A Hisrory (ond ir qin'r dullt of rhe Pucilic Goust lllholesde Hurdwood llistribulors fissociation

By Don ond Ghorles WHITE Porf One - EARTY HISTORY

The beginning of the Hardwood Industry of the Pacific Coast was not so very much later than that of Chicago. In 1849 and 1850, the general merchandising stores in San Francisco such as Howard & Mellis. and Leidsdorff. brought some hardwoods around the Horn in clipper ships along with boots, shoes, clothing and food stuffs.

These were for the blacksmiths and wagonmakers to use in building the brace coaches and wagons which hauled goods and passengers to the gold mines in the foothills of the Sierras, and for men like Studebaker, who was building wheelbarrows and wagons at Hangtown, accumulating the modest capital which started Studebaker Brothers at South Bend, Indiana.

In the 60's, 7O's and 80's, a number of firms entered the hardwood business in San Francisco, first as an adjunct to wagon materials and later handling hardwood lumber exclusively. John Wigmore in the early 60's, Straut White & Co. in 1868, White Brothers in 1872, Allen & Tuggle Lumber Co. in 1882, J. H. Dieckmann and E. F. Niehaus in the late 80's or early 90's were old concerns.

This city became the hardrvood distributing center for the entire Western part of the United States, and Los Angeles, San Diego, Portland, Seattle and Vancouver' drew their supplies from the Golden Gate. As population increased in the other Coast cities, hardwood yards were established or softwood yards and planing *ills put in stocks of hardwoods.

In Los Angeles in 1893, Erastus J. Stanton, a for,mer Michigan lumberman, established a lumber business handling principally Sugar and White Pine. In 1895 he put in a stock of hardwoods. In 1904 the Hardwood Lumber Co., a branch of the Hardwood Lumber Co. of Denver, was established by Joseph Ringerman and in 1906 this became the Western Hardwood Lumber Company. Los Angeles became the distributing center of Southern California.

In 1903, Ehrlich Harrison & Company was established in Seattle. Portland, Oregon, soon was a distributing center, developing its hardwood business from planing mill stocks. The Emerson Hardwood Company, under the management of Charles Stetson, set up a band mill and veneer saw, imported large quantities of Japanese logs and sold their products all along the Coast. The financial results were only indifferent and the plant was purchased by Roger Sands of Seattle.

San Diego came into thefield with Jerry Sullivan's hardlvood yard. J.Fyfe Smith opened up in Vancouver, B'C'

Great Changes

The Hardwood Industry of the Pacific Coast has changed greatly in character since its beginnings. In the early days, wagon and carriage building was the principal outlet for hardwoods. and the first hardwoods carried in stock were only as a part of the inventory of dealers in wagon and carriage builders' materials. This was true of all the present distributing centers of the Coast. Boat and shipbuilding were probably the next industries to use hardwoods.

As the manufacture of other commodities such as furniture, hardwood house trim, etc., were introduced, other woods than those used in the vehicle and boatbuilding trades were added. In the 70's and 80's of the last century there was a considerable furniture manufacturing industry in San Francisco, and Black Walnut and other hardwoods were used in large quantities. A great deal of furniture which we now call Mid-Victorian was made on the Coast. The Eastern furniture factories, with their mass production and cheap freight rates on finished goods, practically destroyed the Coast industry inthe 1890's, and it did not revive until the early 1900's when Japanese Oak and Philippine Mahogany gave it a new advantage over Grand Rapids and Chicago.

Spanish Cedar and Mahogany logs were imported in considerable quantities in the 80's and 90's, and sawmills were operated in San Francisco by the West Coast Furniture Company. Afterwards, L & E Emanuel, Hoffman, Dieckmann, and Niehaus. Spanish Cedar was used for stair work almost exclusively, and there was a prosperous cigar box trade using this wood.

The use of hardwood trim in residences and stores grad- ually increased. The old time saloon was a lucrative customer for the finest cabinet woods, and the growth of the Coast in population, and the erection of great business buildings and fine residences increased the use of hardwoods. About the year 1900, Oak flooring commenced to become popular, while Maple flooring for dance floors and skating rinks had already been in use for many years.

In the year 1905, thefirst shipments of Japanese Oak logs commenced to come to the Pacific Coast. There were four hardwood sawmills in San Francisco. one in Los Angeles and several in the northern cities besides a number of veneer sarvs and flooring factories.

Japanese Oak gradually became a very important factor in tlre hardrvood industrv. In the vear 1907. the Western

$q{yood Company of Los Angeles alone imported 1,800,000 feet of Japanese Oak logsand put up their own bandsaw and venier mill. Mission- Furniture was much in style in that period, and Japanese Oak, on account of its soft texture and cheap price, provided an ideal wood for its manufacture.

It may be said that the re-birth of furniture manufacturing on the Pacific Coast was due to Japanese Oak more than to any other thing. In time, the japanese themselves learned to saw their logs,into lumber and the importatioqr of logs practically ceased, while the bringing in-of sawn Iumber rose to great proportions.

The Eastern manufacturers of Domestic Oak, becoming alarmed at the inroads of Japanese Oak, succeeded in having a duty of. l5/o ad valorum tax placed on the sawn lumber at one time. This, combined with the rising costs o_f labor in Japan, elevated the price of Japanese 6ak to the equal and frequently above price of American Oak.

Mission furniture went out ofstyle. These things militated Sgainst the use of the imported wood and its coirsump- tion decreased to a very considerable extent. In the yeir 19Q7,-or thereabouts, American capital began to develop the timber in the Philippine Islands, and i few scatterei shipments were made at that time. Within about five years, .howev€r,_ Philippine $ahqgany became really a factor in the industry on the Pacifii Coast. It has grown to be the principal-wood used for trim, doors, cibinet making, etc. Philippine Mahogany has been of major rmportance rn the development of furniture factories on our coast. When Japanese Oak went out, Philippine N{ahogany came in; and Los Angeles, San Franiisco, Portland, Tacoma, and Seattle became real furnitu.e p.oducing centers utilizing many kinds of hardwoods.

To Be Continued in the Next Issue.

Weyerhqeuser Timber Compony Experimenting With Seeding

__Ja-cgma, W4gh.-On an experimental area near yacolt, Washington, Weyerhaeuser -Timber Companv research foresters have increased Douglas fir seed cone -production sixfold by application of soil nutrients. Such increased seed production, the foresters say, will help make quick reforestation possible. This can boost the productivitv of Pacific Northwest's forestland by up to IO/i.

Weyerhaeuser's foresters are studyine methods of helo- ing I\{other Nature increase the amounT of seed oroducdd each year. The company outlined research leading to these new methods. On 16 plots treated with soil nutriEnts, cone production jumped to 18 bushels per acre. Four untreated p.lots produced-only three bushels of cones per acre. In addi_ tion, the number of good seeds in a bushel of cones in_ creased Q/o- on tle treated plots. Company foresters expressed the hope that continued researcli would orove this method economically feasible on a production basis.

To achieve maximum forest productivity, sufficient tree seed is needed every year to- reforest irarvested areas. Mother Nature fails Paiific Northwest tree .farmer, ..lri., out of ten years, the ,company said. In the Northwest there ls an average of only three years out of ten when an ade_ quate amount of seed is produced to achieve satisfactorv natural reforestation. If six to ten years can be saved iir starting a new.forest in which the cuiting cycle is 60 to t@ years, productivity increases 6 to l}Eo. "

- Weyerhaeu_ser has established on'e of the Northwest,s first cone orchards 15 miles west of Chehalis, Washi"gto". On an eight-acre site, 2600 fir trees were recentlv tians_ planted at wide spacing_ of lZ by 24 feet. Through careful selgcll.on: the. company.hopes to develop a suppl-y of seed sutraDte lor the parttcular areas requiring reforestation. In aodttlon, they hop.e to develop trees with superior qualities, lnctudtng better than average height and diameter-grorvth. resrstance to insect and disease attacks, and trees thit grow better wood faster.

Philippine Timber R,eserve

: Now 60OiillionSoord Feet [|.and Volued ot t$4O Billion

Philipoine timber reserves have been recentlv estimated ' at 600 bittio" board feet valued at $40 billion, according to

'an article in the October issue of Oil Progress.

"More than 95/o of Philippine hardwood forests are owned by the government, and are administ-ere-d by _the

Bureau of Foreitry under a licensing system," the Caltex magazine points out. "Logging companies and sawmill opeiators iontribute to the government's revenue in the I6rm of license fees, acreage clarges and reforestation fund rcharges. During the fiscaf year,1954-1955 these op^erations prod"uced a rev6nue of about 5.5 million pesos, or 2'75 rr'iliion dollars, and in that year of peak industry activity more than 1.5 billion board feet of lumber were cut and marketed. Against charges that this valuable resource is_being cut too rapidtv, the Bureau of Forestry points out that in the islands"forests there is a wood 6aiitat (trees below 7O cen- timetres in diameter) which makes a growth of. 1.5/o ayear, or three billion board feet. While some portion of this is not economically'accessible, the Bureau feels that so tremen- dous an aciretion of timber allows plenty of margin for the expansion of industry activity.

"Ofall lumber exports from the Philippines, 85 to X)% fall into the classification Philippine mal,ogany, and the remaining lO to 15% are of other national hardwoods," Oil Progress-states. "Seven separate species, of the .3,00O or mor-e indigenous to the islands, are included in this classification, and are differentiated principally as to weight and color. In the dark red group are red lauan, tangile and tiaong; and in the lifht ied, almon, bagtikan,,mayapis and whitJ lauan. All these species have a generally cylindrical ' bole ranging from five to seven feet in diameter; and their

Womon's Ploce ls in rhe Forest

The nation's first "Pauline Bunyan Log Cutting Contest" was won by petite Jgan Davis of Atwater, California, in 30-seconds-fdstest time of the day-at the Kellogg-Little Company-sponsored contest at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco, November 10. Using the official McCulloch Chain Saw D-44, the pretty little housewife from Limestone, Maine, who is making her home with her Air Force Captain husband and their two children in Atwater. sliced three 3" slabs from a 12" in diameter log, towinfirst pize-' a television set-and the title, "Pauline Bunyan of 1957" in the first annual event under the auspices of the Kellogg-Little Company, exclusive McCulloch Chain Saw distributors in Northern California and Nevada. Second place winner was Mrs. Laura Stanley of Larkspur, Calif., whose cutting time was 32.4 seconds, and Mrs. Merle Richardson of San Francisco placed third with a 37-second score.

grain is crossed, or interlocked, producing a characteristic 'rribbon" effect when the wood is quarter-sawn.

"The tremendous progress of the lumber industry during the last few years has been achieved in spite of difficulties not faced by other segments of the economy. In order to speed the necessary work of rehabilitation, the government enacted a measure in 1945 forbidding all exports of lumber and wood products. During this difficult period, most of the foreign markets successfully built up over a forty-year interval were lost. Although the order was modified somervlrat in 1947, export restrictions were notlifted entirely until 1949. Former markets, principally in the United States and Japan, were quickly recaptured and new ones established, and today exports of hardwood logs and finished lumber are running at the rate of about 60 million board feet a month." the article concluded.

Series of Pock River Promotions

A series of promotions for management personnel of Pack River Tree Farm Products, Spokane, and its affiliated Inland Empire mills, has resulted from the recent creation of two new top-level positions by the Spokane firm.

President L. V. Brown announced appointment of Mort J. Huetter as production coordinator for the group of mills and Curt McEwan as logging coordinator. McEwan will be succeeded as woods superintendent of Pack River Lumber Company, Sandpoint, idaho, by Einest H. Gill, assistant woods superintendent. Jack L. Bopp, general manager of Pack River Lumber Company, succeeds Huetter as general manager of Northwest Timber Company, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Irvin Wentworth, who had been general manager of Tenex, Inc., Sandpoint, takes over as general manager of Pack River Lumber Company,

In other personnel moves by the firms, Phil Cook, who had been manager of Pack River Lumber's planing mill and dry kilns at Dover, Idaho, was appointed assistant plant superintendent for Thompson Falls Lumber Company, Montana. Paul Knaggs, son of a one-time sales manager of Pack River Lumber Company, and who has been purchasing agent, was appointed superintendent of the Dover planing mill and dry kilns. Jed Grimm, Coeur d'Alene, former Western Pine Association grader, was named resident sales manager for Pack River Lumber Company.

Fire Codes Compilotion' Published

The National Fire Codes, a compilation of 168 fire safety standards as developed by the National Fire Protection Association, have just been published by the NFPA in a revised six-volume 1957 edition. The Codes, six dollars per volume, may be obtained from the Publications Department. National Fire Protection Association, 60 Battervmarch Street, Boston 10, Massachusetts.

Plywood Mill

, Eryek3, Calif.-A plywood mill and a pulp and paper mill tor the Eureka area were forecast by Owen R. Cheatham. executive officer and board chairman of Georgia-pacific 9_o.p. l! a dinner for 160 guests given by the comfany here. He said no dates could be specified foi the ne# miils but that they would make use of all the materials available here, reported The San Francisco Examiner.

Mr. Cheatham said he did not know whether the plywood plant addition to the Hammond-California Redwood eo. op- eration on Samoa peninsula would be in the form of the purchase of an existing plywood plant or construction of a new one but added that a new plant would be the most likely development.

A pulp and paper plant, he said, will not be constructed "this year or next, but it is coming" and would use the vast amount of waste material now burned or left in the woods.

Ex.plaining tg lis audience of political, professional and business leaders of Humboldt count-y the comp-anyls reason-s for coming- to the area and its plans for the future, Cheatham sai-d, ,,No industry has'a better future than the cellulose-chemical-lumbei industry, and especially the Redwood lumber industry.', Enhanced value of well-developed, second-growth timber will contribute more to the econbmy than did old growth, he declared.

"We will be on a 90-year sustained yield operation and it- u1f supply more.to the economy than-the old growth. No one in Georgia-pacific accefts the concept all the lumber will be gone in 20 years,'ihe said.

Earl Birmingham, president of Hammond-California Redrvood _Co.., G-P subsidiary, introduced key men in the G.p organization. The dinner was held at thti private Ingomar Club.

Vaulted Roofs ? - Hyperbolic Paraboloid ? -

Gomponent Fahrication ? - Geodesic Domes ? -

Plywood Gleats - and Curved Framing Members ?

Better Get Ready, Dealers - THIY'RI C0MING !

lrractical design and gracefrrl lines\\'crc sllcccssittlll, combined in a group of structurcs ciirrling t.rttt tlic thcmc "Arts in Architectttre" at San Frerr-rcisco's anuual r\rts I'-cstivalinSettember.

The inrplicatiorr for the builcling inclustrv is cleiLr: although it u'ill r.rot happen tomorrou', shapes likc thesc arcincreasingly likelv to apl)ear in cc,ntmercial and rcsicierrtiltl c()nstrt1ct1()n.

As more firms become interested in component fabrication, such parts as went into these structures will be available to merchant builders and retail'lumber dealers.

Among the Arts l.'cstival builclings trrere tu:o new approaches to the vaulted roof iclea, u'orked out by clesigners Evelyn and George Kosnrak in conjtu.tction r'r'ith the engineering staff of Berkelet' l'lyvvoo<l Comparrv, zt component fabricator.

Of equal ir.rterest to the construction inclustry were t\\'o ltlyt,ood translations of Buckrninster liuller's geodesic domc idea; one, also deveioped by the Kos'maks, 39 feet in dialneter ancl erected by Shell Structttres of l)enver. This is the lirm that has pioneered in adapting the hyperbrilic paraboloid to commercial construction. The other clome. 2.5 feet in cliarneter, rvas put up by (irae Strrrctttrcs, Inc., irr tu'oand-a-half honrs to dernonstrate thc rlo-it-r-ottrselI Dotcrrtialities of the small olvu'oricl ckrme.

'lhc liosr.naks rool'ecl tn'o paviliorrs n'ith rtitttlts, achie ving li graceful vet ec()nomical shelter for the paintirrgs atrd textile cxhillits ther'lioused. The ltaviliorrs exterr<le<1 in op'posite directions from atljacettt sectiot'rs of a t:ornmon 'rv;tll irf 'fextrrre Orre-lileven. thc vertically-grooverl ltlyn'oo<1. 1.,:rclr eler-en-foot-u-i<le lault had a clear sp:ur oi 40 feet, s'ith lun cight-foot crtntilelere<l tir,erhang at each encl. Thc v:rttlts u'crc prefalrricatetl irr eight-ft,rot sections, cach consisting oi tu'o fortr-l>v-tu'el ve panels of one-half-inch C-C Exterior frr lllvn'ood. joinerl n'ith lr ltlyn'otld cleat and bent over a i<,rnr. 'I'he crrrvetl patrcls u'cre trailetl and glued to bet'elecl three-by-four flitnges :ttrd steel tensiou rocls 'tt'ere insertecl to m:rintain thc rlesire<l ctlr\:c. \\''l-ren vaults u'ere assembled at the site. sections \vere joirrctl rvith plyn-ood cleats and l-ood scren's. A otrc-foot or,erhilttg \\-its adclecl along each side.

Berlieley I'lyu.oo<I, tlre i:rlrricator, rcports that these ar€ lrrototvpes of panels specilretl in:r tlesigrr for a yacht club nou- ready for constrttction, u-ith Theodore Iloutrny as lrrchitect ancl George Kcismak as consultant.

lior the b;rndstar.rcl canopv. thc Kosmaks created lt scalIoued roof line bv means oi rr series of fir'e smaller vaults (tiaclemarked l'l-vvaults) of san<lrvich c.trstruction, sttpportecl on light metal scaffolding. Iiach ttnit 'rvas 24 feet long ancl eight feet rr'ide, proclucing a 2'1x40-foot shelter for thc 1(rx32-foot stage. The sandrvich components c:onsistecl of light top ancl bottom plyrvood skins (top l'as %-irrch l'l)'Shield. bottom :r decorative relief-grain plyrvoocl, Simpsorr Sharkrn'oood), glued to curved framing members.

I'ierkelev Itlvn'oocl l.ropes to develop both Plyr':rrrlts and sectional vault panels as star-rdard components.

The rear u'all ancl the dressing rooms at either sidc o[ the stage u'ere Rerkeley's "ller.rtu'all" panels, similar to cot.tr-er.rtir>nal stresscd-skin ltanels but n'ith plyn'ood skins curvecl to a 6'l-inch raditts.

Geodesic Domes

The larger of the tu,o <lomes at the Arts Festit-al housing the exhibit of the Sarr Iirancisco chapter of the Industrial J)esigners' lnstitute, u'as 39 feet ir-r cliameter and lc)% feet high, providing shelter for 1,200 square feet. Construction was accomplished by lapping 135 sheets of.'/a-inch Exterior fir plywood in a shingled effect, securing panels with 4uts and bolts in the corners. Support during construction was afforded by a portable mast, subsequently removed.

To avoid the appearance ofa hole-in-the-wall entrance to the dome, the designers added a short entrance passage walled with Bentwall panels and roofed with a conventional flat stressed-skin panel. Thomas E. Moore of Shell Structures, who are licensed by Buckminster Fuller, supervised construction of the dome.

Moore foresees a growing market for such domes as livestock shelters, grain storage facilities, hangars, gyrmnasiums, auditorium, cabins, and in other applica- tions where speed and economy of construction are desirable.

The smaller dome, 25 leet in diameter and enclosing 500 square feet of floor space, was erected by Grae Structures, Inc., also Fuller licensees. Construction was generally simi-

L. A. Hoo-Hoo-El{es Meet

Los Angeles Hoo-Hoo-Ette Club No. 1 met November 11 at Rudi's Italian Inn for its monthly meeting. Plans were made for the annual Christmas party, December 9, at Rodger Young auditorium and it promises to be a very gay evening for the lumberwomen.

Activities at the November meeting included a talk illustrated with color movies by a representative of the City of Hope in response to worthwhile projects- the club might be interested in helping sponsor. Member Barbara Speth also brought up the subject of help needed at Tuvenile Hall and the members considered otfrer worthv causes.

Lumber Industry leoder Retires After 37 Yeors

Harry^G. Uhl, president, Timber Engine-ering Company, engineering and research affiliate of the National Lumber Manufacturers Association, retired November 12 after 37 years' service to the lumber and wood using industries, it was announced at the annual meetings of the boards of the NLMA and TECO. At the meetinss, the 25th anniversary of the Timber Engiieering Company was celebrated. Mr. Uhl helped to establish the company in 1933.

USP Promotes Hughes to Ooklond Solesmonoger

Don Kesselring, Northern California district manager of U.S. Plywood Corp., annou_nces the'promotion of Gordon Hughes to th-e po^sition of salesmanager of U.S. Ply- wood's Oakland branch. ThE promotion, in recognition of Hughes' excCllent performance in sales rvork, will also free Kesselring for increased activity in his work with the company's four other Northern California branches.

lar to that of the 39-foot dorine, with fir plywood panels lapped and bolted. Marquis and Stoller, the architects, specified high density overlaid fir plywood, with fiberglas and glass windows and skylight fitted into the apertures between panels.

__Grae Structures plan to market packaged components of 25-foot or larger domes to builders and consumers, for erection as vacation cabins or small residences.

Packages, wh,ich are expected to selltfor about $1,(X)0, will include all plywood pan€ls, precut and predrilled; nuts and bolts; window and door installation materials; and in some cases plywood (PlyScord ot 2.+.1) flooring. Rental of the portable mast required during construction will be included in the package. H. D. Grae of the contracting finm says that the average, reasonably competent purchaser can put the dome up in about half a day, with three helpers.

(Tell them you saw it in The California Lumber Merchant)