Sierra Nevada Logging Museum

Arnold, California

The museum sits on seven acres of forested hillside formerly occupied by the Blagen Lumber Company mill camp, and stresses that wood, not gold, was the Sierra Nevada's prime natural resource. Indoor exhibits include a lumberjack dummy preparing to hack down a fake tree, a diorama titled "Log Transportation," a "How a Log is Used" display, and lots of old axes and saws. It hosts an annual Logging Jamboree where visitors can attempt lumberjack skills such as speed sawing, ax throwing, and limber pole bucking. According to the museum, log slices from the competition become cherished souvenirs.

Outdoor exhibits, open year-round (if snow hasn't closed the road), include a steam locomotive, a two-man sawmill, a horse-drawn grader used for clearing the woods, a display of old chainsaws stuck into tree trunks, and a Fallen Lumbermen memorial.