Golden Anniversary in the Redwoods!

The year was 1916 and there were new rail and sea routes opening from the Red' wood Region to the o'dry" eastern markets for lumber. The Northwestern Pacific's first train had steamed into Eureka in December of 1914, and the first ship sailed through the Panama Canal in August of that same year.

An association of redwood mills had put together an exhibit for the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, so what was more natural than a "Home of Redwood" {or the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in

San Francisco in 1915, the previous year.

AGermanU-Boat had sunk the Lusitania in May of 1915, and President W'ilson "protested strongly." The exchange of notes was still going on in January of 1916 when a group of redwood lumbermen sat down to draft the articles of incorporation for a "Cali{ornia Redwood Association."

The men who picked up the tab for building the Home of Redwood at the exposition, there were twenty-one redwood producers represented, had some pretty fanciful dreams as they sat on the veranda

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McDonold Cedqr Prcducts, Ltd.

Lamford Cedor, Ltd.

Tumoc Lumber Cro., Inc.

CALIFORNIA TUMBER MENCHANI of "the magnificent redwood bungalow" on a summer's evening, sipping a brew and watching Art Smith and his Flying Machine trace fancy patterns in the sky with his lighted bi-plane. The biggest of these dreams was the formation of the California Redwood Association. And helping that dream along was E. A. "Cap" Selfrdige, Jr., founder of the Southern Cypress Asso' ciation, who came to see 'oBaghdad by the Bay" and stayed to become the organizer and president of CRA.

Of the sixteen founding fathers of CRA, two companies, The Pacific Lumber Com' pany and Union Lumber Company, had been in the redwood lumber business for fifty years or more and those same com' panies, still represented on CRA's board of directors by direct descendents of their founders, are even stronger today than they were in 1916. Both are firmly committed, as are the other six current members of CRA, to a long-range forest managemenl program for production in perpetuity.

New IHPA Member

The Imported Hardwood Plywood Association has welcomed its newest regular member, Rainer Trading Company at 465 California St. in San Francisco.

Owner Hans Rainer, who recently formed his own company, was formerly manager of the lumber products import department of The East Asiatic Company. He has also played an important part in the management of IHPA, serving as its president in 1959-1960. as well as a member of the executive committee and a director for many years.

Arcoto Mill Reopens

The Simpson Timber Co. has reopened a plywood mill at Arcata, Calif., said C. Henry Bacon, company president.

Simpson acquired the plant and 35,000 acres of timberland in Humboldt county last year from the Weyerhaeuser Co.

Reopening will mean restoration of 300 jobs with a yearly payroll of $2 million, Bacon said.

The plant has an annual capacity of 90 million square feet of plywood.

Roberts Buys Another Firm

Roberts Consolidated Industries, Inc. has purchased Caram Manufacturing Co. in Monrovia, Calif., producers of industrial adhesives and latex products, according to Hugh S. Livie, president of Roberts.

With the purchase price "in excess of $l million," Roberts completes its fourth major acquisition in seven months and simultaneoulsy expands its entire adhesive operation. president Livie pointed out.

More Firms Are Merging

Mergers in the lumber industry rose sharply last year, totalling 7I consolida' tions.

This was an increase over 1964 when 59 mergers occurred involving lumber com' panies, according to Merchantile Financial Corporation, a Chicago commercial finance company.

The increase was part of a national rec' ord-breaking trend which saw 2,361 mergers tabulated last year, the highest total in more than 35 years.

Approximately 59 percent of the mergers were for cash, while 41 percent were for stock or a combination of stock and casho according to LeRoy H. Kohn, Mercantile president. This represents a complete reversal of 1964 practice, when only

35 percent of mergers were for cash' o'Financial pressures on medium and smaller companies is the main reason for the constantly rising nudbers of mergers," Kohn said. "Rising labor costs and the squeeze on profit margins make it difficult for smaller companies to spread their fixed costs over a narrow sales base. As a result, many smaller companies, with the aid of financing have taken to acquiring other companies to broaden their sales base and strengthen their competitive position."

Copelond Closing Two Yqrds

J. W. Copeland Co. has closed their West Salem, 'Oregon lumber yard and will shut down their other yard in Salem in the near future, president Joseph Copeland, has said.

ttWe hate to gorot he said, "but we may be back soon. We've been looking for a new site but haven't been able to find one yet."

The West Salem yard has rbeen in operation for 40 vears.

The 12th Street SE yard will be taken over soon by the Willamette University Urban Renewal project.

Phoenix Firm Purchosed

The Building Materials Co., wholesale distributors of plywood products in Phoe' nix, Ariz., has been purchased by Fred F. Fuller and John Mullen.

Fuller has been associated with Building Materials as general manager for the past fifteen years. Mullen has fourteen years experience in the wholesale lumber busi' ness and his most recent association has been with the Spellman Hardwoods Com' pany. He is a 1964 graduate of the University of Montana Forestry School.

In addition to the present Plywood products, the new owners intend to specialize in domestic and imported hardwood lumber and other related items.