Aerials of the immense Buffelen Lumber Co. on the Tideflats. The large mill was located on Lincoln at Taylor Way; 2000 Taylor Way is the approximate address. The company was started in 1912 by John Buffelen. By 1928, Phil Simpson was acting as vice president and general manager. Simpson was one the forces involved in the formation of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association. ("The Plywood Age" Robert M. Cour)
Aerials of Buffelen Lumber Co. on the Tideflats. The large mill was located on Lincoln at Taylor Way; 2000 Taylor Way is the approximate address. The company was organized in 1912 by John Buffelen, a partner at that time with August Von Boecklin in Washington Manufacturing Co., makers of fir columns. Buffelen started his new plant in Tacoma and produced primarily doors. Early in 1916, the plant began to manufacture fir plywood. In 1928, Buffelen met Phil Simpson, at that time the secretary and treasurer of the Tacoma Gas and Electric Co. Simpson became vice president of Buffelen in charge of finances. John Buffelen left the firm in 1928 and Simpson formed a holding company for the concern, by then known as the Buffelen Lumber & Manufacturing Co. ("The Plywood Age" Robert M. Cour)
In June of 1947, an unidentified employee of the Buffelen Lumber Co. used a giant lathe to strip the bark off of a peeler log. The log will later be peeled to make plywood. Started in 1912 by John Buffelen, the Buffelen Lumber Company was located on Lincoln at Taylor Way on the Tacoma tideflats. Buffelen's was one of the earliest plywood companies, beginning plywood production in 1916.
Plywood production at Buffelen Lumber Co. An employee uses a giant lathe to strip the bark off of a peeler log. The log will later be peeled into sheets of veneer used to make plywood. Plywood is sheets of veneer glued together to form a stronger material. Buffelen was one of the earliest plywood companies, beginning plywood production in 1916. Plywood boomed as an industry with the government's approval of plywood as a defense material during WWII.
O'Connell-Ragan, Carstens fleet of trucks at plant, Corey Wilbur. Carstens has added several refrigerated trucks to their fleet. They are shown lined up at the company loading platform waiting for a supply of sausage and smoked meat products. The new trucks are the first of their kind in Tacoma. They were built on Chevrolet chasis and designed by Right of Way Auto Works of Tacoma. The refrigerated units were designed by Otto Stolz and Clarence Mase at Carstens. The trucks are called "mobile sales units". ( T.Times,6/18/1947, p.7)
Carstens Packing Co. (Tacoma); Meat industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Meat; Sausages--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Right of Way Auto Works (Tacoma); Stolz, Otto; Mase, Clarence;
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. Four men have gathered to look at a display board of process samples at the one-day conference of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association held June 10, 1946, at the Elks Temple auditorium. Some 150 leaders of the plywood industry were assembled at this conference. (T.Times, 6/11/1947, p.1)
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Meetings--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Pacific Boat Building Company, sea trials of "Sun King". Sun King, a 112 foot x 26.5 foot x 14 foot tuna clipper, was owned by Joseph Fernandes and Sun Harbor Packing Company. She was a sister ship of Sun Voyager. Pacific Fisherman Yearbook 1948, p.301 & p.320. She carried a 550 hp Washington Iron Works diesel motor, cost $300,000. Robert Breskovich, with Pacific Boat, said she possessed the most modern equipment including a Sperry gyroscope. (T.Times, 7/16/1947, p.9) TPL-8931
Plywood Research Foundation. Testing plywood with a high flame at the plywood lab. A worker is keeping record of the test results. The Plywood Research Foundation was opened in August 1944 and was funded with an initial $100,000 from subscribers from the plywood manufacturers. A separate corporation was formed. Among the explorations at the lab were overlay and surfacing treatments for plywood, studies of built-up plywood beams and other structural applications, tests of preservative treatments and water repellants. (TNT, 5/24/1944)
Plywood Research Foundation (Tacoma); Plywood; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Laboratories--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company.A view of a large piece of machinery at the Penn Salt plant. The name "General Electric Company" is molded into the housing on the base of the machine. It is large enough to have a portion of the machine below floor level.
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. of Washington (Tacoma); Chemical industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Factories--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Company. The exterior of one of the buildings at the plant. A flag pole stands in front of the building. The $2 million Tacoma plant covered about 40 acres of tideflats on Hylebos waterway. Their products included chlorine and caustic soda (used in pulp, paper, plywood and soap manufacture as well as for sanitation purposes), chemical manufacturing, metallurgical and other processes and herbicides.
Pennsylvania Salt Manufacturing Co. of Washington (Tacoma); Chemical industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Factories--Tacoma;
Connors Steel & Supply. A railroad car with a winch on one half of the car, the other half is covered with a structure similar to a caboose. This closer view gives greater detail of the winch.
Washington Co-op Farmers Association. Items used by farmers are on display: wheelbarrow, feeders, sprayers, tires, oil, grease, paint and paint brushes, insecticides, hand tools and a cultivator plus other items. The customer counter is on the right side.
Washington Cooperative Farmers Association (Tacoma); Merchandise displays--Tacoma--1940-1950; Agricultural industries;
Sperry Flour Company. Sperry planned to expand its facilities at this time by leasing the former site of the Centennial Flouring Mills Company that was destroyed by fire in late January 1947. Negotiations were being conducted between General Mills (owners of Sperry Flour Company), the Centennial Flouring Mills Company and the Northern Railroad Company which holds title to the waterfront property. This expansion to the old Centennial site never took place. A worker from Sperry is filling a 50 pound bag of enriched flour (called "Drifted Snow") from an overhead chute.
From the evidence provided by this photograph, the security guards at the Kaiser aluminum plant on the Tideflats had a pretty easy life in September of 1947. But one has to wonder what the corporate headquarters for Permanente Metals Corporation thought about the security at their Tacoma plant when they saw this carefully posed picture. The Tacoma plant was only one year old, having been taken over by Permanente Metals Corp. from the Olin Corp. in 1946. (Permanente Metals, Mr. Love) TPL-9603
Shiploading aluminum ingots at Shaffer Terminal #3, Permanente Metals, Pat Love. "Pigs" of aluminum produced by Permanente Metals Corporation in Spokane are ready to be loaded into an Argentine government freighter, the Palamar, at Shaffer Terminals. (T.Times, 8/28/1947, p.1)
Shiploading aluminum ingots at Shaffer Terminal #3, Permanente Metals, Pat Love. Aluminum from Permanente Metals Corporation is being loaded through the hatch of an Argentine government freighter, the Palamar. The ship was formerly the Spica, operated by the U.S. navy during World War II. Her captain on this delivery is Jose Pita. (T.Times, 8/28/1947, p.1)
Puget Sound Boat Building Company. The sponsor of the boat stands with the wrapped bottle of champagne and long-stemmed roses ready for the launching. She is wearing a corsage of three gardenias and a stylish hat that curves over her forehead on one side.
Puget Sound Boat Building Company. A tug boat, the Peter Foss, is assisting the newly launched boat to the dock. Pieces of scrap lumber float around the boat. Old City Hall's tower can be seen above the boat. TPL-8934
On spec. for the Times, Labor Day. Interior views of the St. Regis Paper Company. The paper machine had variable speeds from 450 - 2,100 feet per minute according to the kind of paper being made. St. Regis expected the new paper machine to run at a rate of 2,000 feet per minute and to be capable of producing 240 tons of paper per day.
St. Regis Paper Co. (Tacoma)--1940-1950; Paper industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery;
Globe Machine Company manufactured modern machines for Western Washington. Jesse Bamford was the President and Calvin D. Bamford was the Secretary-Treasurer of the company. View of machinery designed and manufactured by Globe.
The Tacoma plant of the Permanente Metals Corporation accomplished its first casting of "pigs" from molten metal in November of 1947. Plant employees in the pot room were photographed getting the newly molten metal in the ladle ready to pour into a mold to form pigs. Cast pigs could weigh from fifty and one thousand pounds depending on size and composition. Once cooled, the pigs were stacked on pallets and transported to the rolling mill at Trentwood, located near Spokane, Washington. The pigs from the Mead and Tacoma plant would later be re-melted in furnaces where other metallic elements were added to form standard alloys. Tacoma's Permanente plant produced aluminum in commercial quantities for Henry J. Kaiser's industrial operations. (PMC Annual Report, 1947-1948; T.Times 11-19-47, p. 18-alt. photograph & article).
Permanente would be producing 42,000,000 pounds of pure aluminum per year at the Tacoma plant. Tacoma's output will supplement the Mead Reduction plant near Spokane, Washington. Permanente Metals delayed their plant opening, until the newest generator of the Grand Coulee power plant was in operation. View of Permanente technicians checking equipment (T. Times, 10/31/47, p. 1).
Aluminum industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Industrial facilities--Tacoma; Control rooms--Tacoma; Permanente Metals Corp. (Tacoma)--Employees;
Permanente Metals Tacoma plant was a modern aluminum reduction plant. The plant had two pot lines that produced about 42,000,000 pounds of aluminum per year. This plant was located in the Tide Flats area and was spread over 129 acres, the plant went into official production on October 31, 1947. View of Permanente employee using the time clock (T. Times, 10/31/47, p. 1).
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. Interior view of Plywood Research Foundation, unidentified man is recording plywood test information, photo ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association (T. Times, 12/22/47, p. 10).
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Testing--Tacoma; Recording & registration--Tacoma; Research facilities--Tacoma; Plywood Research Foundation (Tacoma); Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
Twin brothers Burrell and Murrell Rucker opened the Rucker Brothers Trucking Co. shortly after WWII. Building on the L.E. Rucker and Son Trucking Co. started by their father, they were located at 733 East 11th Street, a location they shared with the St. Paul and Tacoma Lumberyard. Although the Rucker Brothers did a lot of hauling for this lumberyard, they also had contracts with many other lumber companies. View of Rucker Brothers truck with Burrell Rucker behind the wheel; the truck is loaded with St. Paul and Tacoma lumber. This photograph was commissioned as the anchor photo in a calender the Ruckers intended to print and share with their customers. The truck had been freshly washed and "tire black" applied. Extra effort was made to whiten the lettering on the tires and cleanly bundle the load of local lumber. A decision was made by the Ruckers to superimpose the image of the truck in front of Mount Rainier. This image was ultimately printed and distributed for the Rucker Brothers calendar. Burrell Rucker died in April of 2010 at age 96. His brother, Murrell, died in January of 2011 at the age of 97. (Additional information provided by Judy Hyers, daughter of Burrell Rucker)
Douglas Fir Plywood. A man is using a forklift to stack loads of plywood in a small area in April of 1945. During the 1940's Tacoma led the nation's plywood industry. The city had five factories which turned out more than 12% of all the Douglas Fir plywood produced in the nation. (T.Times, 1/9/1946)
Mr. Cook and his house cleaning apparatus. Mr. Cook is using pressurized water to clean the exterior of a one-story house. The interior of his truck is shown with a generator to create the strong force of water necessary for this method of cleaning. The house being cleaned appears to be relatively new and has an unusual roofing material pattern.
Machinery; Cleaning personnel; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Houses--Tacoma--1940-1950; House cleaning;
