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We first noticed Auburn Lumber Company's attractive chalettype prefab at last year's California State Fair. Even took the tour through it with the rest of the Fair crowd. Good action, but we still couldn't help wondering if they really knew what they were getting into. This prefab business is tricky at best; and it's expensive to get into because you need the latest equipment if you hope to slug it out toe to toe with the competition.

So, a year later we stopped by to see Gordon Davis who handles the lumber buying for Auburn Lumber and rides herd on the company's branches at Colfax, Newcastle, Loomis, Dixon and Woodland. "How's the Sierra Chalet prefab going?" we asked cautiously. "Gad, we really have a grizzly bear by the tail. Never seen anything take hold like this," was his reply.

On the date of our visit last month Auburn Lumber had crews working on 20 jobs from the Sierra {oothills below Auburn clear over the "hill" into lake Tahoe. And not all of these jobs were second home Chalets. Several were permanent prefab homes; one included a 9 unit prefabricated apartment building in Auburn.

From a dead stop in the Spring oI 1962, Auburn Lumber shipped some 50 Sierra Chalet models from Point Reyes to Tahoe. And sales this year will make that look like a meager beginning. Sales of the prefab division (known as ALCO Independence Homes -division of Auburn Lumber Co.) currently account for nearly one-half of the entire company's volume, Davis disclosed. And their sights are set even higher next year.

Although some of the smaller Chalet models are erected by do-it-yourselfers, the company itself builds most of the jobs. Auburn Lumber has its own carpenter and plumbing crews, Elec-

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Seen at the top of this page is the basic 768 sq. ft. Sierra Chalet located on busy Highway 50 in Auburn. Auburn Lumber also has two more prefab rnodels at Lake Tahoe.

This firm (next picture below) may be 107 years old, but you'd sure never know it the way it looks and operates. Firm boasts some 8000 sq. ft. of store area including a complete G-E appliance center. Seen in center is the first of three deliveries, steel strapped and ready for delivery the next morning. Plywood for sub floor will be loaded on top as it goes into the job first. First load contains all sidewall panels and partitions, including sub floor, for the first floor of the Sierra Chalet.