The future mayor of Santa Cruz , Fred Swanton , decided that the land could be used to generate renewable energy . In the last decade of the 1800s he built a powerhouse with two dams on Big Creek and Mill Creek , and generated hydro-electric power for the Central Coast Counties Gas and Electric which became part of PG&E . However , after a forest fire broke out the flume was destroyed and the powerhouse was abandoned . To assist with logging on the land the Ocean Shore Railroad was constructed . It ran along the coast from San Francisco to Santa Cruz . The railroad hauled logs out of Swanton to the San Vincente Lumber Company sawmill in Santa Cruz . The redwood from this logging was used to rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake . In 1922 the railroad was shut down due to a demand for higher wages from its employees
1906 earthquake
1906 San Francisco earthquake
Swanton Pacific Ranch