BOHEMLA

The Lives and Times of an Oregon TimberVenture

by Michael Thoele

A lumber business tale-from British Columbia to California, and from Hawaii to the Gulf of Mexico

Launched in Oregon in 1917, the Bohemia Lumber Company would be a colorful and sometimes controversial fixture in West Coast business and politics for 75 years.

From forest floor to boardroom table, Bohemia's tale echoes with the sounds of crosscut saws and river log drives, confronts the Creat Depression and World War ll, and roars into the timber-bidding wars and environmental battles of the late 20th century.

Here is history told in terms of a colorful timber outfit's people, including Stub and Faye Stewart, the intense and sometimes feuding brothers who put their stamp on the family operation and saw a "haywire" sawmill venture grow to become an economic force in the West and a player on the national stage.

With 300 photos ald illustrations

Oregon Historical Society Press

BOHEMIA rtre Lives andTimes of an OregonTimberVenture $35.00 in hardcover from The Cheshire Company o P.O. Box 106 o Cheshire, OR 97419

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The structural wood panel industry's excess production capacity, meanwhile, appears finally to be lessening. Capacity rose from 35.95 billion sq. ft. in 1994 to 42.29 billion ft. last year, as some 20 new mills were built. Approximately 3.6 billion ft. of new capacity-nearly all of it OSBwas added last year alone. However, 2.1 billion ft. of mill capacity also closed.

The structural wood panel industry's production-capacity ratio is expected to rise from 86Vo in 1996 to 90Vo this year, two percentage points better than the industry's historical average. For OSB, the ratio is forecast to climb from 79Vo in 1996 to 88Vo.

While APA foresees a slight decline in housing starts this year, residential market demand for structural wood panels should rise with an increase in per-unit consumption.

International market demand (excluding trans-border shipments between the U.S. and Canada) climbed 5Vo in 1997 to 2.47 billion ft., or 6.7qo of total industry production. Foreign market demand is anticipated to increase to 252 billion ft. this year, provided the effects of the Asian crisis are short-lived. About 30Vo of U.S. and Canadian offshore shipments of structural wood panels go to Asia, particularly Japan. Europe accounts for more than SOVo of foreisn demand.

Grassroots Political Drive

Shelley Cameron, president of 3-C Trucking, Long Beach, Ca., is rallying grassroots support for Republican Representative Frank Riggs' bid for the U.S. Senate.

The three-term Congressman from Northern California's first Congressional district, according to Cameron, "has been a forceful advocate of private property rights and a sound management strategy of our natural resources. With a proven legislative record, Representative Riggs is the best choice to defend the interests of the California timber industrv in Washington, D.C."

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