View of sawdust stockpiling with smoke stacks in the distance. Railroad tracks run between the sawdust stacks and a road. Equipment and buildings were designed to help distribute the sawdust. The lumber industry was experimenting with different uses for the residue from their operations. Bark was used as a glue extender, molding powders, soil builders, specialty fuels and filler for linoleum. Sawdust and wood chips were turned into presto logs and wood alcohol or used in the pulp industry whereas these byproducts had once been burned. (TNT, 2/17/1948)
The log was trucked over a mountainous highway and busy highways, over 100 miles, one it reached Tacoma it was delivered to the Oregon-Washington Plywood Company, the log skidded off the truck and into the company's receiving pond, located just below Dock Street. View of nine foot in diameter and thirty four foot long "Peeler" log recently cut, Oregon-Washington Plywood Company will convert this log into plywood panels, plywood lumberman is measuring the log (T. Times, 5/11/48, p. 1).
View of nine foot in diameter and thirty four foot long "Peeler" log recently cut, Oregon-Washington Plywood Company will convert this log into plywood panels, plywood lumbermen are getting the log ready to unload. This log will provide 24,000 square feet of plywood, it will be converted into plywood panels used for housing. This log will provide enough plywood to build four all plywood five room houses (T. Times, 5/11/48, p. 1). TPL-10298
Douglas Fir Plywood Association was presenting reasons for choosing plywood over other building materials. An advantage to converting Douglas fir logs into plywood is the efficient use of the timber. View of DFPA representative using charts and graphs during his presentation, including "Value and Market Value", "Building Material Prices", "Interest Rates", "National Real Estate and Business Cycles" and "Commodity Prices...".
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Charts; Presentation drawings (Proposals); Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
Douglas Fir Plywood Association helped establish the Plywood Research Foundation in Tacoma. The lab is consistently testing the plywood for strength and durability, testing sites are located throughout Washington State. Douglas Fir plywood is advertised as the "Wood of 1000 Uses", although several thousand uses have been determined. View of man giving a plywood product durability demonstration.
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
An elevated view of the Defiance Mill saw line for I.W. Johnson Engineering. I.W. Johnson Engineering Company had produced three 8 x 60 sawmill edgers this year and then had three sizes of edgers available: 4 x 24, 8 x 60, and 10 x 72 for distribution in California, Oregon and Washington. (T.Times, 10/2/1946, p.3)
In this photograph from October 1946 for the Douglas Fir Plywood Association, a young woman on a step ladder, Shirley (Mrs. C.E.) Magarity, measures a large cross section of a log that is almost 13 feet in diameter. It used to stand outside the Northwest Door Company at 1203 East D St. when Herman E. Tenzler was president of the company. You can still see this section of a giant Douglas Fir standing by the entrance to the Lakewood Branch of the Pierce County Library system. It was moved there in 1965. (TNT 8/21/1946)
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Women--Tacoma--1940-1950; Measuring--Tacoma--1940-1950; Bathing suits; Magarity, Shirley; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Two women measure a 12 foot, 9 inch log section. This was the biggest cross section ever felled by man as of this date. It was cut in the prime forests southwest of Mount Rainier in the center of western Washington. This short butt section of the tremendous tree was on view at Northwest Door Company, a local plywood and door manufacturing firm in whose logging operations the tree was brought down. (T.Times, 10/16/1946, p.4, TNT 8/21/1946) TPL-7962
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Women--Tacoma--1940-1950; Measuring--Tacoma--1940-1950; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950;
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. Two men, difficult to discern from the large machinery, are in the upper left adjusting a log that is being broken down in the "head-rig". In the foreground rough cut lumber is being moved along by chains seen in open grooves in the surface of the platform. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. The "head-rig" is seen in the upper, center right. On the far left a radial-arm saw can be seen cutting lumber to length.
Calf shelter made of plywood at Western Washington Experiment Station. The Station, created in 1893, was located approximately seven miles from the city of Tacoma, in the Puyallup Valley. The Station engaged in research on western Washington agricultural problems. Photograph ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Western Washington Experiment Station (Puyallup); Barns--Tacoma
Grosvenor House apartments, 500 No. Wall, Seattle, under construction. Photo for Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Photograph was taken on March 5, 1950.
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Grosvenor House Apartments (Seattle); Construction--Seattle; Apartment houses--Seattle; Progress photographs--1950-1960;
Rucker Brothers lumber truck at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. sawmill. Photographer, possibly from Richards, is standing on top of the truck cab probably photographing the other pictures in this series. Work seems to have stopped as lumber employees stand and watch the show.The hoisting machinery used to move the timber off of the truck can be see at the right rear of the picture.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Trucks--Tacoma--1950-1960; Photographers--Tacoma;
Annual convention of Douglas Fir Plywood Association at the Winthrop Hotel. Four unidentified men stand in front of charts with production numbers. Ordered by Mr. McCallum.
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma); Meetings--Tacoma--1950-1960;
Nelson S. Perkins, of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. In the late forties, Perkins, then a young brilliant civil engineer, was hired to head up the DFPA'S technical and engineering department. This was a position that he would hold for many years. In 1959, he was promoted to a liason position between the member mills and the DFPA. (" The Plywood Age" by Robert M. Cour, TNT 3/18/1959, pg. A-14)
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Plywood; Perkins, Nelson;
Douglas Fir Plywood Association was hosting their 13th annual meeting in Tacoma's Winthrop Hotel in May of 1949. Tacoma continued to be the worldwide leader in plywood production. View of informational Douglas Fir Plywood charts, these indicate: "Effective Promotion + Aggressive Selling = Healthy Order Files;" chart on left side has information about the Douglas Fir Plywood industry today.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Conference rooms--Tacoma; Charts; Meetings--Tacoma--1940-1950; Signs (Notices); Plywood; Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma); Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
Douglas Fir Plywood was always being tested for durability and alternative uses. The research organization was supported by the plywood industries of Tacoma, this ensured Tacoma remaining at the top of plywood production. View of unidentified man applying Douglas Fir plywood panels in the interior of Riley and Catharine Denton's home, located at 1320 South Trafton Street. Riley Denton was the superintendent of Rainier Plywood Company. TPL-10297
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Plywood; Houses--Tacoma--1940-1950; Remodeling--Tacoma--1940-1950; Laborers--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Denton, Riley W.--Homes & haunts;
The Plywood Research Foundation was supported by all fir plywood manufacturers and devoted to the development of new products that could be manufactured from parts of the tree not already being utilized. View of plywood products being tested and tool being used for testing at the Plywood Research Foundation.
Plywood Research Foundation (Tacoma); Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma)--Products; Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Laboratories--Tacoma--1940-1950; Product inspection--Tacoma; Testing--Tacoma--1940-1950;
A huge log sent spray flying into the air when it plunged into the large log pond next to the St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Company on the tide flats in this photograph from June, 1949. Logs were dumped into one of the three log ponds at the waterway near St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber. The log ponds had a total area of 75 acres and combined log storage capacity of 15,000,000 feet. The logs would later be removed from the water when it was their turn in the lumber mill. Other parts of the lumber mill facility are seen in the background. Ordered by Helgeson. (American Lumberman, 5/21/1921)
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Logs; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Cold room constuction, Douglas Fir Plywood Association laboratory, Dave Countryman. Worker installing plywood panels on walls of foil insulated room on Halloween, 1950.
Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
Modular Structures, Incorporated has their business located in South Tacoma at 4702 South Tacoma Way. View of workmen working on prefabricated plywood panels, which will be used to make grain bins. View of railroad freight car in background, the plywood panels are being loaded into the car; photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Plywood; Laborers--Tacoma--1940-1950; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Construction industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma)--Products; Modular Structures, Inc. (Tacoma);
Workers at the Puget Sound Plywood company carefully maneuver a gigantic log into position by use of a hoist on September 13, 1950. These logs would eventually be turned into plywood panels and other plywood products. Puget Sound Plywood's plant was located at 230 East F Street; built in 1942, it was the first cooperative plywood plant in Tacoma.
Forests throughout Washington helped maintain the the paper production in the Tacoma plant. View of the St. Regis Paper Company's crew at Camp #2, located in Mineral, Washington; Matt Zoffel is logging superintendent for operations at the camp where the crew is harvesting giant Douglas Fir trees. TPL-6319
Loggers--Mineral--1940-1950; Paper industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logs; Firs; Forests--Mineral; Cutover lands--Mineral--1940-1950; Woodcutting--Mineral; St. Regis Paper Co. (Tacoma)--1940-1950;
Home portrait of the Weyerhaeusers. This sepia photograph of the large Weyerhaeuser clan was taken on July 6, 1954. Seated in the center of the picture are John Philip ("Phil") Weyerhaeuser, Jr., and wife Helen surrounded by children and grandchildren. Phil Weyerhaeuser was instrumental in leading the Weyerhaeuser Timber Company for over twenty years. His son, John Philip ("Flip") Weyerhaeuser, III, and family were visiting from St. Paul, Minnesota, and had spent two weeks at the Weyerhaeuser family home in American Lake. Another son, George, and family were also present for the gathering; they had traveled from Eugene, Oregon. (TNT 7-11-54, D-2)
Weyerhaeuser, John Philip--Family; Group portraits;
A man examines a piece of plywood sheathing marked "Plyscord", as it is being removed from a pickup truck on October 5, 1954. Several sheets remain to be unloaded to join the those already stacked on the ground. Plywood was a versatile product with many uses; first and foremost may have been in construction. Photograph ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.
Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
Logging trucks travel down a winding road carrying giant peeler logs that will be used in the November 27, 1954, Bellingham parade. Georgia-Pacific Plywood would be sponsoring several entries in this parade which would provide an impressive display of massive logs. The company would make a point to emphasize that the logs came from timbered forests in the local area. Photograph ordered by Georgia-Pacific Plywood Co.
Giant fir tree cut down by Georgia Plywood Company. Workman walking past freshly cut tree in forest in late November of 1954. The giant log was later paraded through the streets of Bellingham, Washington.
A Buffelen employee concentrates as he applies pressure to a louvered door on December 7, 1954. The door is made to allow air to circulate; it may be designed for a closet or a pantry. There appears to be three doors stacked one on top of another as the worker completes his tasks. Photograph ordered by Condon Co., an advertising agency.
Informal office photos of John Philip (Phil) Weyerhaeuser Jr., President of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company, with a model of the Everett facility. Phil Weyerhaeuser arrived in Tacoma in 1933 to take over the reins of the family timber business, after spending almost 13 years learning the profession in the Inland Empire. He ran the company until his death from leukemia December 8, 1956. He was a private, unpretentious and shy man, but he guided his company through the Great Depression, World War II and the New Deal. He imprinted the company with his vision that it must change in order to survive. No longer just a dealer in timberlands, the company diversified its interests and invested heavily in forestry as a renewable resource. In a 1955 passport application, he listed his profession as "lumberman," a modest assessment of his contributions to the industry. ("Phil Weyerhaeuser Lumberman" by Charles E. Twining)
Weyerhaeuser, John Philip; Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;
Informal office photos of John Philip (Phil) Weyerhaeuser Jr., President of Weyerhaeuser Timber Company. Executive offices were located on the 10th floor of the Tacoma Building, 1017-1021 A St. The company came into being in 1900 when Frederick Weyerhaeuser and several of his colleagues agreed to purchase 900,000 acres of western Washington timberlands from the Northern Pacific Railway Company. George S. Long, the company's first manager, originated the idea of timber as a renewable resource. In 1936, Phil Weyerhaeuser proudly pronounced the origination of the company's program of growing trees for harvesting, his personal vision. In 1941, Clemons Tree Farm was dedicated as the first of its kind. (" A History of Pierce County, Washington" Vol. 1)
Weyerhaeuser, John Philip; Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;
