Northwest Hordwood Assn. ' ftleeting Heqrs Stories of Success With Notive Woods

How a one,horse sawmill was parlayed into an operation that has cut more than one hundred million board feet of native western hardwoods within the span of little over a decade was dramatically related at the January 25 meeting of the Northwest Hardwood Association at the Congress hotel in Portland, Oregon, by L. R. Smith, president of the L. R. Smith Hardwood Company, Longview, Wash., and newly elected vice president of the association. Today the Smith enterprises include'a modern, streamlined mill in Longview, several subsidiary mills, a large distribution yard in Los Angeles, and a new birch operation in Alaska that takes in one of the finest stands in the Territorv. 3O miles along the line of the Alaska Railroad. Smith r6lated how he finally gained acceptance by the,California and northern manufacturers of fine furniture and cabinet work.

Special credit was given to W: E. ("Bill") McPherson of Hallinan Mackin Lumber Co., Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles wholesalers, who helped him to get established in the market. McPherson is a director of the Northwest Hardwood Association and acted as official host at the Portland meeting.

Qvality Redwood tor

Jack R. Pfeiffer of the Oregon Forest Products Research' Center, Corvallis, served as program chairman. The meeting was presided over by the association president, Emmet J. Nist of Seattle Box Company, one of Washington's pioneer industries (1889) and a leading exponent of western hardwoods.

Other speakers were R. C. Bourdon, vice-president of B. P. John Furniture Corp., Portland, on wood raw material requirements and specifications for the furniture' manufacturer; H. C. Barchus, field engineer, Jones & Orth Cutter Head Co., Seattle, on knives, knife bevels, cutterheads and cutterhead speeds; A. C. Knauss, technologist, U.S. Forest Service, Portland, on wood moisture regulations and moisture content of wood in use, and Harrv D. Smith, western traffic manager of Weyerhaeuser Timb-er Co., Tacoma, who presented the association's case for reduced transcontinental freight rates on Pacific Coast ash, birch, maple and oak which was to come up for a public hearing before the TranContinental Freight Bureau in Chicago on February 4.

Smith pointed out how these fine woods are virtually being kept out of the great consuming markets of the east and middle west by existing high freight rates that affect the industry all the way back to the timber owners, who have little encourag'ement to select and log trees until a broader market is established. He called attention to the fact that there have been no large movements of these western woods across the continent due to discouragingly high transportation costs and that the railroads do not, therefore, stand to lose any appreciable revenue by granting more favorable rates, but do stand to gain by encouraging a heavy new tonnage movement on a fair, competitive basis.

A. Plummer York, formerly superintendent of Educators Manufacturing Co., Tacoma"-and now with F. S. Harmon Mfg. Co., also of Tacoma, was elected to honorary membership in the association in recognition of his long service and leadership in promoting western hardwoods.

Hardwood Resources Exceed Survey

Dr. Donald H. Clark of the Washington State Institute of Forest Products, Seattle, was appointed forest products economist for the association. In accepting, he pointed out that all previous surveys of hardwood stands of this region have fallen far short of the actual timber available in merchantable size and stated that re-surveys are now under wav and projected that are expected to -reveal hardwood 16sources far in excess of the 23-billion feet estimated bv the association when it was organized in September of 1955.

The appointment of L. R. Smith to the Rules committee of the National Hardwood Lumber Association, Chicago, was announced by President H. A. Hanlon of Odessa, N.Y., in a letter to the regional association. Smith has retired as chairman of the hardwood lumber grading committee of the latter and is succeeded by Robert McGregor, president of West Coast Hardwood Ltd. of Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

It was announced that the association's grading rules for Pacific Coast Alder and Maple have now been incorporated into the national rules book and that all shipments are now subject to national inspection and grading.

President Nist pointed out that this represents a significant accomplishment for the association inasmuch as there had previously never been uniformity between the western and national rules.

It was voted to hold the next meeting in Seattle, April 11 and 12, and, the annual meeting in Portland, September and.27.