By Susan Couso
Charles Dennison Kellogg was a very unique guy. He was born near Mineral, Plumas County in 1868, and grew up on a ranch near Susanville. His father, Henry, was a miner, blacksmith and operated a general store that catered mainly to miners.
Charles had two sisters and a brother and the kids were mainly left in the care of their Native American nanny and the family’s Chinese cook, Moon.
Charles enjoyed his life and loved nature and, at a very early age, he learned to ‘converse’ with birds.
He learned to make bird sounds, not by whistling, but by using his throat.
He became an expert at this, and by the time he was 22 years old, he became a Vaudeville performer and traveled extensively.
In 1911, Kellogg was signed by RCA Victor to record, and you can hear his recordings on YouTube today. But more than anything else, Kellogg loved nature, and he loved the redwoods.
He probably did more to bring the plight of the redwoods to public attention than anyone. Kellogg claimed to have never killed a living creature, and was a vegetarian. He did what he could to lessen his ‘footprint’ on nature.
Charles Kellogg was also a craftsman and inventor who designed a mechanized fruit and nut picker and a movable fireplace, among other things.
In 1917, Kellogg began work building his ‘Travel Log’, an early motor-home hewed from a 22-foot long section of a 11-foot-diameter fallen redwood tree from Bull Creek Flat. The log was estimated to weigh 36 tons, and Kellogg got to work hollowing it out.
When he finally finished, after months of work, and after adding windows, cabinets, bed and a toilet, etc., it weighed in at 8-tons. Still quite a load. He chose a 1917 four-wheel-drive Nash Quad to carry his masterpiece.
The Quad had been the vehicle of choice for ambulances during WWI, and was up to the challenge, but top speed was still only 18mph. And Kellogg was off, traveling the country to save nature, and the redwoods, in particular.
Kellogg died in 1949, after a lifetime of loyalty to the Earth. On his 100th birthday, October 7th, 1968, Redwood National Park was dedicated, and today, Kellogg’s Travel Log is on display at the visitor center in Humboldt Redwoods State Park.
