40°30′53″N 124°08′41″W/40.51472°N 124.14472°W/ 40.51472; -124.14472

Metropolitan is an unincorporated community in Humboldt County, California, United States. It is located on McDairmid Prairie, on the north side of the Eel River floodplain, three miles downstream of Scotia, at an elevation of 72 feet (22 m).

History

The location was formerly a company town of 25 homes with a hotel and store for sawmill workers of the Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company organized in 1904 by owners in Michigan and Wisconsin. Company timberlands on Slater Creek were reached by a railroad trestle across the Eel River. The timber was logged out in the 1920s, and the sawmill burned in 1932. Most of the employee housing was moved to Rio Dell by 1937. The railway trestle and 62-room hotel were destroyed by the Eel River flood of 23 December 1964.

Metropolitan Redwood Lumber Company Locomotives

NumberBuilderTypeDateWorks numberNotes
1Lima Locomotive WorksShay locomotive3 May 19071836purchased new; became Pacific Lumber Company #36 in October 1935
2Lima Locomotive WorksShay locomotive24 December 1904867formerly Amador Central Railway #2 (Ione, California); purchased 1912; scrapped c1939

5. ShayLocomotives.com research site (1998-2017)