the Annual Logger Days Festival.

1870sThis mountain land has produced lumber since the 1870s, when the first loggers arrived. southfork.org
1882Trains reached up to South Fork in 1882. The railroad gradually continued up to Creede. southfork.org
1920The Galbreath Mill had a big fire in May of 1920. When renovating, local lumber went into the new sawmill and planer mill. southfork.org
1950In the 1950-60s, the South Fork mill was the biggest in the state of Colorado. southfork.org
1967A fire in 1967, at what was then the Douglas Studs Mill, burned 10 million board feet of lumber, doing $2 million worth of damage, and contributed to the decline in the timber business. southfork.org
1980sThe town survived the lumber industry for most of its history until the late 1980s when laws changed, making it harder to cut timber; after the lumber industry basically shut down, the town turned to tourism. mineralcountyminer.com
2001By 2001, the closure was complete. South Fork's sawmill days were over. southfork.org

Galbreath, mill owner; by 1940 modernized his mill and planer, employing 50 people (by 1940).
John Graeser, local expert horse logger (1940s to the 1960s).