Coldor Lumber Co. Milling Philippine Mqhogony logs ln Unique Northern Colifornicr Experiment

A mill run of (r50,00O feet of Philippine mahogany logs was completed Monday, December 5, at the plant of the Caldor Lumber Company, Diamond Springs, El Dorado County, California, in one of the most unique experiments ever made in Northern California. The big logs, averaging 860 feet as against the California sau'mill average of 550 feet, traveled over 8,@0 miles via the great circle sea route, arriving at the Port of Stocl<ton three rveeks earlier.

C. G. Price, general manager of the century-old company, which heretofore had sau'ed only the native Pacific Coast pine and fir, said the Lauan krgs, commonly knorvn as Philippine mahogany, u'ill be sarved into dimensional lumber and marketed through the regular trade channels. A great deal of this finished lumber now coming to the coast is processed in Japan.

Lumber will be manufactured in as rvide rvidths as the logs rvill permit, put in the yard to dry for trn"'o months, and then finished by kiln drying. At present there is a good market in the U. S. for interior finish, moulding cabinet work, furniture and in pleasure-boat building.

"We have many technical problems to lick," Price said, "but if this proves successful rve 'ivill ship and manufacture into lumber about a million feet of Philippine mahogany a month."

The 'lvell-established Caldor Lumber Company, rvhich started shortly after the great California Gold Rush, has manufactured annually an average of about 24,000,000 board feet of Pacific Slope timber. Great local and county-r'ide interest has been aroused in the unusual experinrent in turning to the r,voods of Southeast Asia.

Success of the ,new operation might well mean whether the large plant will discontinue or seriously curtail operations. This is due to the diminishing supply of sawtimber in the extensive Caldor private holdings, Price said.

The smooth peeled logs, rvhich had been sprayed before shipment rvith DDT, range from three to over six feet in diameter, and average about 17 feet in length. Various methods of logging are used, ranging from the most primitive hand and animal (caribao) operation to tl.re donkel' engine and sky line, or high lead system, to the most up-todate D-B's and high porvered Anrerican diesels.

The large shipment arrived from Davoa, Nlindanao, at the Port of Stockton on the California Bear of the Far East Lines and rvas transported to the mill pond at the Caldor plant on 58 railroad gondolas.

The lauan timber, of ivhich this shipment r,r'as about half red variety and half u'hite species, has the native classification in Group Three and has the wide range of uses lending itself to maximum cutting utility, probably better than any hardwood in its class, Price said.

Lands from rvhich the timber is cut is over 97/o g'overnment owned and, according to the U. S. Forest Service Department of Agriculture Bulletin, this amounts to nearly 43,000,000 acres or an area a little more than tu'o-thirds of