The romantic saga of cigar box cedar

rFJIS IS a romantic storY of how a I small group of adventurers brought out of the jungles of Mexico virtually all the cedar used in cigar boxes in America for over a decade.

Roy and Titcomb, Inc., a pioneer Arizona lumber company, cut Mexican cedar along with hardwoods in the swamps and jungles of San Blas on the west coast of Mexico near Cuadalajara in the 1920s. Popularly known as cigar box cedar, the wood was used to make the boxes in which cigars were packed prior to the introduction of cellophane wrappings.

Exciting and unique describes their method of timber cruising as the old timers remember it. Cus Michaels, mill manager, and his Mexican logging foreman, would launch a rowboat and row out into the swampy area of the jungle. A small crew of boys would accompany them.

When they reached the timber area, the men would give each boy a leaf of one of the species they were looking for. They would then have the first boy climb the tallest tree with instructions to count the number of trees in the area with leaves the same as the one he carried. Thev would row a few

Story at a Glance

How adventurous lumbermen battled the perils of Mexican jungles to locate cedar lor clgar boxes. ..medicinal gln and qui. nlne water averted mosquito attacks while timber cruising.

hundred yards farther and send No. 2 boy up the tallest tree and so on.

While the boys were climbing and counting, the men in the boat were fighting off mosquitos with plenty of gin and quinine water.

This story sounds great as far as hardwoods are concerned, but using this technique to locate the coniferous cedar stretches the imagination. Regardless, all agree that Mexican cedar for cigar boxes was the big cash deal for the firm.

After the logs were cut, they were (Please turn to page 40)