SACRAMENTO, Calif. – In a remarkable display of strong will and survival, a California logger cut off his leg to free himself from beneath a fallen tree on a remote hillside.

Al Hill, 66, an experienced logger from the small Gold Rush community of Iowa Hill, was recovering Wednesday at Sutter Roseville Medical Center in Roseville, Calif.

With a cell phone but no reception, Hill resorted to amputating his left leg below the knee with a pocketknife sometime Friday.

It was not until that night, reportedly about 11 hours after the tree fell on him at 8:30 a.m., that Hill’s daylong ordeal ended at the trauma center.

He remained in serious condition Wednesday and was expected to be hospitalized for some time, said Robin Montgomery, a Sutter Roseville spokeswoman.

Hill has declined to be interviewed by the media, Montgomery said.

He was cutting down trees on a remote hillside near the Big Dipper Mine when one pinned him to the ground, according to Iowa Hill’s volunteer fire chief, Luana Dowling.

At some point, after the amputation, Hill’s cries for help caught the attention of Eric Bookey, 31, a new Iowa Hill resident.

Bookey helped Hill to a truck, and they sped to an emergency clearing area, where they would be met by a helicopter.

On the way, they were joined by Dowling, who said she was alerted about the accident at 7:30 p.m. after Bookey finally got cell phone reception and was able to place an emergency call.

Hill was conscious but groggy and barely talking before being airlifted to Sutter Roseville, Dowling said.

Dowling described Hill, whom she has known for more than 20 years, as a family man, “very quiet, very likable, very hard-working.”

His desire to survive what must have been a terrifying situation has amazed those who have heard the tale.

“He’s a pretty strong-willed person,” Dowling said.

Public records indicate Hill is the owner of A A A Timber Services.

Dowling said Hill has been logging in the Iowa Hill area for many years; her brother, Randy Campbell, said he and Hill used to clear trees on terrain so rough that professional logging companies wouldn’t send their equipment there.

Residents described Hill as a private man, serious and reserved but well-respected.

He is a remnant of the sawmill industry that once dominated their town.

“All Al talked about was cutting the big trees,” Campbell said. “Even to pro timber fallers, fluke accidents happen all the time.”

The accident has been the talk of Iowa Hill, a rural abode to about 150 people. It is a close-knit community spread over a large area – about 10 square miles.

The town’s only buildings are the Iowa Hill School, a solar-powered one-room schoolhouse with seven students, and the Iowa Hill Store, the town’s all-in-one post office, grocery store, restaurant and bar.

Both buildings can be found on the winding, one-lane Iowa Hill Road.

Dowling said there is much concern for Hill among residents of the tiny community, which lacks modern conveniences like electricity and cell phone towers.

“Everybody has just kind of pulled together,” Dowling said. “Anything he needs, we’ll be there for him.”

Most in Iowa Hill know him. Some know him only by reputation – and that’s all that connected the logger and his rescuer before that fateful Friday, said Bookey’s mother, Karen Bookey.

She said her son hasn’t talked about what happened out of respect for Hill’s privacy.

Her son has visited Hill at the hospital and was relieved to see the logger in good spirits, Karen Bookey said.

She and her husband, Fred, are proud of their son, as are other members of the community.

But he shrugs off the praise, Karen Bookey said.

“(Eric) doesn’t see himself as a hero that way,” she said. “I heard him say, “Mr. Hill is the real hero. He hung on.”‘

On Wednesday night, as the Iowa Hill community celebrated the graduation of two eighth-graders, the school’s only teacher, Richard Marks, led the town in observing a moment of silence to honor Hill.

“It’s a terrible accident,” he said, “and he’s such a quiet, never-rock-the-boat kind of guy.”

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(c) 2007, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).

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Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

AP-NY-06-07-07 1242EDT