Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 140

Introduced by Senator Evans

August 5, 2014

Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 140—Relative to the Wesley Chesbro Pudding Creek Trestle.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SCR 140, as introduced, Evans. Wesley Chesbro Pudding Creek Trestle.

This measure would designate the Pudding Creek Trestle in MacKerricher State Park in Mendocino County as the Wesley Chesbro Pudding Creek Trestle.

Fiscal committee: no.

WHEREAS, The Pudding Creek Trestle is a
pedestrian-equestrian-bicycle timber stringer bridge over Pudding
Creek in MacKerricher State Park, adjacent to the City of Fort
Bragg in Mendocino County; and

WHEREAS, The trestle is 48 feet above sea level, with a total
length of 515 feet and a deck width of 12 feet; and

WHEREAS, The trestle was built by the Union Lumber
Company in 1915 as a logging railroad trestle; and

WHEREAS, During the early years of the 20th century, the
Union Lumber Company harvested timber from forests along Ten
Mile River, and the Ten Mile Railroad was constructed to transport
logs from those forests, and over Pudding Creek, to the Fort Bragg
mill; and

WHEREAS, For 32 years the Ten Mile Railroad existed as a
working railroad, hauling logs and transporting workers; and

WHEREAS, After World War II, logging trucks replaced the
railroad, and the right-of-way, including the trestle, were converted
for truck use in 1949; and

WHEREAS, All use of the trestle ended in 1983, and the
Department of Parks and Recreation acquired the unused logging
road and nearby headlands in 1995; and

WHEREAS, In 2001, Senator Wesley Chesbro requested a
report on the structural condition of the trestle, and state engineers
concluded that with some structural modifications it could be safely
used by nonmotorized traffic, including pedestrians, bicyclists,
and equestrians, to provide easy access from Fort Bragg to the
beaches at MacKerricher State Park and to create the key link in
one of the longest public trails along the California coast; and

WHEREAS, Senator Chesbro thereupon committed to securing
funding through the State Coastal Conservancy or from unallocated
park bond funds and gathered department heads from affected state
and federal agencies to form a working group to pursue the project;
and

WHEREAS, Thanks to Senator Chesbro’s leadership, the Budget
Act of 2003 provided $235,000 in Proposition 40 funds for
preliminary plans and working drawings to rehabilitate the trestle,
in 2004, the trestle project was awarded $1,939,000 in Proposition
40 funds for construction, and in 2006, the project was awarded
an additional $1,666,000 to complete the project; now, therefore,
be it

Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, the Assembly
thereof concurring, That the Legislature hereby designates the
Pudding Creek Trestle in MacKerricher State Park as the Wesley
Chesbro Pudding Creek Trestle; and be it further

Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of
this resolution to the Director of Parks and Recreation and to the
author for appropriate distribution.

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CORRECTIONS:

Text--Pages 1 and 2.

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