These Retoilers don'l pul ofi till 'Mof,onq' whqt they con do todoy Boio Colifornio Deqlers Cclsh in on Building Boom

sAtuDos, AMtGoS!

El Mercante de Maderas de California (The CALIFORNIA LUMBER MERCHANT) tiene el honor de presentar esta historia de sus operaciones, I noS da mucho gusto en saludar nuestros buenos vecinos al sur en la misma industria.

South-of-the-border, from Tijuana to Ensenada, construction is really booming. Nerv public and commercial buildings are being erected and modern residential developments are being completed in both of the above Baja California rescrt cities. Nerv apartments are nearing completion in Tijuana and beautiful resort hotels are no\\r availallle in Ensenada looking for the Yanqui tourist dollar.

Developers in this great building boom look for their building materials to the many lumber dealers and building materials dealers located in both cities. We list a fe'n, that were intervierved by The CALIFORNIA LUN{BEI{ MERCHANT in company rvith. Carl Gavotto, executive of the Cal-Me-x Lumber Company of San Diego, California.

Over 95/o of all the lumber and allied products in Baja California come from the United States, as less than 5/o of the lumber is secured locally, and this in general is a lcrw-grade pine milled in the mountain area close to La Paz.

E,nsenada presently has three big tract deveiopments nnder construction and each district is building more than 100 California-type bungalorvs to l>e sold on about the same basis as homes in California. Tijuana has several large apartment buildings under construction and soon l'ill stai-t construction of a new modern city jail six nriles southeast oi the city. Cost of construction of the nerv prison rvill exceed a quarter of a million dollars. In addition, Tijuana has several housing developments urrderrvay in lor.,'-cost tract homes rvhich are selling as fast as completed. f'he five big dealers rvho are supplying much of the lumber and allied products for this great building boom in Baja California are Roberto Estudillo, Ntiguel Calette, Carlos A. Carrillo and Humberto Ruizall rif Tijuana, and Santris Cota, orvner and operator of Nladereria de Ensenada, pior-reer lurnber lirm of the city on the bav of Ensenada.

Roberto Estudillo u'as born to the lumber business. In fact, he rvas born right on the exact spot \\'here his business is presently located one-half lrlock from the mairr street of Tijuana. }lstudillo is prominent in social and cir-ic allairs. He has been identified in building circles frir over 35 years and operates the first establishment of its kind in the Tij',rana area. He is r.ice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, past president of the Lions club and a director of the Tijuana Country Club. He is abl1. assisted in the lumber operation by his right hand rnan, Nlario Garcia, who has been with th.e firm for over 14 years and handles all the various departments of the company, which operates two locations. The hardware, paint and appliance departments are maintained in the main store and the large lumberyard is located across the street. It requires th,e services of 12 salesmen to keep both locations covered, so great is the demand for all types of material for new construction and remodeling.

Miguel Calette heads one of the largest building materials concerns in all Baja California. His establishment covers an area in excess of 25 acres, with most of the wood products in undercover storage. It requires 17 trucks, four semi-trailer rigs and 80 employes to keep his two large locrtions going under full steam. IIe owns and operates his large paint factory and stucco plant. He maintains a full line of standard brand hardware, plumbing and electrical merchandise for the individual builder and contractor. His company is building a new modern paint store which will be in operation early this summer. The Calette plant is Jocated south of Tijuana on Boulevard Agua Caliente, and the company trucks are dispatched on regular schedule to the U.S.A. for the many items necessary to properly service the trade. This firm maintains two locations in the Tijuana district, both with full inventory available for immerliate delivery.

Carlos A. Carrillo is gerente (manager) of Macons Materiales de Construction, rvhich is the third largest organization of its kind in lower California. This firm maintains two well-located stores and one big lumberyard in the city of Tijuana. The uptown store handles a full line of paints, hardware, electrical appliances, moldings and wall surfacings. The yard on Avenida "8" maintains lumber storage, cement, roofing and all large volume construction items for the contractor and builder. It requires the services of 14 trucks and 47 employes to keep the customers of this concern happy. Carlos Carrillo is well known for his ,civic activity and is a member of various organizations responsible for the development of the lower California area.

Humberto Ruiz is gerente of Materiales S. de R.L. of Tijuana. This firm does a terrific drop-in business. During the hour spent at this location over 50 customers were serviced wtih various items of building materials. The company maintains a full line of standard brand construction materials, including hardware and appliances. The main store of this firm is located just two blocks from the main street of Tijuana. (Photos at top of this column.)

We were certainly astonished to see so many new homes under construction in both Tijuana and Ensenada. We were truly surprised to learn 95/o of all the materials used in these vast building projects were secured from the United States, and we were amazed at the increase in population figures taking place in our neighborhood south of the border. Baja California has a population in excess of 40O,000 and if this doesn't get published immediately they will pass the half million mark.

Upon our arrival in Ensenada, our first call was on Santos Cota, owner-operator of Madereria de Ensenada, the 'largest lumber dealer in this particular part of all Mexico. Santos is assisted in the operation by his son Francisco Cota, who is the active business manager of the concern and purchasing agent for all items carried in inventory. Madereria de Ensenada was establish,ed over 30 years ago and is the pioneer lumber firm located in this third largest city of Baja California. A full line of lumber, cement, builders hardware and paint is carried by this progressive concern and every item is stored in undercover warehouses. Most of the materials going into the large housing development in Ensenada is being furnished by Madereria de Ensenada.

During our visit in Ensenada we also dropped by the Maderas y Envases factory, which manufactures and furnishes the lug boxes and lobster traps for the growers and fishermen of this resort city. The box factory is owned and operated by E. Sanchez Carraseo and is the only one of its kind in this fishing and agricultural area. This was the one place we found that uses Mexican domestic pine in its production of field boxes and allied wood products. To you Yanquis, Maderas means lumber and E,nvases means boxes.

IVlodern advertising and business promotion ideas are used by all of these progressive business concerns to sell therr products. A11 of the executives are members of the various Mexican civic clubs and social organizations.

Roberto Estudillo, Humberto Ruiz and Santos Cota are all members of Hoo-Hoo International and are active members in the San Diego Hoo-Hoo club.

The Jesuit missionaries in the years gone by did most of the permanent construction work in Baja California and they left their mark of civilization in the mission they built. Bur the builders toward the future are the lumber and building materials dealers who furnish the materials to build the nelr'ly created State of Baja California, which is only trvo years old, and they, too, will leave th,eir mark on civilization and go dorvn in history as the builders of their time in the development of this fast-growing area of Mexico.

Thanks to Carl Gavotto and August F'. Lusardi, owners of Cal-Mex Lumber Company in San Diego, for helping us make this yarn possible. We appreciate their help.-

By OLE MAY

long-Bell Buys Virgin Pine, Fir From Heqrst Wyntoon Tree Fqrm

J. D. Leland, president of The Long-Bell Lumber Company, announces the purchase of a substantial volume of virqin pine and fir species timber in Northern California from the'llearst Corporation. The timber involved, according to William W. Murray, vice-president of the Hearst Corporation. is an integral part of the Hearst Wyntoon Tree Farm, south of McCloud, California, in the Coast Range in Siskiyou and Shasta counties on both sides of the McCloud River.

Long-Bell is to log the 20,000 acres of the timber involved in rhe transaction during a long-term contract. The logs will be converted into lumber, plywood, and factory products at the Company's Weed Division plant, approximately 35 miles north and w'est of the newly acquired stand. Logging operations will be under the supervision of John Mantle, general manager, and Elmer Zimmerman, logging superintendent, of Long-Bell's Weed division.

Leland anticipates that logging will be under way immediately, since Long-Bell is now completing logging of a previous sale of timber in the same general area. The present purchase will add another very substantial backlog to the Weed operations and resottrces.