Big Undercover Operation at King

uBERnv?" Tne rlnurR LooKED puzzled, then his face brightened.

"Oh, you mean where that big sawmill is, King's River Lumber'er sumpthin like that. Well, furst of all turn yer machine around, sonny, 'cause yer ahead the wrong way."

The old boy's directions were right on the button, and when we arrived at the gate of the big 100 acre King's River Lumber Corporation complex we saw what he meant. King's River Lumber IS Auberry. Fact you could put the whole town inside the company's new 80' x 520' dry shed which stretches along the front of the yard.

Passing through the gate the first thing that catches your eye is pavement, acres and acres of it, and clean as a pin. The mill boys are pretty pleased with this recent improvement too. "Used to be like movin' lumber through a Louisiana swamp around here until Mr. Rose came and did the job first-class," one oldtimer told us.

Mr. Rose? Well now, that's just the guy we came to see, and we found him behind his desk with a phone on each shoulder in King's River's modest offices (Ken Rose likes to spend money where it'll do the most good, in the plant, and the heck with the frills).

The former president of Superior Lumber Sales in Sacramento, a still existent but inactive corporation at this time, Ken Rose became vice-president and general manager of this sawmill in April 1960. The l0 year old operation was formerly headed by A. T. Mathews under the name of Mathews Lumber Company with headquarters in nearby Fresno. The Mathews people have continued to do business in Fresno since the sale of the mill to Rose.

As most people who know him will tell you, Ken Rose is a darned good sawmill man as well as an experienced wholesaler. W-hen he took the plant over it was strictly a green operation, and pretty seasonal at that. Since April 1960, hundreds of thousands of dollars have been invested in the mill and additional facilities. The payofi on that investment has been increased production, lower overall operating costs and a greatly improved and diversified end irroduct. Sawmill efficiency is strictly "big mill" now with a general updating of equipment and installation of a pony rig behind the mill's big single cut band headrig.

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Starting at tre beginning we see logs on their fint step to becoming lumber.

2 Into the big single cut headrig they go' t With the pony behind it polishing off the big J cants in short order'

I And out the mill through the trim saws' Mill lJ tter.go 2,000,000 bf per month with pre duction running about 50% sugar and ponderosa pine, the balance white fir and in' cense cedar. lverE One of the few on the Coast, this machine J automatically sorts lumber to width'

5 H: that gives us a better idea of how she

7 Hew 84' double track Standard Kilns were

I another part of orerall plant investment' Note pole frame sheds protecting lumber at both ends of kiln' Emphasis is on keeping contin' uous flow o;f lumber under cover at all times'

O Big 75' orerhead P&H crane at work in the O new 42,000 sq. ft. dry shed.

Paving and more paving. A good portion -of 7 tttt 100 acre plant layout has been paved for all weather operation. Note clean as a pin apilearance of Yard.

I ll How do you keep everything so neat? Why buy lU u street sweeper, of course. Buildings behind sweeper are repair shops for rolling equipment.