It is well known that lumber was pivotal in both the creation and growth of Madera County. Its very name comes from the industry. Between 1874 and 1933 lumber was harvested in the mountains, rough cut in the mountain saw mill, and transported down the flume to the planing mill in Madera.
Throughout the life of Madera County’s lumber industry, three corporations succeeded one another in keeping the business alive. First there was the California Lumber Company, which built the first flume and then went bankrupt in 1878. Next came the Madera Flume and Trading Company, which ran the operation until the Madera Sugar Pine Company acquired its assets and began to improve them in 1899.
The Madera Sugar Pine Company revitalized the lumber industry and soon a need was created for a considerable number of workers. This was met with the influx of large numbers of Chinese laborers in and near the town of Sugar Pine. To house these workers, the company turned an area just below the sawmill into a Chinatown.