Governmenl Inill Operolors Use Mine Detectors

Third Army Headquarters, Fort McPherson, GeorgiaMine detectors, those highly sensitive electrical appliances which helped to cut down the loss of life during World War II as the American troops and their allies pushed back the enemies of civilization, are again in demand.

But this time, the mine detectors are being used commercially, and are helping to supply the timber needed by American industry.

Saw mill operators who are cutting, and sawing lumber on Third Army reservations are now employing the mine detectors to determine whether or not there is any shrapnel buried in the logs.

Logs infested with shrapnel play havoc with the giant saws which convert a log into lumber, by tearing out the teeth in the saws. Because of the danger to the saw, contractors are hesitant to buy timber which has been exposed to artillery fire, and those who did take a chance, often bid in the timber at prices far below the normal market.

As a result of experiments .with the mine detectors, it has been determined that timber cut on Army posts can be made as safe as timber that has never been exposed to gunfire. Cost of the mine detector tests is very small, and the Army is now lending lumber mill operators who cor-rtract to cut timber on Army posts, the detectors so that they can test the logs which may have been exposed to fire by the big guns as military personnel undergo their training.

W. R. Becton, the Third Army forester, estimates there are about 700,000 acres of forest land on. Army installations within the Third Army, horvever, only a small portion of this has ever been exposed to gunfire, as the areas subjeit tb gunfire have largely been cleared.

Sale of this timber in the field is now bringing the government about $1,000,000 per year. The trees are sold on a "perpetual forestry" basis. Only those trees large enough to be sawed are being ,cut, and the smaller trees left to grow.

When timber at an Army installation is sold to a mill operator, the operator sets up his sarv mill on the post, and turns out the finished lumber there.

Timber to be cut and sar,ved up into lumber this year, it is estimated, will net the government about $900,000, Lt. General A. R. Bolling, Commanding General, Third Army, has been informed.

Third Army installations u,here saw timber is to be found are Fort Bragg, N. C., Fort Jackson, S. C., Camp Gordon, Ga., Camp Stewart, Ga., fort Benning, Ga., Camp Rucker, Ala., Fort McClellan, Ala., and Fort Campbell, Ky.

At these installations, Post Commanders are lending the sa'rv mill operators the mine detecting equipment so that they can reduce the danger of damaging their saws.

Shrapnel will be found in only a small percentage of the logs, the forester said, and the mine detectors have practically eliminated this hazard to the sarvs. In some instances, the detectors have revealed shrapnel buried as deep as eight inches in the log.

When the mine detector reveals a piece of metal in the 1og, it is a simple matter for a 'l'r,orkman, using r.r "ri", to chop the steel out, and in this \\'ay,,a good portion of the log is still usable for timber manufacturers.

Kenneth Porker Gets Forest Promofion

The selection of Kenneth Parker to fill the position of Chief of Range Management for tl.re California Region was announced recently by Regional Forester Clare Hendee. This important post r,vas recently made vacant by the sudden death of former Range Chief Walter Wetzel.

The California Region of the Forest Service is fortunate to have a man of Mr. Parker's caliber and experience for the position of Assistant Regional Forester in charge of all range management activities.

G. Miles Burpee Heqds Wood Preservers Associofion

Chicago-C. Miles Burpee of New York City has assumed his new position as secretary-manager of the Service Bureau, American Wood-Preservers' Assn., it is announced bV E.J. McGehee, chairman of the Service Bureau board of directors.

Burpee, who has resigned as vice president and director of the Simmons-Boardman Publishing Corp., New York City, will filI the post formerly held by Percy R. Hicks, who has retired after 33 years with the Service Bureau.

The Service Bureau is the official organization serving the wood pressure treating industry, representing major American and Canadian pressure treating companies and firms supplying chemicals used in preserving wood against termites, marine borers and decay, as well as making it fire retardant. It maintains its headquarters at 111 W. Washington Street, Chicago, but also has field engineers located in New York City, Washington, Lawrence, Kans., Portland, Ore., and Sacramento, Calif.

"Horse or Steqm?tt Roilst Gluestion

Washington-A dim view of any material improvement in the future breeds of horses, augmented by an unknown quality in the breed of locomotives to be placed at man's command, swayed the decision of the first railroad in the nation to turn from horse-power to steam-power back in l8D. Less than 25 miles of railroad were operated in the United States then. Today, nearly 331,000 miles of track, supported by more than 992 million wood cross ties, and hundreds of wood bridges and trestles, are maintained by the railroads.

Retiring the horse to green pastures, and releasing steam to broader horizons, introduces a chronological account of "100 Years of Engineering Progress with Wood on the Railroads," by H. Austill, retired chief engineer of the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, Missouri. now a consulting engineer of Spring Hill, Alabama.

Mr. Austill's historical paper, presented at a wood symposium, has been printed and made available by Timber Engineering Company, research affiliate of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association.

Mr. Austill not only cites cross-tie improvements, in which the Te'co laboratory has had a major role, but points out the importance of timber in railway construc-. tion of trestles, bridges, terminal warehouses, and operational structures.

"I am convinced," stated Mr. Austill , "that our colleges have been inclined to give too little stress to the study of timber as a structural material, and that much time and talent that was devoted to a search for a good substitute might have been better spent on a means to preserve the material and improve design of wood structures."

Copies of Mr. Austill's paper are available to company officials, professional men, and libraries, without charge, on request to Timber Engineering Company, Department AP-R, 1319-18th Street, N. W., Washington 6, D. C.