An employee of the Douglas Fir Plywood Association appears to be monitoring gauges while doing product testing at the association's laboratory in March, 1954. Douglas Fir plywood was undergoing constant testing for durability and to maintain quality control. Photograph ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Plywood; Product inspection--Tacoma; Testing--Tacoma; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

United States Plywood Corp.'s logging operation at Kosmos, Wa., eight miles southeast of Morton in south central Lewis County. A close up of the timber with ropes and pulleys used to move timber. Covered areas and shacks are at the base of the timber, including a large tank.

Plywood; Lumber industry--Kosmos--1950-1960; United States Plywood Corp. (Seattle);

The extensive timber area owned by United States Plywood Corp. at Kosmos, Washington serves as the background for a personality shot of Mr. Jess Hurd who was photographed on March 2, 1954. Kosmos was once the headquarters for the logging operations of U.S. Plywood Corp. on the Cowlitz River, eight miles southeast of Morton in south central Lewis County. U.S. Plywood expanded in the post war years, acquiring plants at Mapleton, Ore., Anderson, Ca., two plants in the buy out of Associated Plywood Mills, Inc. and a veneer peeling plant at Kosmos, Wa. Their extensive timber holdings at Kosmos supplied the raw wood for their plywood plants. (Corrected identification provided by a reader)

Plywood; Lumber industry--Kosmos--1950-1960; United States Plywood Corp. (Seattle); Hurd, Jess;

St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company milled lumber used by 20th Century Construction Company in building DeLong School. View from off-site of building under construction with rough framing and roof beams in place.

St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company milled lumber used by 20th Century Construction Company in building DeLong School. Interior view of office building or house. Plan for school on panel; signs leaning against wall describing concrete subfloors.

St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company milled lumber used by 20th Century Construction Company in building DeLong School. Worker placing lumber on top of wood beams. Early construction phase.

St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company milled lumber used by 20th Century Construction Company in building DeLong School. View of wood beams in early construction phase.

Twenty logging trucks, photograph ordered by International Harvester. The trucks are fueled by propane and owned by Cotten Brothers in Spanaway, Washington. International Harvester sold and serviced large trucks. Here the trucks are posed in front of a large propane tank.

Trucks--Spanaway--1950-1960; Cotten Bros. (Spanaway); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Ordered by International Harvester, a single logging truck. The truck is fueled by propane and owned by Cotten Brothers in Spanaway, Washington. The truck is posed in front of a large propane tank labelled "Propane, the modern motor fuel." The back portion of the truck where the logs are usually loaded has been unhooked and now sits on the bed of the truck. International Harvester sold and serviced large commercial trucks.

Trucks--Spanaway--1950-1960; Cotten Bros. (Spanaway); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

New DFPA offices in the Fuller Building as pictured on September 18, 1953. This appears to be the mailroom. The Douglas Fir Plywood Association's headquarters in Tacoma was the center of the industry's national promotion of fir plywood. The cost of this promotion was over 2.5 million a year, much of it spent in postage. The DFPA was the highest volume customer of the Tacoma Post Office. TPL-8393

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960; Office workers--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Originally the home of W.P. Fuller & Co., the building was leased by the Douglas Fir Plywood Association in 1953 and remodeled for their headquarters. Plywood, the building material made of sheets of veneer glued together in multi plys, was the favored building material of the construction industry. This was mostly due to the self promotion of the Association, which was supported by member mills. The Association also sponsored research at its lab at 1214 A St. and standardized plywood and graded it for quality. TPL-8397

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960; Office workers--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Originally the home of W.P. Fuller & Co., the Douglas Fir Plywood Association leased and remodeled this office building in 1953. They remained here until the 80's. From this location, the DFPA directed their national program of promotion, research and quality control. Around 1983, the building was remodeled by Bantz Trace Associates and renamed the Commencement Bay building. It houses office space and the Cliff Street Lofts. TPL-8394

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Switchboard operator & a man waiting with a briefcase for an appointment. The Douglas Fir Plywood Association was originated and financially supported by member and subscriber mills. Its purpose was threefold; to aggressively promote plywood as a building material, to fund research on improving and diversifying the product and for quality control of the product. This self regulation sparked the biggest industry growth in the Northwest of all times. TPL-8395

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960;

Interiors of new DFPA office in Fuller building. Office workers at desk and counter, "Mr. Ritchie's" office in the background. The Douglas Fir Plywood Association began in 1938 when the original member mills banded together to promote and standardize their product. Under the able guidance of W.E. ("Diff") Difford, the handful of mills became an industry. By the forties, plywood boomed in housing and became the handiest building material ever devised. The Association later changed its name to the American Plywood Association, as more types of wood came to be used in the production of plywood. TPL-8396

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Offices--Tacoma--1950-1960; Office workers--Tacoma--1950-1960;

The Douglas Fir Plywood Association presented a display showing how plywood was used by several industries in the Northwest in the Washington Hall in Portland, Oregon. Washington Hall was part of an earlier exposition in Portland. The hall where the display was housed has been built with columns the look like the trunks of trees. Sky lights in the roof allow plenty of natural light into the interior of the large hall.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Portland); Exhibition buildings--Portland; Exhibitions--Portland;

The Douglas Fir Plywood Association presented a display showing how plywood was used by several industries in the Northwest including the boat and ship industry, heavy construction, home building and on farms.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Portland); Exhibition buildings--Portland; Exhibitions--Portland;

The Douglas Fir Plywood Association presented a display showing how plywood was made and some of its many uses in the Washington Hall in Portland, Oregon.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Portland); Exhibition buildings--Portland; Exhibitions--Portland;

A man on the left operates a high line yarder to move logs onto railroad freight cars while another man standing on a log to the right directs his movements. Photograph ordered to show lumber camp activities.

Loggers; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Hoisting machinery;

Men are loading logs onto railroad freight cars using a large crane. The cables for the high line yarder are attached to a tree behind the machinery and a wide grill has been set between two logs attached to the cables to protect the operator from a log swinging into him. Ordered to show lumber camp activities.

Loggers; Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960; Hoisting machinery;

An elevated view of a lumber camp showing several rows of bunk houses and several small houses as well as a couple of larger buildings, possibly the mess hall and machine shops. TPL-2040

Lumber industry--Tacoma--1950-1960;

An unidentified man is smoothing the top of a plywood coffee table using steel wool. A work bench fitted with a wood vice is standing behind him in his workshop.

Plywood; Woodworking--Tacoma; Men--Tacoma--1950-1960; Coffee tables; Workshops--Tacoma;

An unidentified man brushing a sealer on the bottom of a plywood coffee table as a primer. The legs, made of dowling stand up from the table. A work bench fitted with a wood vice is standing behind him in his workshop.

Plywood; Woodworking--Tacoma; Men--Tacoma--1950-1960; Coffee tables; Workshops--Tacoma;

One of the final stages in plywood manufacture is setting the glued and layered sheets of wood veneers in a hot press as shown at Anacortes Veneer, Inc., Anacortes, Washington. A sheet of plywood is placed on each layer of the press and the stacks are placed under pressure for differing lengths of time depending on the type of plywood being manufactured. This produces an irreversible bond between the plys stronger than the wood itself. The press is open in this view showing the sheets of plywood. Ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association. (The Plywood Age, Robert M. Cour)

Anacortes Veneer, Inc. (Anacortes); Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);

A man is straddling a crossbeam pointing at a hole in a row of holes below a series of pipes at Rayonier's Grays Harbor mill at Raymond, Washington. There are walls of pipes on three sides of him. The Grays Harbor mill went into operation in 1928 and consisted of both a pulp mill and a paper mill. This mill manufactured chemical cellulose for use in production of viscose rayon and tire cord, and also made the pulp required by its own paper mill producing fine papers for businesses. (Rayonier 1952 Annual Report)

Rayonier, Inc. (Raymond); Lumber industry--Raymond--1950-1960;

A close up of heavy, cast iron machines with stacks manufctured by Western Gear Works, Seattle, at Rayonier's Grays Harbor mill in Raymond, Washington. Rayonier completed many improvements at the Grays Harbor mill in 1952. A large high-pressure boiler was installed to serve the mill's increased capacity. The bleach plant was modernized, with new bleach cells; in making possible a wider range of refining procedures, this broadened the versatility of the mill and opened the way to production of new grades of chemical cellulose. (Rayonier 1952 Annual Report)

Rayonier, Inc. (Raymond); Lumber industry--Raymond--1950-1960;

Two large, heavy cast-iron machines, cooker pots, manufactured by Western Gear Works in Seattle are shown in Rayonier's Grays Harbor mill in Raymond, Washington. Stacks from each of the machines open through the roof of the facility. The company had three mills in the state of Washington at Shelton, Port Angeles and Grays Harbor. There were two more in the Southeast in Florida and Georgia. (Rayonier, Inc., 1951 Annual Report)

Rayonier, Inc. (Raymond); Lumber industry--Raymond--1950-1960;

An open framework at Rayonier's Grays Harbor mill in Raymond, Washington. The building has three large chutes near stairs on left, another stairway and more equipment on right. This mill used 30,000,000 gallons of water per day, received from municipal water supply sources through a 10-mile pipe line. During the year, important negotiations were carried forward with the cities of Aberdeen and Hoquiam for the purpose of extending the current water supply contract to run for a total of 35 years. (Rayonier 1952 Annual Report)

Rayonier, Inc. (Raymond); Lumber industry--Raymond--1950-1960;

Two men are laying a brick wall between pipes and an outside of wall at Rayonier's Grays Harbor mill in Raymond, Washington. The original Rayonier mill was in Shelton, Washington, and began operation in 1927. It used the amonia base sulphite process and manufactured cellulose chiefly for chemical conversion to cellophane. Ordered by Rayonier Inc. 161 East 42nd Street, New York. (Rayonier 1952 Annual Report)

Rayonier, Inc. (Raymond); Lumber industry--Raymond--1950-1960;

Workmen are moving a section of plywood form into position in preparation to pouring a reinforced cement wall. Carstens Packing Company can be seen over the forms in the distance. Ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Construction--Tacoma--1940-1950; Reinforced concrete construction--Tacoma--1940-1950;

A hanging, mobile sign promoting Douglas Fir Plywood. Ordered by Douglas Fir Plywood Association.

Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);