redwood

By Paul Gaboury

ment, the car had to be hand unloaded for $40-$s0.

Green surfaced lumber used to turn black with stain, so the mills developed anti-stain treating and sealing the ends.

Old sawmill burners were ruled environmentally illegal. There was a switch to marketing the sawdust and chips, a very worthwhile additional income.

lN 1940, as production superintendent of lPacific Tank & Pipe Co., it was my job to procure 2" and 3" clear all heart redwood tank stock, clear Douglas fir tank stock and crossarm stock. We kiln dried it at our Oakland, Ca., plant and manufactured water tanks, wine tanks, acid dip tanks for galvanizing, drilled and roofed crossarrns and even Alaska-bound oil storage hnks (wi& flutes between the staves kept filled with water to prevent the oil from shrinking the redwood). There was a shortage of steel - we even manufactured wooden pipe up to 6'diameter. We were skimming the very best part of the log in all cases.

My uncle, George Gorman, as a pilot in the RCAF, was shot down behind

Story at a Glance

Al Boldt (good old Charley Beacom) and Maloney Chambers at Healdsburg took on some specified cutting.

Tom Dimmick's mill was across the river from the highway. Floods frequently wiped out the bridge, and he had ro high- wire his lumber across.

Most lumber in Northern California was shipped by T&T. Most yards were off rail; truck service was better aud easier to finance. Due to the'pmxirnity to the mills, cargo was not a factor.

The big redwood mills, some smaller mills and large Oregon mills shipping bundled uppers offered a 5Vo wholesale discount! This was great for wholesalers, and resulted in everyone quoting about the same delivered price to the retailer. But as competition increased, the mills decided it was advantageous to quote net.

The redwood mills were very customer appreciative. Union Lumber Co. flew customers in its plane to Fort Bragg for an overnight. Pacific Lumber put you up at their Hotel Mowatoc. now the Scotia Inn.

Some sawyers stood on the headrig and hand set the log as they traveled back and forth. The sawyer was the most important man in the mill. Mill jobs and mill towns were mostly family-oriented through the generations.

Big sellers were 3/8xl-l /2 lath and handsplit redwood stakes, another father and son tradition. I doubt if either is available today - ditto large FOHC timbers.

With the surplus of small logs - not profitable for the large mills - came the tandem-blade bread slicers. Another innovation was the plywood industry. Its huge demand for choice logs greatly reduced the amount of clear and select structural left in the regular sawmill mix.

Kimberly Clark was a huge producer of paper, pine, fir and cedar lumber. Their planing mills, storage sheds and automated kiln stackers were tops. They had a pencil slab plant in the basement, "manned" by women - a rarity then. They waxed and stained the cedar, which was cut into hexagons instead of rounds. K.C. also had a houseboat on Lake Shasta available to customers.

German lines and held as a prisoner for six months. He later formed an airline in Edmonton for shipping freight to Northern Alberta, Alaska and the Northwest.

In later years, George was sales manager for Hammond Lumber Co. and flew their plane contacting customers. Then he bought a mill at Port Orford, Wa., the steamship Daisy Gadsby and his remanufacturing plant at Oakland. Unfortunately, he died in 1932 while still young.

In 1952 the large volume yards in the Bay Area were Gamerston & Green, Dickensons, Rolando, Smith, Christenson, E.K. Wood and Loop. Since at the time few sawmills had milling facilities, there was a big demand for rough lumber from Loop, Christenson, E.K. Wood and Rolando, with their milling and remanufacturing facilities.

Surfaced boards were also scarce. Christenson, with Doc White at the helm, specialized in remanufacturing boards from 2x6 and 2x8 #3 rough fir.

We had many California redwood mills to choose from - many on the road to Fort Bragg, such as Independent, Philo Lumber and Al Boldt Lumber Co. Specified lengths in dimension and timbers were very difficult to cover. Fortunately,

The Oakland Hoo-Hoo Club had a huge party every year at the Claremont Hotel, with over 300 attending. Golf tournaments were big time, held each year at Eureka, Redding, Medford, Eugene and, of course, the famous Silver Dollar at Grass Valley. The moming after the tournament, my cousin, Art Milhaupt, then with Fremont, hosted a fancy brunch at his home on the Eugene Country Club. It was a marvelous place to hear the scuttlebutt and determine the market with all those mill owners present.

Mitch Wagner at Humboldt Fir cut the 6xl4-34' rough select structural FOHC beams for my Tahoe house. After 28 years, there is not one crack that would take a knife blade.

Another fine timber mill is Rough & Ready at Cave Junction. They would saw-size your timbers to ALS in the headrig - the way to go!

I remember calling on Stan Preble, with his little sawmill around Weott. There he was running the mill in the pouring rain, cutting maybe 8-l0M' per day, his office in his hip pocket.

Lumber was all hand loaded in box cars. Larger mills had sunken tracks. Then we in California began insisting on "Flat Car Loading for Hyster Discharge."

On one of my first such orders the mill hand loaded a full car of 2x4s solid pack with no 4" spacers. To my embarrass-

Frank Close managed a yard for Diamond Match near Marysville. When he decided to start his own yard at Sutter, his former employers said he made a mistake going against such a large organization and that they would drive him out of business. Soon thereafter, they called it quits.

His little 20'x25' offtce was constantlv cluttered with guns and trophies on thl walls, four clerks and a display case with not even room on top for an order book. His yard was alone in the country, but ever crowded with customers. It was a very popular gathering place for hunters, fishermen, farmers and home builders.

The trade surely remembers and misses Hobbs Wall, owned by Al Bell and Lew Goddard. They specialized in redwood, and did a fine job for both the small and large yards. Unfortunately, it was disbanded with the death of Bill Johnson.

Max Cook represented the Califurnia Lumber Merchant (now The Merchant Magazine) in our area and was the liaison between the mills. wholesalers and retailers. It was always a pleasure to have a personal visit by Max giving us the latest scoop on everyone and everything.

These and like memories go on for all of us.

A LTHOUGH redwood's reputalLtion has been built on natural durability and decay resistance that make it an excellent choice for exterior uses. the wood can also be marketed for interior applications.

Rich, distinctive redwood paneling and trim can renew any room, adding luxury to a living room, kitchen, bath, accent wall or ceiling.

Interior applications include millwork, columns, doors, windows, cabinets, shelving and, most commonlY, -l paneling.

Redwood offers these "inside" advantages:

Finishing. With a nearly infinite variety of warm natural hues, rich grains and textures, interior redwood

Story at a Glance

Redwood is a fine choice indoors as well as out ... use as paneling, trim, columns, etc. ... its advantages in interior applications.