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By Matt Moulder

Our featured lumberman notable of the pastfor the month of May is the former head sales exec. for Tarter Webster & Johnson Co., .lack Ford. Some of The Merchant'syounger readers may not recognize the name TW&J. This was the sales organization for a company that had no less than 12 sawmills in Southern Oregon and California. The firm also made plywood. mouldings, and millwork and was probably the biggest manufacturer of box shook in the world. Messrs. Tarter and Webster were box shook manufacturers. They loined forces with an attorney named Walter Johnson to form TW&J in the 1920s. fohnson became the dominant figure in the company's rapid expansion into sawmilling and other segments of the lumber industry.

In 1943 a man named Harold Ford was hired by TW&i. He eventually became the sales manager for the company and in'1950 was loined by his son. lack, who succeeded his father as the #1 man in the sales department. jack's title when he retired in 1979 was Executive Vice President. By then the company had gone through two name changes and a change in ownership. The name TW&f was changed to American Forest Products, then to Bendix Forest Products, and after Bendix sold to KK&R in 1979 the name was changed back to American Forest Products.

Jack Ford is happily retired and living in Moraga, Ca., his home of many years. His time is divided between golfing at Orinda Country Club, looking after his investments, following the athletic exploits of the Cal Bears, and traveling. lack, his wife, Vera, and family spend a fair amount of time at Incline Village, Nv', and Carmel, Ca., where they have vacation homes.

lack was born in Elk River, ld. Much of his youth was spent in Merced Falls, Ca. Where is Merced Falls located you ask? Don't bother to look for it on the map. as it no longer exists. lt was what is commonly referred to as a "company town," owned by a sawmill firm called Yosemite Sugar Pine Lumber Co. All of the logs processed by the mill came from a large tractof company-owned land located just east of El Portal, Ca., bordering Yosemite National Park. Logs came in by rail and a train load of timber was delivered to the mill each day.

In 1 943, then Secretary of the Interior Harold lckes engineered a plan to have the company's timberlands taken over by the government and made a part of Yosemite Park. Subsequentlv, the mill was dismantled and the town was torn down and hauled off for salvage.

Now, 50 years later the same thing is going on, only now they are locking up both private and public timber in order to provide additional habitat for goshawks and owls. More ghost towns are in the making!

Owl Droppings ln our last column we mentioned that in 1990 Ed Wilson, former Ochoco Lumber Co. sales manager was given an award by his employer for having sold one billion board feet of lumber in his career. Consolidated Pine Inc.'s Bill Carey, one of Ed's golfing buddies, tells us that this statement is misleading' Actually, half of the lumber hasn't shipped yet, according to Carey!

Pacific Southeast Forest Products

P.O. Box 819, Diamond Springs, Ca. 95619

Larry White

Curt Crane $161 626-4221

Manufacturerc: Ponderosa & Sugar Pine Mouldings and Cutstock

Located in the Heart o./' Bis Timber Country