"Whaf the Lumber Induslry Means to Me"

(Continuotion of the Feoture on Poge 48 of the November I lssue)

When the average person thinks of lumber, he instinctively glances at the walls or floors of his home. Then, with little efiort, item after item easily comes to mind. However, an industry as great as lumber cannot be dealt with in a single issue. Looking backward, even the progress of our country can partly be traced by the growth of this industry and the use of its products.

The development of our natural resource, the forest, has provided the stimulus for economic growth. This development has given men the initiative for private ventures into business. In turn, these ventures have created employment for many. Three cheers for an industry that has not only used this resource to advantage but has provided for its maintenance and restoration for future needs.

You ask what the lumber industry means to me; since I have worked for six years in the offices of mills, trucking and wholesale firms, and even tried backing a truck under "jacks," this industry naturally means more than a listing of items. Really, though, what else but lumber has provided wagons for settlers, logs to boards for homes, boats, bridges, barracks and whatever would we do without that ever-needed toothpick!

Long ago, during the ages when our ancestors roamed the lands, forests sustained and protected man and his very livelihood. Lumber was the means by which these ancestors of ours elevated themselves above all other living species. lt was the tree which fed the protective fires by which they warded off animals and which kept them warm and safe from the raging elements. lt was the tree which supplied the first wheel to ease the burden of man's labor. lt was from the burning forests man first discovered the palatetempting charcoal broiled meat which garnishes many a plate today.

Yes, we as Americans today owe, in part, our freedom to the protection and advancement which our great forests gave to us. lt has opened many fields of employment, giving us revenue which has helped to keep our living standards high. I dare say, a person could not direct his gaze anywhere without encountering some object with which the lumber industry has touched; the furniture in the home

(The following are Statements required from each candidate as part of her entrance in the recent "Queen of the Forest" contest in connection with Forest Products Day at the 1960 Calilornia State Fair, September 9.

Because the wood products industry is so broad in scope and basic to our every dav way of life, I find it difficult to measure fully its meaning to me.

Wood has a natural inherent beauty, and through the industries development of difierent wood species, wood patterns and wood uses, I am more fully able to enjoy this beauty. Public buildings, commercial establishments and homes are able to escape from conformity and coolness to places of warmth and originality through the use of wood in their design and decoration.

Wood products carry with them not only beauty for design but practical uses for economy. This industry therefore has given me the opportunity to enjoy many wood products in my home at a minimum of cost.

It is not enough to place value on the lumbering industry products alone. Lumbering has contributed directly and indirectly to, the dqvelopment of recreation areas which are a great source of pleasure to me and many others,

DE ANN COOMBS TARTER. WEBSTER &

and office, pencils, paper, and buildings of all kinds. All these things are part of our everyday environment and, perhaps, are taken too much for granted.

Besides these fundamental articles, lumber affords us many luxuries. Nothing is more enchanting than the dancing flames of a fireplace or the tantalizing aroma of a dinner cooked over charcoal.

What is even more fascinating is the fact that there is very little waste encountered in the lumber industry. The wood pulp is used for making paper, and even the bits of wood left, after having sawed the logs down into boards and planks, can be turned into charcoal for cooking and heating purposes.

Perhaps, to one of the old-timers in the lumber industry, these things which I have visualized are not the first things which come to their minds; but to me, as an outsider having just become employed with this great part of the American.economy, these things have meaning.

Forest Histoly Now ot Berkeley

Students and writers with an interest in this continent's historv were afiorded an additional source for materials this nionth when Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, was recognized an approved repository of North American forest history by the Forest History Foundation, Inc., of Minnesota. Certification of this responsibility was made by R. R. Chaffee, president of the Redwood Region Conservation Council, on behalf of the state's forest products industries interests.

Chaffe said "Knowing where to look for historical materials is a large part of the historian's research problem; those seeking to learn more about California's forest history will now have a place to make a real beginning." Already, important regional collections that reach back over 300 years of forest business history have found their way into libraries from North Carolina and Texas to Seattle.