Editing Log flume (section)

==Longest flumes==
In the late 19th century, three rival California lumber companies built log flumes of unprecedented and nearly identical length. Each served the same purpose: to link their logging operations in the [[Sierra Nevada]] to railroad shipping depots in the [[San Joaquin Valley]].
* In 1877, The [[Madera Sugar Pine Company|California Lumber Company]] completed a {{convert|54|mi|km}} flume to connect the mill at [[Nelder Grove]] to the shipping depot at [[Madera, California|Madera]].<ref name="Johnston 1968"/>{{rp|16}}<ref name="Fresno Flats">{{Cite sign|title=Fresno Flats Historical Village and Park |year=2022 |type=Museum display |publisher=Madera County Historical Society |location=[[Oakhurst California|Oakhurst, CA]]}}</ref><ref name="Johnston 1997">{{cite book|last=Johnston |first=Hank |date=1997 |title=The Whistles Blow No More |publisher=Stauffer Publishing |isbn=0-87046-067-6}}</ref>{{rp|11}}
* In 1890, the [[Kings River Lumber Company]] completed the {{convert|62|mi|km}} Kings River Flume from the upper [[Kings River (California)|Kings River]] area to [[Sanger, California|Sanger]].<ref name="Johnston They Felled" />{{rp|65}}
* In 1891, the [[Fresno Flume and Irrigation Company]] built a {{convert|65|mi|km}} flume to connect the sawmill at [[Shaver Lake]] with the planing mill and shipping depot at [[Clovis, California|Clovis]].

All three were purported to be "world's longest flume". However, some measurements may have been exaggerated or subject to inaccurate surveying methods. Contemporary attempts at confirmation are inconclusive.

[[Logging truck]]s started to replace flumes in the 1910s. Trucks offered mobility, lower operating costs, and did not rely on the availability of water. Many of the great flumes fell into disrepair and were salvaged for lumber.<ref name="Valley Flumes" /> By 1984, only one lumber flume was operating in the United States.<ref name="Valley Flumes" />{{rp|158}} The Broughton Lumber flume was a {{convert|9|mi|adj=on|spell=in}} V-flume that transported rough-sawn lumber from [[Willard, Washington]] to a finishing mill in Hood, just west of the town of [[Underwood, Washington|Underwood]]. The flume closed down on December 19, 1986.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://broughtonlogflume.blogspot.com/ |title=The Broughton Lumber Flume: American Engineering Achievement |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=May 31, 2009 |access-date=November 19, 2022}}</ref>