BEL-AIR DOOR THE PINE MOULDING BUSINESS ALL NEW

Bel-Air pine mouldings are available in SOLID wood and FINGERJOINT wood. ALL MOULDINGS ARE SOLD IN 1OO LINEAL FOOT PRICES.

All designs shown are in stock f or im med iate delivery. Please call for quotation on large footage quantities. Also full truckload quantities at special prices. Call or write: Bel-Air Door Co., 304 So. Date Ave., Alhambra, California 91803, (213) 283-3731 or 576-2545.

Pack River Co. Sold

Pack River Co., a privatelY-held, Spokane, Wa., lumber and timber concernhasbeen sold to a New York investment PartnershiP for $ll5 million. The buyer is Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. and is also privately held.

The purchase is said to include substantially all the assets. Included are 180,000 acres of timberland as well as l5 planing mills and sawmills in western Montana, central Washington and northern Idaho. Approximately 1.2 billion board feet of salable timber is contained in the timberland.

W-l Forest Products Inc., a new company headed bY Douglas A. Westenhaver Jr., formerlY exec. v.p. of Bendix Corp.'s forest Products subsidiary, will operate the mills, according to George Roberts, a partner in Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co.

He identified the investors as being, variously, private investors, banks, insurance comPanies and pension funds, but declined further information other than to say that the institutions involved are "major."

A substantial Part of the Purchase money was borrowed bY mortgaging the former Pack River properties, according to Roberts, who did not specify the amount borrowed or the lenders. nological progress will continue to make lumber products imPortant in the marketplace.

Industry Optimism

An optimistic view of environmental and economic considerations was given members of the Western Wood Products Association at their recent meeting in Monterey, Ca.

Robert H. O'Neill, association president, noted that "the industry will prosper, despite the fact that if decisions were based uPon what we see and hear around us todaY, we would likely decide to close our doors."

But, he said, lumber company operators, investors and workers all have faith in the future.

"And that faith will be sustained in the short and long terms," he declared. "Our industry will survive and prosper because its renewable resource, manufactured into products, is ideal to fulfill human needs for shelter and comfort. We will not be returning to a caveman society."

He predicted that stability will be achieved in a great manY issues affecting the industrY, and tech-

Noting that it doesn't take a four-minute mile to win every race, exec v.p., H. A. Roberts, rePorted that lumber demand has been relatively strong even though housing starts are somewhat below the pace of a year ago.

One reason is the heavY call for lumber to be used in repair and remodeling of existing stuctures, both residential and commercial, he stated. This has been stimulated by high costs of new construction, and "because more people are fixing up the homestead" rather than taking to the highways.

He forecasts 1980 U.S. housing starts at 1.750.000 units, a slight increase over WWPA's revised 1979 full-year estimate of 1,700,000.

"We can expect the normal seasonal downturn in house construction this fall," he said, "and it will probably continue until the beginning of the 1980 building sgason."

WWPA expects total U.S. softwood lumber production for both this year and next to be 38.4 billion board feet.

Steelcraft commercial steel

Decorative Panels

Western Turnings and Coffman for stair parts

Stair-Pak wood spiral stairways