St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. had three logging camps located near Tacoma. St. Paul and Tacoma lumber company provides enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. They were one of the largest lumber companies in the Pacific Northwest. View of cleared land near one of the logging camps.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Cutover lands; Logs; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
A. H. Cox & Co. at St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. logging operation at Puyallup. On a day to day basis St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber produces enough lumber and plywood to build 48 homes per day. View of logs being loaded onto log carriers by using the sky line collapsible steel spar skidder and loader. A crew of nineteen men are needed to operate this machine and in an eight hour period 15 cars of logs are produced. Railroad tracks allow for easy transport.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Machinery; Logs; Woodcutting--Puyallup; St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma);
The Richards Studio 1946 Ford "woody" station wagon sits at the far end of a temporary rough-cut log bridge that extends across a shallow river. The bridge is part of a logging road in a Washington forest area. (This photograph was scanned from a 4X5 proof print. The negative is not available.) TPL-9427
Industrial Avd. Sealer treatment machine. Treated doors are traveling out of the treatment machine and will be loaded on the carrier in the foreground. The doors are different sizes and different styles. A worker watches to be able to make sure all goes well.
Sharon Maras (now Gregg) stands on top of a section cut from a very large, old growth douglas fir. The section of tree is laying on the bed of a large logging truck. The number 14 has been written in chalk on the tree section. The number indicates the diameter of the section, later measured at 13 ft 4 inches, a record size. The truck delivered this large chunk of douglas fir to the Northwest Door Company in Tacoma where it was displayed. It was cut by the Davis & Maras Co. from the Northwest Door Co.'s timber holdings 7 miles west of the Cowlitz River at an elevation of 1,050 feet. Sharon Maras was the daughter of company owner Percy Maras (TNT 8/21/1946, pg. 1) (identification supplied by Anthony "Spike" Maras)
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Logging trucks; Logs; Northwest Door Co., Inc. (Tacoma); Tree stumps--Tacoma--1940-1950; Maras, Sharon;
Douglas Fir Plywood Information Bureau provided information about Douglas Fir Plywood products to interested individuals, businesses and industries. View of plywood information display with two panels explaining the difference between exterior and interior types of plywood panels; in addition, a Plywood Listening Post is set up to listen to comments in a confidential atmosphere. Photograph was taken on January 2, 1948.
Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Advertisements--Tacoma; Research facilities--Tacoma; Plywood; Douglas Fir Plywood Information Bureau (Tacoma); Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma);
Installation of sheathing at home of Joe Weston, Douglas Fir Plywood Association, Edith Link. A view in March of 1948 of the exterior of Joseph and Carol Weston's residence where a new addition is being added to the existing structure. Joe was a supervisor at DFPA. Douglas Fir Plywood Association was eager to show the potential uses of plywood.
Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Construction--Tacoma--1940-1950; Weston, Joseph--Homes & haunts; Dwellings--Tacoma--1940-1950;
Ben B. Cheney, Cheney Lumber Company and Cheney Stadium are all important components in Tacoma's history. Exterior view of Cheney Lumber, train tracks and the Port of Tacoma gave this company easy access, which allowed them to receive the timber and ship their products. Laborers are working with the thousands of studs stacked up throughout the plant. TPL-8056
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.
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;
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;
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)
Sliced Forest Products, Moore dry kilns and knife. A machine used in making plywood and called a knife is in the foreground. A "peeler log" unwinds against a knife in a continuous strip of veneer which is then sent into the big Moore dry kiln where they are steamed and made ready for further processing. The kiln installed at Puget Sound Plywood in the mid-1940's was the only one of its size in the State of Washington.
St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company. A Rucker Brothers truck loaded with plywood is parked outside the retail yard for St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber. St. Paul and Tacoma Lumber Company bought this facility from the John Dower Lumber Company in 1942.
St. Paul & Tacoma Lumber Co. (Tacoma); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Trucks--Tacoma--1940-1950; Plywood;
The Defiance Mill saw line for I.W. Johnson Engineering. Definace mill was started by three brothers, the Doud Brothers, from Wisconsin in 1901 when they built a mill in Buckley, Washington. Four years later they moved to Tacoma - 22 acres on Ruston Way. In 1929 they built a gang type plant to cut 75,000 feet in 8 hours.
Douglas Fir Plywood Association. An exterior view of a building. Automobiles and a truck from the A.J. Johnson & Company are parked outside. The Tacoma skyline is in the distance.
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. A log, with one side already sawed off having passed through the "head-rig" of the mill, has been rotated to slice off the opposite side. Once a log had been squared it was milled into lumber.
For I.W. Johnson Engineering Company. An interior view of a sawmill near Packwood, Washington. The "head-rig", where large logs are "squared" prior to being broken down into lumber, is seen on the right. Chain, similar to that used on bicycles, is being pulled by gears. Because it has teeth on the edges, the chain is able to move lumber through the mill. (Fortune Magazine, April 1934)
A huge Douglas Fir was trucked into Tacoma, recently cut near Kosmos, in eastern Lewis County. This tree was cut by Lloyd Sword, an independent logger. 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 laborers are measuring the log, crane in background (T. Times, 5/11/48, p. 1).
Douglas Fir Plywood Association was having a plywood product and "uses" presentation at the Winthrop Hotel. Plywood was originally just uses for doors and furniture drawers, but in the 1920's builders began experimenting with plywood and using it for interior wall panels, cabinets, and eventually prefabricated houses, exterior and interior wall panels. View of three plywood businessmen standing below a "Douglas Fir Plywood The Wood of 1000 Uses" sign.
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Business people--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
Tacoma's Douglas Fir plywood industry is divided between seven plywood factories, they employ over 1,700 employees, making this one of the largest industries in Tacoma and Western Washington. There are 43 plywood plants between Washington, Oregon and California, these plants are owned by 37 different companies, with no single firm owning more than three plants. Douglas Fir Plywood Association has really helped the plywood industry expand throughout the building and construction industries. View of DFPA representative standing behind a podium, during his "Plywood Sales Demonstration".
Plywood; Molded plywood; Signs (Notices); Lumber industry--Tacoma--1940-1950; Business people--Tacoma--1940-1950; Douglas Fir Plywood Association (Tacoma); Hotel Winthrop (Tacoma);
