Chuckaluk Lumber Company
In 1892, the gold in the Pandora Hills had finally started to run out. The local people began looking for a new industry to keep the town of Muggins going, or shutting it down and moving down to the valley and Craig.
On a warm spring day in 1898, an old resident by the name of 'Charlie' walked down the main street to the 'Brass Saloon' with a large gold nugget in his hand. It wasn't long before he had many offers to buy the mine where he found the nugget and he sold it to the Klondike Mining Company for $25,000. People thought he would move to one of the big cities, but old Charlie had other ideas.
Old Charlie took his money and began buying land and building a lumber mill, hiring the town's people to work at it. Soon the lumber mill was producing lumber but shipping was now a problem. So Charlie contacted the Lakota Eastern (LE) Railroad for help in building a track down to Craig.
The LE saw this as an opportunity to make some money and quickly agreed to help build the new line. Building track through Red Hawk Canyon was very difficult and costly, but in the end it paid great dividends to both the lumber mill and the railroad.
When the track finally reached the lumber mill, the mill did not have a name. So someone said,
"If it hadn't of been for Charlie's luck there wouldn't be a mill."
Someone else said let's call it Charlie's Luck. The name was soon shortened to "Chuckaluck Lumber Company," employing most of the town's residence, bringing prosperity to the once dying town.
Horse Flat Bridge
Chuckaluk Yard Office @ MT Pool Loading Yard
Turn Tunnel
Chuckaluk Lumber Yard (to be loaded)
Chuckaluk Lumber Sawmill
