The West Cocrst Lumber Inspecrio Itns Just like 'Scotlcrnd Yqrd'

Everybody loves the policeman out in the great raindrenched forest region of the Pacific Coast. Otherwise, how account for the remarkable growth of the lumber industry's "Scotland Yard"-the West Coast Lumber Inspection Bureau-which today has its all-time high unsolicited list of participating mills ?

Ten years ago the Bureau had 254 mills, today it has 530 in the fir region, representing 8O/o ot the production. The growth of the Bureau remains a mystery to Howard L. Brown, 33-year veteran of the lumber business, who can, however, solve any oi the mysteries of lumber grading.

To H. V. Simpson, manager, the growth without solicitation is no mystery. He says it is evidence of the increasing acceptance of the integrity of the Bureau grade-stamp throughout the nation and confidence by buyer as well as seller in the 200-man, hand-picked stafi of inspectors and supervisors.

Just like Scotland yard, the Bureau has 32 supervisors with 10O0 years of lumber knowledge behind them. These men have charge of all grade supervision and education work both in the producing and consuming areas.

The Bureau has seven main functions, which last year cost the west coast lumber industry $1,33I,772. Main purposes of the Bureau are : 1) to write, adopt and make available grading rules for West Coast species; 2) to interpret these rules; 3) to supervise the grading practices of subscriber mills to insure that the correct standard of grades is maintained at all times; 4) to educate and instruct people in correct grades and grading procedures; 5) to maintain and supervise the correct grade-starnping of lumber when the Bureau's ofificial grade stamps are used; 6) to inspect and certify any shipment of West Coast species upon request, and, 7) to reinspect any shipment of West Coast species upon request.

In addition to the mone'y spent by the West Coast lumber industry for the Bureau, a similar sum is spent by this industry for the Pacific Lumber Inspection Bureau, whose inspection work is largely with fir cargo mills in the export trade.

Few industries in the nation aoproach the monumental effort the West Coast lumber industry exerts to guarant€e the uniform quality of its products. The expenditure of nearly $3,00O,00O annually by mills of the Douglas fir region to insure and maintain quality control of its product is one of the h'igh-water marks of industrial honesty.

Ninety percent of all lumber manufactured in this area is under the supervision of a qualified grading bureau. If not a subscriber, ar'y producer in the producing area of the West Coast species can have use of any of the Bureau's services at reasgnable cost. Grade stamps are guarded zealously and use of these U. S. government-registered symbols is closely supervised, for in their proper use lies the strength of the most remarkable of all industry-financed police forces.

Superintendent Brown runs his "Lumber Scotland Yard" with vigor and fairness. Eight of his key men serve as district supervisors in the principal producing areas of the Pacific Coast and in the consuming areas over the nation. Thirty-trvo men make up the supervisory staff and 170 inspectors handle the on-the-spot work of the Bureau.

Bureau offices are maintained at Seattle, Eugene, Medford, Los Angeles, Washington and New York in addition to the Portland headquarters. Resident supervisors are maintained the year around at Eureka, California; Dallas, San Francisco and Chicago.

Best evidence of the high esteem of the Bureau is dhe fact that mills find it much easier to sell lumber which is under the supervision of the grading Bureau, Manager Simpson points out. Remarkable is the fact that both buyer and seller accept the final decisions of this unique organization, Also, the government agencies having to do with housing and government procurement of lumber accept the rulings of the Bureau without question.

A hundred years ago, lumber shipped from Oregon coastal ports had but two grades-Good and "Refuse." Our needs were simple in those days.

By I%)2, when the Seattle Lumber Manufacturers' Ex(Continued on Page 172)

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IOO Yeqrs of Lumberyqrd Service to Aubutrrr Cqlif,, Mclrked by Opening of Wendell Robie's D-l-Y Store

Lethargy rides hand-in-hand with failure. It is a malady that is both evil and dangerous when it invades the souls of the young. It is, however, more commonly found to be a disease of old age.

Businesses, like people, also suffer from this ailment. As they grow older they tend to lose headway, they become content to tread water and collect their "dues," and, finally, they begin to slide down the success ladder to their ultimate death. The trip down, hbwever, takes much less time than the slow grind up.

It is indeed seldom, therefore, that one encounters a business 100 years olda business that has come through all the depressions, recessions and "isms" that this world has seen in the last 100 years-that has retained its youth and is still in there fighting for more than its "due."

But in the bustling mountain community of Auburn, California, there is a business that has seen 100 years of service to folks in the Central Valley area-a business just as young in heart, just as modern as the best of them.

To commemorate the conclusion of its first 100 years of service to the miners, ranchers, home builders and homeowners of Placer county and the entire West, Auburn Lumber Company held one of the biggest gala openings in Au burn's history on Friday and Saturday, October 5 and 6, with the opening of the firm's new Lincoln Way showroom, designed with the very latest do-it-yourself merchandising techniques in mind.

"Our new store," says Wendell Robie, general manager of the l00-year-old firm, "shows our faith in the future." It would also seem that Mr. Robie has justifiable faith in the future of do-it-yourself business, too, judging from his fine new 8,000-sq. ft. showroom which is dedicated to that segment of business.

Auburn Lumber's new showroom did not just come by accident. Actual planning had been underway for almost a year, and grand opening publicity in the Auburn Herald began six months before the actual opening.

Mary Kohler, Auburn Lumber's expert advertising and publicity manager, further aroused public interest in the opening by offering prizes every week for a six-months period prior to the opening. Contestants merely registered at the old store and winners were announced each Sunday in the yard's advertising. Weekly winners were also eligible for the grand opening drawings, which just added to everyone's interest in registering for the opening. Needless

TOP PANEI: Roloil rlore dasigners went oll-oul to tppcol to woman rhoppers or well ot men-left photo at opcning shows how well they ruccceded; cbnler: new drowroom wqs conneclcd to exirting opplionce slors ond everylhing hqs itr own dcporlmcnl; right: wide sisles ond low irlondr give spcciousners ond let clerkr see cuslomers cntcr. CENIER PANE!: Ar reor of Paint dcportment (one cntire wcll) is intcrior decorolo/s roon to sid in color-dedgn (women loved ir!); centcr: Odd Skogon sells Christmos wropping, which sold likc nickeJ beer during openingi righr: wetl-lighfed, orronged tool dirplcy gets .ntire wsll. LOWER PANEI,: Drqwings from cquirrcl-cogc (lefi) werc hcld cvcry hclf-hour sl ontile opening; cenl€r: viaw of applionce dGportmGnl frorn sccond fioor rcpoir shop; to say, this program also added considerably to Auburn Lumber Company's mailing list, too.

The two-day commemorative event, at which over 2,000 people registered for some $1,000 in door prizes, marks a hundred years of business history that had its beginning with the establishment of a sawmill by A1.lan, Creorge and Edwin Towle in 1856.

Today, Auburn Lumber Company, with head offices in Auburn and branch and associated yards in Davis, Woodland, Dixon, Loomis, Colfax and Newcastle, California, continues t{re operation begun as Towle Brothers Company. Remaining under the leadership of members of the same family for the last century, Auburn Lumber Company has well lived up to its motto, "Hats off to the past-coats off to the future."

Lumbering, since the time of the gold rush days, has been an integral part of the industrial development of Central California. As a result, the Towle Brothers operation itself showed considerable expansion as the West was built. In the years preceding 1869, Towle Brothers supplied the lumber and timbers to Central Pacific Railroad for the first transcontinental railroad into California over the Sierras. Even today, Auburn Lumber Company's remanufacturing'division continues to manufacture special right: Ed Young, Gorehime Corp., onnounces o winnor in drowing. "Spcciolt" (righf) gor thc "oc. lion" timbers for such companies as pG&E for over the Sierras. its power lines

After completion of the Central pacific transcontinental railroad, Towle Brothers, in 1876, buiit one of the first narrow gauge railroads in the West, in order ' to mor€ effectively transport logs to the mill and finish lumber to the main line.

Shortly afterward, in the year 1882, J. H. Robie, a brother-in-law to the Towle Brothers, came out West from Vermont to take charge of the company's woods' operation. His son, Edwin Towle Robie, later became secretary of the company after working up from store clerk to superintendent of yards.

By lX)Z, only George W. Towle'remained alive and it. was then that he decided that the business should be sold or transferred to others. Later that year, E. T. Robie, his ,' father J. H. Robie, and L. Huntley established Auburnr : Lumber Company to succeed the business formerly operated by Towle Brothers at Auburn. In 1903, the Towle,

Brothers mills and railroad were sold to a Canadian concern.

Since 1902, Auburn Lumber Company, and the companies associated with it, have been managed by three generations of Robies-first J. H. Robie, then E. T. Robie, and now Wendell T. Robie. son of E. T. Robie. who assumed control of the concern in 1944.

Auburn Lumber Company has never been satisfied with "seconds" in any modern development or trend, as its new showroom will testify. Not only does the firm maintain the latest trucks, carriers and lifts for efficient materials, handling, but it went a step further recently when Wendell Robie and his associates developed the installation of a

Gar-Wood scissors lift under the bed of an Auburn Lumber Company delivery truck (CLM, 7/t/56). This scissors lift will elevate the truck bed to roof level height so that roof materials or decking can be delivered right where they are needed on the job.

This type of "Yankee ingenuity" is prevalent throughout the entire organization. One quick look through Auburn Lumber's new showroom-with its wide aisles, low center islands, price-tagged and departmentalized inventory, central checkout 'counter, planning room, and private (Continued on Page 130)