New Pope and Talbot Sawmill Dedicated

Oakridge, Oregon, April (r, 1948.-Another lumber producer was added to the industry in the Pacific Northrvest today when the nerv Pope and Talbot sarvmill and logging industry here u'as dedicated to the national service by George A. I'ope, Jr., president of the r-eteran Pacific Coast compan). Stancling at the headrig of the sarvmill, XIr. Pope pullecl the electric snitch rvhich l>rought the first log from the rnili pond up the bull chain to the u'hirring sau's and a nes' enterprise joined the industrial family of the pioneer organization.

It u'as an eventful day in the history of this livelv t<in'r.r, situated -15 miles southeast of Eugene, Oregon, rvhich has cloublecl its population in the past year. Little more than a railroad community rvhen Pope & 'falbot first entered thc :rrea less than tu'o years ago, Oakricige today has a population of around 1200 residents, manl' of l'hon.r are busy in the neu' logging and milling industry and many also associated rvith the business enterprises u'hich have entered the district to serve the expandecl commur-rity.

The Oakridge tir.nber holdings of the company consist of some 32,000 acres of virgin Douglas Fir forest locatccl in the heart of tl.re Cascacle Nlountains in the \\riliarnettc National Forest. It is estimated that the tract contains approximatelv one billion feet of timber. It l as acqrrired in July, 19.16, ar-rd actual u'ork on the mill startecl just about one year ago. Six miles of the main logging road hale been completed, rvith about 15 miles stiil to complete. The mill site is situated just on the edge of the tou'n on l'hat is knorvn as the Dompier site, anrple for expansion in the futttre in Pope and Talbot's plan for full rrtilization of forest resources.

The nerv sau'mill closely follou's the clesign of the firm's highly efficier-rt plant at St. Helens, Oregon, and has a cutting capacity of 200,000 feet on an eight hour day basis. It will employ about 150 u'orkers, u'ith around 175 morc in the u'oods. Tl-re sawmill consists generally of a doublc cut band mill u'ith horizontal resaw and pony edger. The plarrt rvill also have a small cant gang, iI green and drv planer, and dry kiln capacity for the entire output. The mill yard is large enough to air-<lr1' several million feet o{ lumber. T'he log pond covers 53 acres u,ith a capacity of 15,000,000 board feet of logs. Construction of the sarvnrill n'as done entirely by Pope & Talbot, a great deal of the neu' structure being prefabricated at St. Helens.

Credit for the development and supervision oi the Oakridge inclustry is given to Hillman Luedclemann. vice president ancl gcneral manager; L. I-. Steu,art, chief forester, and assistant to Mr. I-ueddemann ; Cyrtts T. \\ralker. r-ice presirlent; \\'. N. Hammerschmith, ger-reral mill superintenderrt ; George llarnes, general logging manager; Nlarion Heidrich, assistant to Mr. Barnes; \tr. ,. Burgan, tnaster millttright at St. Helens ; Carl Blakely, chief engineer; Las-rence Cook. road construction supervisor; A. XL Belyea, in charge of over-all detail, and (ieorge l3ouhey, in charge of housing.

Ir-r atterrdance at the ceremony u'ith NIr. Pope l-ere Fred C. Talbot, first r-ice president ; Charles L. Wheeler, executive vice president; Hillman Ltteddemann. C1-rus T. \\-alker, Kenr-reth Pope, r'ice president, and FI. T. Drrpont, assistant secretarv. Among the t.narrv gtlests for the occ:rsion n'ere the mayor and citl' cortncil of Oakridge.

In formalll' opening the nerv institution, I\Ir. I'ope told of the grorvtl.r of the firm since its fourrding on San Francisco Bay in 1849 to the present event in u-hich thev u'ere all participating. The policl' of the organization has alu':rys been to builcl scilidly for posteritr', said lIr. Pope. Fron.r the begir-rning it has been the procedure clf the companv to estal>lish enterprises tliat t'il1 contribute to the clevelopment of the Pacific Coast. In their earliest iounding acts, Andreu' J. Pope and Captain \\'-illiam Talbot scr shaped their undertakings, rvhether bv land or sea, that tl.rey endure to this day, standing as a monument to their foresight and practical vision.

I\{r. Talbot paid a glon'ing tribute to the co-rvorkers in thc development of success, the men elnploved iir the sarv(Continued on Page 22))