The subject of this particular thread was reopening of the railroad from South Fork to Samoa for movement of rock. Whether the distance is long or short is irrelevant, Humboldt County roads cannot handle the beating of a highway move. If the rock is going to move at all, it will be by rail. However, to move the gravel to a suitable waterfront, only that portion of the railroad from South Fork to South Bay, including the Carlotta branch, need be restored to service. Reopening to Samoa is possibly a recognition of the importance to the region of the proposed tourist train operation.

It is true the aggregate handling facilities that once existed at South Bay (also known as Fields Landing Terminal) are long gone and would have to be replaced either at South Bay or any of the other existing facilities. But everything else “Bit” says about the Port and the quarries is misleading.

As of a couple years ago, there were eleven quarries in Humboldt County with valid SMARA and Use Permits. Presently, all Humboldt County quarry output must move by truck for local construction and City and County highway maintenance. However, the four permitted quarries previously referred to abut the railroad and would require no highway transit to use rail. The proposed expansion would not eliminate local highway movements to private and public local consumers, but no trucks would be added to serve the rest of the State.

Humboldt Bay Forest Products Docks would surely be astounded to learn that all those logs moving across its piers are handled without any infrastructure. I am equally confident Fields Landing Terminal, Redwood Marine Terminal, Schneider Dock, Sierra Pacific Eureka Dock, and Simpson Chip Export would be similarly startled to learn they too have “no useable infrastructure.” Maybe volumes are down (I don’t know), but the physical plant still exists.

Finally, nothing needs to be done to “rework the harbor entrance or jetties.” If the reference is to the so-called “bulkhead,” south of Eureka, those repairs have nothing whatsoever to do with the utility of the Port – only the railroad approach to Eureka. The Port is in fine shape for bulk commodities – if not for containers.

The Port is not the problem.