rrsSION Forest Products

Exclusive sales representatives: CALIFORNIA SPLIT RAIL FENCE CALIFORNIA GRAPE STAKE

PLOS

All species of cedar productsTreated and untreated poles for farm & ranch supply dealers

WHOLESALE ONLY

JACKSMTTH (4O8) 637-74s5

225 6th St., Hollister, Ca. 95023

DON WELD (2O9) 432-O34O

6L238 N. Blackstone, Fresno, Ca. 93710 c) o E o UJ o o E a E o UJ o

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We are manufacturers and sell wholesale ONLY o CEDARoCEDARoCEDARoCEDAR.CEDAR.CEDAR.CEDAR.CEDARoGEDARoCEDAR. wP"l TG&V RoY.r.lblo ls V4E Ffirst Gloss Lunnber Houbrs Radio-controlled trucks limited storage OC Tnuckfing 2380 E. Curry, Long Beach, Ca. 90805 (2T3) 422-0426

Philippine Mohogany

(Continued from page 63) sound burls, cross grain, sap and limited shake were the only defects found in the lower grades. The logs from which "Bagac" was sawn averaged from 24'to 48' in diameter, making possible clear timbers ranging from 6" or 8" by 14" and 16" and up to fifty feet long, absolutely free from heart center and almost entirely heartwood. Barto and Osgood sold millions of feet of "Bagac" to Fisher Body Division of General Motors in the 1930s for automobile bodies and running boards.

Along with the development of the famous trade names, the sales manual written by Osgood also indicates the working relationship that he and Barto shared. The 30 page manual, intended for the use of sales personnel, distributors and agents, communicates a deep background knowledge of Philippine lumber and timber, which can be attributed to Barto, written in the crisp, pithy style of a top notch salesman like Osgood. Every sentence reads like a line from a well-polished pitch, and all of the claims are reinforced by testimonial letters from satisfied customers, graphs of mechanical data and other evidence.

I

Douglas

Gibson issued the manual for the last time in 1939.

Among the many sales promotions introduced by CadwalladerGibson in the '30s, one other particularly shows Barto and Osgood working together. At that time many mill work firms still used high-speed steel saw blades, and Barto feared that when these customers used "Bagac" for the first time they would be disappointed by the way the lumber would dull their saws. As a solution, Osgood began shipping a free set of carbide sawblades with each initial order of "Bagac." Using the new blades, the customers were impressed by the lumber's workability.

Forty years after CadwalladerGibson cut its last pay check, a former employee reminisced about working for the firm. They always paid above the prevailing wage in order to attract the most talented people, he said. And Barto and Osgood were both kind and gracious men, men who you could admire.

The outbreak of World War II marked the end for Cadwallader-

Gibson Company because the Japanese invasion of the Philippines in l94l cut off the supply of Philippine lumber to the U.S.

Even before the invasion, however, the British bank of Hong Kong and Shanghai, the bank which had financed Cadwallader-Gibson from the start, notified the firm of its intention to sever relations. The firm was forced to liquidate.

As war raged across the Pacific, the kilns at Berth 45, Long Beach, operated as Precision Kiln Drying Co., drying spruce and hemlock for the war effort. Meanwhile, Barto went to South America for the U.S. government to seek new sources for Tropical American mahogany. Robert Osgood set out on his own to begin buildirqe the Los Angelesbased firm which bears his name today.

After the war, Barto and two associates from the CadwalladerGibson days, George B. Beckman and James W. Mcleod, formed the Mahogany Importing Co., 621 S. Spring, Los Angeles, with Barto as president. The firm traded in Tropical American and Philippine mahoganies.

After Barto retired in 1954, Mahogany Importing was sold to Potlatch Corporation. Beckman and his brothers, who established Beckman Lumber Service, purchased most of the yard assets.

Barto retired, according to an article in The Merchant Magozine, then known as The California Lumber Merchant, "completely, intensively and permanently." He moved to a home on the Hood Canal at Potlatch, Washington, where he learned that "hunting, fishing and sailing can be happily substituted for hard work." Later the Bartos returned to Southern California, to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Roy Barto died in l97l at the age of 88.

Today the Barto family still prizes the skin from the python that Roy Barto battled more than 60 years ago beside a muddy stream in Luzon. A few years ago one of Roy Barto's grandchildren took it to school for show and tell, to once more tell the story of bravery that symbolized the remarkable career of Roy Barto.