Oak paves the way for cars

IAPAN's enormous success in lfmarketing automobiles in the United States is in contrast to their earlier efforts to penetrate the American hardwood market with imports of Japanese oak.

Captain Robert Dollar initiated the importing of Japanese hardwoods to the United States in 1906, according to lumber historian Gage McKinney.

"Dollar most enthusiastically promoted Japanese oak," McKinneY says. "He first purchased oak railroad ties in Hokkaido in 1905, brought them to California, and had them resawn and made into furniture. A very convincing salesman, Dollar aPproached the Southern Pacific Railroad and succeeded beyond his own expectations in securing a huge contract for ties. Back in Hokkaido in February, 1906, he supervised the loading of the Bessre Dollar with several million feet of oak ties, the first cargo of Japanese hardwood to be shipped to North America.

"ln addition to shipping ties to the railroad on a continuing basis, Dollar was soon inventorying oak logs at his lumber yard in San Francisco, Ca. He erected a sawmill nearby for converting these logs into lumber. Five independent sawmills soon began operating near San Francisco for the same purpose, including one that White Brothers Hardwood Co. operated in Petaluma, Ca. During this period the Western Hardwood Co., Los Angeles, was purchasing as much as two million feet of Japanese oak logs from Dollar per year, which they converted into lumber and veneer at a sawmill near San Pedro, Ca.

"E.J. Stanton and Son, Los Angeles, was busy remanufacturing Japanese oak lumber into flooring. Inexpensive, soft-textured Japanese oak also proved to be an ideal wood for the manufacture of the Mission style furniture that was popular at that time. Its importation revitalized the West Coast furniture industrY.

"The foreign oak trade thrived for several years before manufacturers of our domestic oak succeeded in having import duties imposed on JaPanese hardwoods," McKinney concludes.

After World War II in 1946 the Hokkaido Hardwood Lumber Exporters' Association was formed. They reportedly handled as much as 9090 of the lumber export from Hokkaido, sending shipments to EuroPe as well as the U.S., Canada, South America. New Zealand and Australia. Houston, New Orleans, Portland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Tacoma as well as Los Angeles were ports of entry for the Japanese hardwoods.

Story at a Glance

Capt. Dollar initiated imPorts ol Japanese oak nearly 80 Years ago. .kllled by tariffs, the trade revived after World War ll, but lloundered again.

that without such a favourable turn of its export market to encourage inchboard makers, any expansion of inchboard lumber production could be hardly expected."

Another indication that all was not well was found in a letter to American customers printed in the same publication. In part, it said "One of the most serious problems is found in connection with the shiPPing drY condition of our export lumber. While all our lumber for Pacific Coast ports is shipped in bundles, it sometimes happens that owing to a rainfall at time of shipment or at time of discharge the inside of bundled lumber parcels gets wet and that after it is left for a considerable period, the result is to cause stains on even welldried lumber of superior qualitY.

"While we hear a rumour afloat urmong American buyers of Japanese lumber that our lumber is being exported in unsatisfactory dry condition from our ports, it may be recalled that this matter is closely connected with the problem of bundling lumber, to which your special attention may be called for the smoother business relations between American and Japanese merchants."

In addition to promoting exports of oak, they encouraged exports ofbirch, beech, sen, katsura, ash, elm, basswood, asada and maple. Hardwood lumber, floorings and plywoods which were processed or manufactured items were on the free export list. Government approval was required for the exportation of softwoods.

The outlook for continuation of hardwood exports was far from encouraging according to a publication issued in 1957 by the export association. ". .it may be safely predicted

Now, almost 80 years from the time of the arrival of the first JaPanese oak imports in the U.S., it's cars, not lumber crossing the Pacific and flooding the market, but maYbe everyone learned a lesson from the earlier experiences with wood or maybe they didn't. Who knows.

Gage McKinney is the author of Hardwood People, a 70 page historY of the Pacific Coost hardwood lumber industry which contains stories of the colorful hurdwood pioneers as well as I0 pages of historic photos.-ed.

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