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It was once the largest redwood mill operation in the world, but Scotia’s “Mill A” and the adjacent sorter building have been steadily and visibly deteriorating in the 24 years since the Pacific Lumber Co. shut them down.

A testament to the financial power of the region’s once-booming logging industry, these towering industrial buildings and their underlying parcels are now in escrow with an undisclosed party, according to Town of Scotia Company President Steven T. Deike.

But don’t expect them to be restored to their former glory. Deike said that while it’ll be up to the new owners to decide the structures’ fate, a professional survey and analyses conducted some years back revealed their lack of potential.

“It was deemed to not even be close to economically feasible to rehabilitate [the buildings],” Deike told the Outpost earlier today. In fact, he said, the analysis concluded that even demolition would be a break-even proposition at best: The salvage value of raw materials, including virgin redwood timbers, would only maybe cover the cost of remediating hazardous waste onsite. 

“Everything was steam heated [during the mill’s operations], and they wrapped all the pipes in asbestos,” Deike said. “Of course, that’s a no-no nowadays.”

He added that Pacific Lumber Co. conducted some environmental hazard assessments and addressed some soil contamination from petroleum products before going belly-up. “It’s not a toxic dump!” he stated emphatically.

The two parcels that host the mill and sorter building have been in escrow for close to a year, but ownership can’t be transferred to the mystery buyer until Phase Four of a prolonged subdivision project receives all necessary agency approvals.

In a phone interview, Deike said the Town of Scotia Co. had to complete a variety of infrastructure improvements along Williams Street — upgrading sewer and water lines, building new sidewalks, etc. — and the “as-built” diagrams are awaiting approval from a long list of entities, including the County of Humboldt, the Scotia Community Services District, PG&E and others. Deike said he’s hopeful that those approvals could come through as soon as February.

The Town of Scotia Company, LLC, assumed ownership of most assets in this former company town during PALCO’s 2008 bankruptcy proceedings. In recent years it rented space in Mill A to a variety of tenants, including Eel River Brewery, AquaDam and a sheet metal company. The sorter building was used as an RV storage facility for awhile. 

But the structures are no longer suitable for occupation, as you can plainly see when you drive past on Hwy. 101. 

“Nobody gave a rat’s ass about that property until the roof caved in,” Deike remarked in our phone conversation. He said public interest has skyrocketed since the roof collapse at the sorter building became visible this past spring. But this deterioration isn’t new.

“It’s been falling down from the inside out since, shoot, probably when PALCO had it,” Deike said.

He’s not at liberty to disclose the identity of the buyer or the purchase price, he said. A real estate deck from 2015 listed the parcels for $6,150,000, with the sales copy highlighting “ample power” from PG&E and water drawn from the adjacent Eel River.

Deike predicted that the new owners will likely dismantle Mill A and the sorter building. 

“It’s not safe,” he said, noting that while the buildings may have some historical significance, preserving them simply isn’t pragmatic.

“All you’re doing is saving nostalgia, I guess,” Deike said.