Andersonia is an unincorporated community

Unincorporated area

In law, an unincorporated area is a region of land that is not a part of any municipality.To "incorporate" in this context means to form a municipal corporation, a city, town, or village with its own government. An unincorporated community is usually not subject to or taxed by a municipal government...

 in Mendocino County

Mendocino County, California

Mendocino County is a county located on the north coast of the U.S. state of California, north of the greater San Francisco Bay Area and west of the Central Valley. As of the 2010 census, the population was 87,841, up from 86,265 at the 2000 census...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

. It is located on the South Fork of the Eel River

Eel River (California)

The Eel River is a major river system of the northern Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Approximately 200 miles long, it drains a rugged area in the California Coast Ranges between the Sacramento Valley and the ocean. For most of its course, the river flows northwest, parallel to the...

 1 miles (1.6 km) north-northwest of Piercy

Piercy, California

Piercy is an unincorporated community in Mendocino County, California. It is located on the South Fork of the Eel River north-northwest of Leggett, at an elevation of 794 feet ....

, at an elevation of 541 feet (165 m).

History

A small wharf was completed at Bear Harbor in 1884 for loading of forest products from the Lost Coast

Lost Coast

The Lost Coast is a mostly undeveloped section of the California North Coast in Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, which includes the King Range. It was named the "Lost Coast" after the area experienced depopulation in the 1930s...

. In 1893 construction commenced on the Bear Harbor and Eel River Railroad over the coastal ridge to connect Bear Harbor to South Fork Eel River tributary Indian Creek. The inland railway terminus was called Moody after Lew Moody constructed a hotel and saloon nearby. Southern Humboldt Lumber Company camp 10 sawmill

Sawmill

A sawmill is a facility where logs are cut into boards.-Sawmill process:A sawmill's basic operation is much like those of hundreds of years ago; a log enters on one end and dimensional lumber exits on the other end....

 was built in 1903, and the location was named Andersonia for company president Henry Neff Anderson. A mill pond dam was constructed on Indian Creek where 20 million board feet of timber were stored in preparation for milling. Anderson was killed in a construction accident as a 17-mile (28 km) railway extension from Moody to Andersonia was being completed in 1905. Sawmill operation was delayed by litigation following Anderson's death. The railroad and sawmill were dismantled in 1921. Heavy rains during the winter of 1925-26 burst the dam; and the twenty-year-old Andersonia logs floated down the Eel River. Anderson's grandsons formed the Indian Creek Lumber Company in 1947 to build a new sawmill at Andersonia. Lumber was trucked out over U.S. Route 101

U.S. Route 101

U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101, is an important north–south U.S. highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States...

 rather than rebuilding the railroad and wharf at Bear Harbor. The locomotives were preserved in 1962. The sawmill operated until local timber supplies were exhausted in 1972. A post office operated at Andersonia from 1904 to 1906.

Bear Harbor and Eel River Railroad Locomotives

Number	Builder	Type	Date	Works number	Notes
1	Marshutz and Cantrell	0-4-0 0-4-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 0-4-0 represents one of the simplest possible types, that with two axles and four coupled wheels, all of which are driven...  Tank locomotive Tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...	1892		purchased new; restored by the Northern Counties Logging Interpretive Association at Fort Humboldt State Historic Park Fort Humboldt State Historic Park Fort Humboldt State Historic Park is a California state park located in the southern portion of Eureka, just off U.S. Route 101. The North Coast regional headquarters of the California State Parks is located onsite.-Early years, 1853–1860:...
2	Baldwin Locomotive Works Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works was an American builder of railroad locomotives. It was located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, originally, and later in nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania. Although the company was very successful as a producer of steam locomotives, its transition to the production of...	2-4-2 2-4-2 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, 2-4-2 represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, four powered and coupled driving wheels on two axles, and two trailing wheels on one axle...  Tank locomotive Tank locomotive A tank locomotive or tank engine is a steam locomotive that carries its water in one or more on-board water tanks, instead of pulling it behind it in a tender. It will most likely also have some kind of bunker to hold the fuel. There are several different types of tank locomotive dependent upon...	1898		purchased new; preserved by the Northern Counties Logging Interpretive Association at Fort Humboldt State Historic Park Fort Humboldt State Historic Park Fort Humboldt State Historic Park is a California state park located in the southern portion of Eureka, just off U.S. Route 101. The North Coast regional headquarters of the California State Parks is located onsite.-Early years, 1853–1860:...