R cdTcood For Every Pvrpose

November Housing Storrs - 78'OOO

The preliminary estimate of 78,000 new.nonfarm dwelling units siarted in November brings the estimate of starts for the first 11 months of 1957 to 975,300 units. This is 79,20O units less than the first 11 months ol 1956, reported the National Retail Lumber Dealers Association.

Nonfarm housing starts declined seasonally from-95,000 in October to 78,000 in November, the U. S. Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Preliminary estimates indicate that private starts decreased no more than usual in November, but public starts were down sharply from the relatively large number begun in October.

Tie-75,700 private houses and apartments put under construction in November represented a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,010,000 units, marking the seventh successive month that the rate was at, or close to, 1 million. However, data for the first 11 months of. 1957 indicate an annual total of less than a million private units because of relatively lower volume during the first four months. The actual number of private dwelling units started during the Januarv to November period was 926,7A0. This was 10/o less than the 1956 figure for the same months and, when compared with totals for similar periods in earlier years, was the smallest since 1949.

Both private and public housing begun during the first 11 months of the year amounted to 975,300 dwelling units (including €,600 publicly owned), vitrually assuring a total of a little-over 1 million housing starts in 1957.

The seasonal decrease in private housebuilding during November occurred in both metropolitan and non-metropolitan places, and appeared to be countrywide. fn recent months, private-starts volume has been close to year-ago levels, and in November it almost equaled the November 1956 figure.

Golden Sawmills

There 1\'as never another sawmill like Sutter's, even in the gaudiest dreams of the ancient Greek mytl-r-makersSutter's 'n,here James W. Marshall discovered California's gold.

But there were lumbermen beside General Sutter who set the wheels of West Coast civili zation in motion, through sawmilling, before California was captured by the Gringos and the great rush of. '49 began to surge and thunder.

In 1840 Captain Stephen Smith sailed his orvn ship from Baltimore to trade up the tvest coast of South America ancl Mexico. He ventured into Bodega Bay a year later, came ashore, cruised the redwoods, and began to dream of future Pacific lumber trade.

Smith sold his ship and u'ent home by.rvay of the Isthmus of Panama. In 1843 he retprned, again in a ship of his orvn, and rvith his txvn sa.rvmill machinery, tools and engine aboard. He r,vas soon making lumber for the yerba Buena (San Francisco) markets, u.hile selling not a little to the neighltoring Russian settlement.

Next Captain Smith tvas given a large grant of Spanish land. Then he cut lumber mainlv for his ou'n enterprises. He left his sa*'mill and lur.nber stocks rvith a partner, u-ho sold out ancl sailed for parts unkno.n,n t'ith the proceeds.

Vallejo'sMill ...

The noblest name of Spanish California's history, General l\fariano Guadalrrpe Vallejo, is second on the roll of California lumber history. He put up a san,n.rill six miles from the site of today's Sonoma, using l,ater J)o\ver from the creek of the same nalne. Its lumber rvas of priceless value to the early settlers. The gold rush of 1f349 an<l, in the follo'iving years, the mill macle its nol>le ol-ner a pile of monev. The cream of his cut brorrght as much as a thousancl dollars per tl.rousand board feet in the booming port of San Franclsco.

Calif<-rrnia's third sau,mill lr.as built in 184(r, at a spot in today's San Nlateo county, some 20 miles soutl-r of yerba Buena Island. The fourth san'mill of the Golden State to be rvas the historic 1847 enterprise of General Sutter and James W. Marsl-rall, on the south fork of the American River.

By 1850 a dozen more mills tvere a highlv prized asset of the nerv state-the nation's 31st. They lvere far from enough to supply the clemand-a fact that gave the lumber inclustrv of the Pacific Northn est a roaring fine start.

Luck Lost

The original o.wners sold out Sutter's Nfill in 1849, thereby losing a rare chance to cash in on the surging demand for lumber. Sutter and N{arshall could have becon.re men of rvealth in a couple of years, had they stayed rvitl-r the sau.mill. They lost their shirts in mining for golcl.

In the August 2, L884 issue of Pacific Rural press. were these sad words:

"The dam, the race in u'hich Nlarshall picked up the first piece of gold, the big pines standing fast br,, are all gone,