Tacoma Firm Cuts Giant Douglos Fir T ree

A giant Douglas fir tree 12 leet 9 inches in diameteraccording to records, one of the biggest in cross section ever felled by man-has been cut in the prime forests southwest of Mount l{ainier in the center of 'western Washington.

This lvas revealed rvhen a short butt section of tl.re tremendous tree rras unveiled at Northrvest Door Co., Tacoma, Washington, ply'n'ood and door manufacturing firm in u'hose logging operations the tree u'as brought dorvn. First to vieu- the display block n''ere 100 retail lumber dealers from Texas, Nebraska, Nen' Mexico, Florida and Oklahoma n.ho visited the Tacoma factory en route to the convention of the National Retail Lumber Dealers' Association at Seattle.

Davis and N{aras Co. of Packrvood, Washington, were the contract loggers rvho cut the big stick.

Annual rings shou' the forest monarch rvas 586 years old ; it rvould have provided much good lumber even before Columbus landed in America. Long over-ripe, rot had begun to appear jr.rst insicle the bark at the base of the trunk and much of the upper part of the tree u'as decayed.

Top Shattered

Man rvill never knorv whether this tree had been taller tl.ran any other fir cut because lightning or high 'r'",incl years ago shatterecl the "big one" 198 feet from its base. At that poirrt, the trunk diameter still was 29 inches. Neither rvill it ever be knon'n lvhether at one time this forest monarch had a greater volume of usable timber in it than an1' other Douglas fir for much of the rvood volume, of course, u'as lost when the upper section rvas carried away.

Hou.ever, r,vere the 198-foot section rvhich fell before the woodsmen's sarv sound throughout, it r.vould contain an estimated ll,076 cubic feet of rvood or enough, theoretically, to produce 349,464 square feet of plywood. That much plywood would build 58 complete houses r,vith the panels covering rvalls both inside and out. How extensive the rot is in the upper section of the trunk is not yet known.

The tree grew at an elevation of 1,050 feet at a point 7 miles 'nvest of the logging town of Packwood and rvithin 500 feet of the Corvlitz river. With the lo'"vest limb 95 feet above the ground, there r,vas a long, straight trunk to provide knot-free plywood or lumber.

Records of the Pacific Northwest Forest Experiment Station of U. S. Forest Service at Portland, Oregon, show that the largest dian-reter Douglas fir tree previously reported cut $'as one lZ feet 6 inches across. Two larger fir treesone in Oregon and one in Washington-and each al>out 15 feet 6 inche5 261655-fsll of old age.

Trees do grorv bigger, notably the California Redwoods. But the Douglas firs provide the nation's most valuable timber crop, and they grou' in merchantable stands only (Continued on Page 54)

Croilring througlt $""e*ber to the oll. gear't enl

P ufu rnort f"ll"u up a tree on lrow to gtreet a frienl!

The tlolidcys cre here caain-qnd crs the Old year ends There's time to voice recrl grctitude lor kindry, helplul lriends. To you Mills cnd wholescrlers who hcve been loycl to your cores,. Through yecrs checrd may you enioy prosperity thct endures!

A country retail lumber ycrd continuing to {ullill crn idecl ol Mr. qnd Mrs. G. walter Dow's who worked2l years to mcrke it q reality. Thct scme ideal, we hope hcs been lullilled these pcrst 7 yecrs, becquse oI their honest elforts cnd intelligently cpplied energies.

Tacoma FirmCutsGiant Dougfas Far Tree

(Continued from Page 52) west of the Cascade mountains. The species is named for David Douglas, Scottish botanist who came to Fort Vancouver, Washington, in 1825.

Permanint Display

The exhibit block brought to Tacoma is only 4 feet 5 inches long after being trimmed and sanded; it has been up-ended and placed on a concrete cradle. But this chunk a half to fell the record tree. Most of this time was consumed in notching in 3 feet on opposite sides of the tree for the blade of their power saw was only 8 feet long, standard in the Douglas fir region. The remainder was spent in undercutting and finally finishing off with the main horizontal ,cut.

So far, only the short display block has been brought out of the woods. The main trunk, cut in suitable lengths, will be brought to market later although the handling of the oversize logs will be difficult in either plywood factories or sawmills. Most plants are equipped to handle logs up to about 8 feet in diameter

The forest monarch was brought down as the loggers were completing operations on that particular site. Had it been left standing, it would eventually have been a total loss as the rot-from old age and past injuries to the treecontinued its inroads.

Mcrritime Commission Assigns Vessels To Move Stockpiled Lumber

The U. S. Maritime Commission has agreed to assign extra vessels needed to clear rvarehouses on the West Coast of stockpiled lumber, according to a recent announcement.

The shortage of available freight cars, together with the effects of the recently concluded shipping strike, resulted in a serious bottleneck of lumber 'critically needed for the Veterans Emergency Housing Program. Many West Coast mills rvere forced to shut down because of the lack of additional storage space in the Portland, Seattle and San Francisco areas.

Under the agreement con'cluded with the U. S. Maritine Commission, extra Government-ort'ned vessels will be operated by private shipping companies as adjuncts to their regularly established service to bring the lumber to principal East Coast and Gulf Ports.

OPA Files Dcmrcrge Suit Agcinst Pcrcilic Coast Decrlers

itself weighs an estimated 18,576 pounds and contains 516 cubic feet of wood and bark. Theoretically, this short block alone would produce 13,602 square feet of plywood or enough for two all-plywood homes. However, usually logs for plywood plants must be 8 feet or longer; further, this exhibit piece is too big around for the lathe at Northwest Door Co.

It took three men, working with a power saw, a day and

The Office of Price Administration in its drive against alleged price violations in the lumber and building material industries, filed 93 civil suits in principal Pacific Coast cities, November 26.

Twenty-four Southern California firms and nine San Francisco Bay area firms were named in the complaints' The alleged violations pre-date suspension of OPA controls.

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