MOSS LANDING IIDOC'' DISCOVERS THE CURE TO AGING WITH CHEMONITE'

llestled in the center of Califomia's picllturesque Monterey Bay, Moss Landing has been the home port for everything from whalers to steam-ship merchants, fishermen and Prohibition-era rum runners since Captain Charles Moss founded it in 1853.

Identified from miles away by the area's landmarktwin 500-foot chimneys rising from Pacific Gas and Electric's steam generating plantMoss Landing became an official Harbor District in 1947. Thereafter began the gradual process of constructing docks and 600 boat slips.

When the docks and boat berths were originally built in the early 1950s, the wood was preserved with brush-on treatments. Two decades later, as the wood began to age, it rotted, sagged and completely fell apart, makins the facilities unsafe for users.

converge on the landing for the annual Antique Street Fair.

Chemonite is the registered trade name for Ammoniacal Copper Zinc Arsenate (ACZA). It was initially formulated at the University of California in the 1920s and developed for commercial use in the 1940s by J.H. Baxter. a California timber and treatment company, which continues to hold the product's license today. Chemonite-treated wood has maintained its structural integrity for over 50 years with no reported removal due to failure.

Neu,Chemonite treated bertbs at Moss landing.

Then the harbor district started rebuilding with lumber pressure treated with Chemonite wood preservative and the symptoms of aging ceased. "Chemonite was the cure for our problems with wood rot," says Moss Landing Harbor District maintenance foreman, Neal Norris.

Norris' maintenance crew is cunently using 100,000 board feet of Chemonite{reated Douglas fir to rebuild I l0 sailboat slips at the landing's north harbor. Nonis said the old wood was so dilapidated it was easier to completely rebuild the dock than to try to repair it.

The Deoartment of Fish and Game finds Chemonite acceptable for Moss Landing's environmentally sensitive location. Ten miles of sloughs and estuaries connected to the landing host more than 90 species of waterassociated birds, plus hundreds of aquatic and plant species, making Moss Landing a prime preserve for marine studies.

With the aging dock problems remedied, antique enthusiasts would argue old wood still has its place in this rustic coastal seaport. Moss Landing is now home to 25 antique dealers, boasting their grouping as the antique hub of the central coast. Their commerce is highlighted on the last Sunday of each July when more than 12,000 visitors

The marine environment-both salt and fresh water- requires building materials that will withstand tough times. The right wood, pressure treated with the right preservative to the proper penetration and retention has been proven to resist the stress of the environment best. For complete details on Chemonite treated Douglas fir and the name of your nearest Chemonite wood treater call 415-57 3-331 1. or write P.O. Box 4215 Foster City. CA 94404.